I'm very grateful that each of you have taken the time and trouble to come here and join each other and me in practicing meditation. And I know it's not an easy decision, and I'm glad you've come. I think sometimes we feel that someday or somehow we'll meet a person who will change things for us. In fact, some people even have a kind of power to create an atmosphere that they can change things for others.

[01:02]

But as you know, obviously the person that can change things for you is you. And we know much more than we suspect we know. So the question is, how do we meet ourselves as the person that both knows us and can change us? And how do we facilitate that knowledge that we already have.

[02:29]

Anyway in Buddhism that's meditation practice. Particularly when you make a decision to meditate under certain favorable conditions. And those favorable conditions are things like a good place that's not too noisy or busy. And not too many requirements for meditation. Like special cushions and a candy bar under each corner of your mat and things like that.

[03:34]

A feeling that just whatever is enough. Ein Gefühl, dass das, was immer da ist, dass das genug ist. No, I'm not making this up. These simple things are quite traditional. A list of the things that make meditation possible. Und ich erfinde das nicht. Das ist ganz traditionelles Wissen, was Meditation möglich macht. And a healthy place that's not too hot, not too cold. And the basic necessities should be available, a bed, food, things like that. And good companions. Good companions.

[04:35]

who share resonant views and gentle behavior. And the work of the world should be put aside for a little while. And finally there should be a place where you meditate should be quite free from danger, thieves and things. So Lots of people in the Dharma Sangha have worked pretty hard to create these conditions.

[05:46]

And over many years, the board and members of the house distiller have tried to create a place like this. So we have our bowls and food and our tenso and things like that. The eno. We're in pretty good shape. So there should be no problems in your meditation at all. And both Randy and I had the audacity to describe this sashin as a vacation.

[06:48]

And if you're quite settled in yourself, your mind restfully turned inward, it is a vacation. But if there's any gap there, it may be a nightmare. Maybe we should, isn't it, Hesse, who put over the door in one of his novels, beware all ye who enter here? Maybe we should, isn't it, Hesse, who put over the door in one of his novels, beware all ye who enter here? So any case, you know, whether it's a nightmare or a vacation, it's a practice of turning your mind inward.

[08:01]

Because this practice is, sometimes I describe Buddhism as a mindology, and certainly it is a study of the mind and consciousness. But maybe we could also, though the word isn't so easy to say, a kind of energyology. Because attention is a kind of energy. And in Hamburg, the talk I did give Friday night a week or so ago, I talked about the attractive phrase of everyday Zen, which means that the practice of Zen doesn't point away, but points at your immediate situation and at you.

[09:41]

But since no one really knows what you are or really knows very little about the immediate situation, What we do know is, or have some direct participation, is the pointing at our situation, which is our attention. That attention is a kind of energy and probably a much more powerful energy than we are easily aware of. It's the tension which is the essential ingredient of the present.

[10:45]

And in your breath, bringing attention to your breath opens up your whole body and mind as energy or as energy. A kind of vitality. And that vitality accumulates or gathers in your body. And seshin means, the word means, a gathering of the mind.

[11:46]

And here we could say a gathering of vitality. And your breath and attention is the root of this vitality. But there's a more subtle vitality, air, sometimes we say, which is connected to the movement of, inner movement of your body and outer movement of your body. So this vitality that can open up This knowledge that is more than you suspect.

[12:58]

And this meeting of yourself in the most essential way. occurs when you really can settle into your vitality. And not lose too much of it in outer movements. So it's a kind of, what, psychic chemistry or something, spiritual chemistry you're involved in when you sit in this test tube at the top of a mountain.

[13:59]

Yes. Partly stewing in your own juices until you find some way to calm down. So you're not too caught up in redoing the past. Or trying to control the future. Or being, you know, leaking into the present by imagining all these alternatives in the present. So for this week, we're really turning our mind, our attention inward. Of course, the past will come up quite forcefully and sometimes painfully.

[15:09]

And the future will bear down upon us sometimes fearfully. But practice this shamatha practice of turning the mind inward, attention inward, is to not be burdened by or dominated by the past or future. Or dominated by or oppressed by or swept away by the present. So we lose our ability to just rest in an inner absorption.

[16:11]

At least for this week. Now, you may argue with me what's inner and what's outer and, you know, which is the past, etc. But I think you know, feel what I mean by resting in an inner absorption. The word shamatha means to rest easily and peacefully. One part of the word means to be effortlessly stay or hold yourself.

[17:36]

In a peaceful, joyful freedom from distraction. Doesn't mean, at least for most of us, that there aren't many thoughts and feelings and emotions, but they don't burden us. So you're exploring that difference between being open and accepting in the midst of everything you are, past, present and future. And being burdened by it or oppressed by it or dominated even by it. So again, you have to set your mind on just being here as if you've lost your way to the outside world.

[19:23]

So perhaps at the end of the week somebody will give you a map which shows you the way home, but until then you don't know where you are and what you're doing exactly. Except that we're all taking good care of ourselves and each other this week. Somehow the Dharma Sangha has found itself many good companions. And we do have a place to sleep and enough to eat for this week.

[20:24]

Now in your sitting you can you know, in locating yourself in this little three foot by three foot or so, meter by meter space. You can see if you can sell this place In your hands. Or in your chest. Or sometimes locate yourself in the base of your spine. Or in your eyes. Or perhaps your cheekbones.

[21:47]

Or your arms. Or in the solidness of you. Or maybe you find at a particular location also there's a kind of heat or clarity or spacious feeling So you're partly, maybe we can say, exploring the topography of you, inner and outer. And seeing where you can locate yourself Or steady yourself. There's a phrase in Zen, can you find the eye that holds earth and sky steady? And this eye that holds earth and sky steady.

[23:17]

Maybe a certain clarity you feel in your chest. Or a kind of pride in being able to sit pretty upright for this time. In any case, you quite freely and with some even pace explore your body and mind. Seeing if you can pretty much turn your rest, your mind inward absorption. Without being burdened, as I've said, too much by the past or trying to control the future.

[24:34]

Not being swept away by the alternatives of the present. And somehow seeing if you can find this eye that holds earth and sky steady. That even can turn the whole, your immediate situation, this room itself, into an object of contemplation. Or this whole park or this whole world can feel like an object of contemplation that's arising from you. Or you can bring that back to this little one meter square place where you live.

[26:05]

Discovering, you know, accepting whatever it is you are just now over and over again. There's a kind of spiritual jhana chemistry to just staying in one place like this for a week. It's not easy to do. But I think we all understand it's worth trying. And even if we only accomplish it a little bit, or even have one or two moments of resolution and clarity, This is a treasure of meeting ourselves deeply and discovering an entrance to everything we know.

[27:39]

So thank you again for supporting each other in this practice. And each of us allowing the other their mountain top. Or their little hut down by this stream in a dream. Where the path to it has been lost. But you can find maybe, I hope, some contentment just being there. So this is a description of basic shamatha practice. Which is the basis of all meditation practice and study of yourself in Buddhism.

[28:58]

So I feel like I'm launching a big Sashin ship saying good luck. We're all going to sea together in separate boats tied together. Okay. May our attention equally penetrate every being and place.

[29:50]

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