So I have to continue with the present as encounter. Some of you used that word yesterday, encounter. Encounter, the etymology is in, against, in and against. Also im Englischen ist die Etymologie des Wortes encounter, an, gleich in, und counter, gegen. And encounter is also a constraint, something that binds you. Und eine Begegnung ist auch etwas, was dich beschränkt, was dich bindet. The biggest example we'll face... Das größte Beispiel, das wir sehen werden... clearest example is death.

[01:01]

You will, I'm sorry to tell you, you will encounter death. And for the most part it won't be based on your previous experience. The present as encounter is the present as interruption. Now, the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze is the person I found in recent years, who follows this thinking, Buddhist thinking, and his too, so closely. Also, this French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, whom I have read more often in recent times, follows Buddhist thinking and also his very attention.

[02:13]

So the present as encounter is the present as interruption. Death is an interruption of continuity. What else is it? But for Yashan, He wanted to make clear that every moment of the present, if it's actually the present, is an interruption of continuity. But Yao Shan wanted to make it clear that the present, if it is really experienced as the present, So his silence was an interruption of continuity.

[03:20]

So the monk, the superintendent monk asked him, hey, everyone wants you to give a lecture, how about it? Also der Tempelvorsteher hat ihn gefragt, ja, jeder möchte, dass du einen Vortrag hältst. Wie wäre es damit? There have been five requests from at least three people. Da gab es fünf Bitten von mindestens drei Leuten. Okay, I'll ring the bell. Ring the bell. Please ring the bell. Ja, gut. Also, leute die Glocke. So, this was an expression of continuity. Das war also ein Ausdruck von Kontinuität. So he went through the forms of continuity. And he interrupted that. This is the crane in the bright moon. Okay. Now, who knows what was going on in the monastery and maybe in any monastery or any practice basket, bushel.

[04:25]

There's a times when this is necessary. When this is necessary. So our lineage has chosen this particular story of Yaoshan to point out the present as encounter. Now what happened just now when I came in? Ascending the platform. Okay. I stood there for a while and Marie went by somewhere, you know.

[05:29]

And then I shashu bowed. And you as the Doan joined me in that. Because at that moment we're establishing an encounter. Establishing a relationship. We're doing this together. It's just not me doing it. And we're all doing it. So then I bow. Then when I finish, he marks that finishing with a bell. Und wenn ich damit zu Ende bin, dann markiert er dieses Ende mit der Glocke. Then I come here, he marks it with the bell. Dann komme ich hierher und er markiert es mit der Glocke.

[06:33]

I mark it with bowing. Und ich markiere es mit verbeugen. Then I turn around, sit down, he hits the bell again. Und ich komme hier rauf und setze mich und er schlägt die Glocke wieder. This is kind of exaggerated articulation. Das ist eine übertriebene Artikulation. We could call it the Dharma practice, exaggerated Dharma practice. Wir könnten es die Dharma praxis, die übertriebene Dharma praxis nennen. So we notice each change in situation. Damit wir jede Änderung in der Situation bemerken. We're articulating Dharma's with bows, bells, and so forth. Okay. Now, again, I've pointed out that there's a feeling. Again, it's a flow of continuity, of course. But the actual present, the one in which you're born and die, is a series of interruptions, encounters, encounters from which we learn.

[07:48]

So the present is really something, not something you understand. It's not something that we represent and then live in like a container. The present is always something that's ready to surprise us or could surprise us. I suppose if you're a hunter, you lived in hunting and gathering times, the present was more a series of encounters. Ich nehme an, als Jäger und Sammler damals, in den Zeiten, da war die Gegenwart mehr eine Begegnung, eine Reihe von Begegnungen. Once we domesticate animals so you don't have to hunt them, they're just in the backyard. Und dann hat man Tiere gezähmt und dann musste man sie nicht mehr jagen, dann waren sie ja gerade im Hinterhof.

[09:14]

And we don't have to go gather berries, we planted a bunch of them. We establish the present as much as possible as a predictable continuity. A good Zen practitioner should feel unpredictable. Maybe he or she is a hunter and gatherer. Because if the present is an encounter, and encounter is an interruption, then you want to establish that... that interruption rather than continuity.

[10:15]

That's why one of the enactment rituals is you enact the present as an interruption. So again, using the simple example, you step back from the bowing mat. And you just stop. You're not going anywhere. Und du hältst einfach an, du gehst nirgendwo hin. You're kind of cautious. This is the present. I might encounter something. Du bist vorsichtig. Das ist die Gegenwart. Du könntest irgendwas begegnen. Pass auf. And awareness, the word awareness means to be wary, to be watchful. Und das Wort Gewahrsein heißt aufpassen. And so then, everything seems okay.

[11:23]

I guess I'll go up to the altar then. There's that kind of feeling. Okay. And you know, it's interesting to watch something like a no play. I particularly like them. Es ist interessant, sich eine Noh-Aufführung anzusehen und ich mag Noh sehr gerne. It's a series of interruptions. Es ist eine Reihe von Unterbrechungen. At each moment you feel, it's all predictable, but you don't know what's going to happen. If you took a series of photographs every photograph would be an extraordinary photograph of yogic posture, yogic presence. Yeah, maybe wild animals are like that, like these martyrs that like our screams for some reason.

