The physicality of the phenomenal world, the first light of each moment, into our activity and into our thinking and speech, first of all, generates a truth body. Or we can say in Dogen's terms, a mind of truth. A mind in which it's difficult to lie to ourselves. And we bathe in this clear, fresh water of each unique moment. And our our maturing and our transformation occurs in this always fresh situation.

[01:24]

The actuality of each situation. Which is also the mind of grasses and trees. And the mind that realizes this mutual joy of being with others. Und dieser Geist, der diese gegenseitige Freude mit anderem zusammen zu sein verwirklicht. The seed of this can take root in us. Der Same von all dem kann in uns Wurzel schlagen. And I hope it does. Und das hoffe ich auch. Thank you very much. Vielen Dank. Thank you. Let us pray together in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[03:21]

We can push you forward too. It's all right. So, René, someone took over my babysitting job? All right. Okay. So she's better than I am. It's difficult with these two little guys here. They're getting along better, though. They're playing ping-pong now. Sitting on the table. Satsang with Mooji

[05:30]

Vare ma genwa jiji suru no koto etari, Negawa kuwa nyorai no shinjitsu niyo geshi tate matsuran. A hundred or a hundred exquisite, perfect dharma can also be found in a hundred thousand millions of kalpas, only rarely. But since I can accept and preserve them at a high level, I believe I can learn the truth of Tathagata. Can I ask which of you are leaving today?

[06:48]

You're leaving and you're leaving and you're leaving. Oh, this is not good, but... I mean, maybe good for you, but... Maybe good for you, but generally not good, yes. So what I'd like to do today just is to actually hear something from each one of you. Some, yeah, it can be just a comment on what, how this... ten-day practice month works for you? And what you'd recommend, if presumably we'll do it again next year, what you'd recommend? I'd like to hear anything, you know, not just nice things. And also, I'