[12:24]

And we're going to try to have some predictable doxa. But the Doxan room is also where the martyrs live. So we're going to have some unpredictable martyrs during the Doxans. That's the way it is. Ah, okay. Now Tara brought up yesterday, isn't this like this tantric enactment ritual of drinking the dishwater?

[13:30]

Yeah, I mean, as long as there's no detergent in it, it's okay. So we're doing what you're not supposed to do. That's a kind of like simple version of Tantra. Doing what's an interruption, what's unusual. Also, wir tun da etwas, was wir nicht tun sollten. Wir tun etwas, das eine Unterbrechung ist. And so some of you dump all the water out, but then you're not drinking your dishwater. Manche schütten das ganze Wasser weg, aber dann trinkst du nicht dein Waschwasser. Now, on one hand, I don't care whether you do these little rituals or not. Also, einerseits ist mir das ziemlich egal, ob du das tust oder nicht. I myself find them quite interesting. And I find that they have a kind of homeopathic, acupunctural presence. So that doing that ritual, I feel, I don't know, everything is kind of interpenetrating.

[14:42]

It makes me more sensitive to simple things, the windows open, the windows shut, there's food on the floor. And after I spoke in some detail about it yesterday, Still a number of people tap the bowl with the side of their Oyoki bowl and not the lip. Maybe you're afraid of tantric germs. There's a lot of them around, actually. Or maybe you just didn't hear me.

[16:03]

But, you know, if you heard me, do you hear me now? Read my lips. No, no, that's what Reagan used to say. Isn't it Reagan? Bush? Bush, oh God, it's worse. No, Bush said it. Anyway, so, because if we're going to do this, why not do it exactly? Isn't it easier to do it exactly than to show your kind of independence by doing it a little differently? Brother David Steindl-Rost, an old friend of mine, taught me that in Christianity the word obey means really to listen. In order, in a sense of being able to follow.

[17:07]

Okay, so anyway. So Tara's question or comment was, this is a concept. Certainly is. And there's no escaping from concepts. Oh no, that's not quite true. Mostly there's no escaping from concepts. I mean... The world is a flow of concepts. You can't function without concepts. But there's different kinds of concepts. Some are baskets. Some are pipes. Some are bridges. Yeah. Some are fires.

[18:19]

I think she said they are horses and tigers. Yeah. Okay. When we sit zazen, what is zazen? I've said many times. It's a position transformed into a posture. And it's a posture because it's informed by concepts. So zazen is the posture plus the concept, don't move. In this case, The concept of don't move moves us into a mind which doesn't move.

[19:24]

In this case, the concept of don't move moves us into a mind which doesn't move. It's a concept which frees us or opens us to a freedom from concepts. So some concepts eliminate concepts. Some concepts disappear. So we want to use the concepts carefully and notice that we're using concepts. Also wollen wir Konzepte sorgfältig benutzen und wissen, dass wir Konzepte benutzen. It's a concept to put your hands in the universal mudra, which includes all mudras. That's the idea. Also es ist ein Konzept, die Hände in das universelle mudra zu legen, das alle mudren einschließt.

[20:31]

And ideally you make a nice round mudra. And what's going on? You've made a conscious intention to make, you've made a conscious concept to form the universal mudra. But can the mudra survive sleepiness? It's a barometer. Goodbye, mudra. Where have you gone? Why are my thumbs in South Africa? But even into zazen mind, can you carry into zazen mind from consciousness the concept, the intention to maintain this round mudra? So you're in effect, by doing that, learning, and it also helps to control sleepiness.

[21:41]

But you're learning to... take a conscious concept and turn it into an intention, also a concept, and slide it into Zazen mind and maintain it through the mudra. Now although you've been doing that, you probably didn't know you were doing that. In the early days here, I don't know why I haven't mentioned it for many years now.

[22:49]

Do you remember I used to tell people, suggest to us, that you sleep with a little Buddha on your forehead and see if it's still there in the morning? It's good, you can do it, you know. Dreaming with the eyes wide open, it says in this koan. You can start out with beads in one hand, or I don't see if in the morning there's two holding them, or a coin, or a small beach stone or something on your forehead. If you're going to do this practice, it's better to be sleeping alone. But it's, you know, it's worth trying. It's kind of fun. Do any of you remember I used to say that? But the point is you take an object to measure whether you can form an intention in consciousness and maintain it in dreaming mind and in awareness.

[23:58]

But the point is that he finds out whether he can take a conscious concept and keep it in the dreaming mind and in sleep. And it's referred to, basically the practice is referred to when it says dreaming with the eyes wide open. Okay. I started out saying the composition of the present as encounter.

[25:12]

Okay. Now, since I've started on this, I think I should continue exploring this, the present as encounter and interruption. Because the more you know about it, the more you'll sense the truth of it, and the more you'll feel comfortable with it. Okay, so what are the categories, I would let's say, let me say, call it the categories of the present as encounter? Let's say first it's mind as the six senses.

[26:16]

So if you're going to recognize the truth of the present as encounter, Wenn ihr die Wahrheit von Gegenwart als Begegnung erkennt. And which is an interruption of the present as experience. Was eine Unterbrechung der Gegenwart als Erfahrung ist. Yeah. So you're interrupting the predictability of experience. This is not the usual sense of knowledge. If I tried to find a word, I would think you're learning the present. Again, learn is one of those words that etymology is quite fun.

[27:21]

It means to find the track or to find the path with the sole of the foot. So you're not arriving in a situation where it's predictable you're in the dark and there's no moon and you're feeling the path with your foot where does it go? and I've often told the story of coming down one night I had no flashlight for some reason from my house in Cresto And it was totally black, dark. I couldn't see, you know, my hand. So, you know, I'm feeling along and I actually missed the path and went through the woods, but anyway, I was going along.

[28:44]

And at some point in the utter darkness I found myself in a biological field. And every year there's a particular group of deer who live in our territory. We live in their territory, excuse me. And it's the kind of group that travels every year. It's who survived the winter, etc. And it's 11 to 20 deer usually that hang around having espressos and things like that. In that particular year, it was a group of 15, I think.

[30:02]

I found myself right smack in the middle of this group of 15 deer. It's one of those males, you know. And they didn't seem disturbed at all. And I stopped. I stood still for nearly a minute maybe or half a minute. And I could feel these animals all around me. And my sense at the time, if I'd been walking in consciousness, they would have run.

[31:03]

But when I was walking in the wary awareness of unpredictability, the deer, that's where the deer live too. And they thought, he's one of us. Where's his horns? Yeah, maybe he's a girl. Anyway, so once I recognized where I was and I walked slowly and just went through them and They had to move slightly, and yeah, it was okay. So that's the present as encounter. Present as, well, right then, if I have these categories I'm suggesting, I was in the midst of the independence of the six senses.

[32:29]

Each one has its own ability. And when you know the present through the separation of the senses, the magnitude of the present is different. And in astronomy, magnitude is a technical term for the brightness of a star. And the six senses, each functioning in its own ability, transform the brightness of the present. Now, Here we have these ingredients.

[33:37]

More or less born with and acculturated to. And with small changes, we change the present in which we live. And that's what Yao Shan was trying to do, say, hey, you guys, what present are you living in? If the ocean were filled up, the hundred rivers would run backwards. Wenn der Ozean gefüllt wäre, müssten die 100 Flüsse rückwärts fließen. In other words, if the present was only known through experience, there would be no encounter. In anderen Worten, wenn die Gegenwart nur durch Erfahrung gekannt werden könnte, dann gäbe es keine Begegnung.

[34:42]

When there's encounter, there's a problem. When there's a problem, it makes you think. And when you think, you're looking for the truth. So the present as encounter turns the present into the path as a search for truth. Now we're looking at how the present is composed. The encounter and the learning of the present doesn't become the prediction of the future but becomes the organizing event of the future. So, maybe today's small group, there's no small group today, so today's small groups would be what present are you living in?

[35:51]

So you have a free afternoon to discover what present you're living in. It's a present without formal practice. Maybe we'll like it better. Es ist ein Nachmittag ohne formelle Praxis. Vielleicht gefällt uns das besser. That's why we have it. You have a chance to like it better. Deswegen gibt es das, sodass ihr eine Möglichkeit habt, es lieber zu mögen. So the first is mind as the six senses. Also das erste ist mind als die sechs Sinne. Okay. And the second are the originating ingredients. We could say the originary present in English.

[36:58]

I'm sorry. Originary means the moment is the source. That's why we chose this address, Quellenweg. Deswegen haben wir diese Adresse gewählt, Quellenweg. Uns wurden viele Orte angeboten und wir haben diese gewählt. Na, das habe ich mir gerade ausgedacht. Ihr könnt den Quellenweg gerade an uns vorbei wägen hören. Auf einmal in der letzten Nacht hatten wir mehr Wasser. Okay, so the second is the originating ingredients. So your practice has developed to the point where you can be present in the mind as the six senses.

[38:05]

You can feel the ingredients. That's the second category. Third is you put the ingredients together. That's Dharma practice. And the fourth is... the field of mind. Because if the present is none other than the present, in other words, if the present is only the stuff of itself, And there's no transcendence in the background guaranteeing that everything is going to be all right.

[39:07]

There's no ground of being. Then what do you have to establish continuity? Because the present is the interruption of continuity. So it's the field of mind, so-called imperturbable mind, which is the continuity. So that's the composition of the present as encounter for the adept practitioner. And this is what Yao Shan is trying to show us. And I think this should be continued. This was enough for today.

[40:14]

Thanks a lot for letting me try this talk. You guys are great.

[40:18]

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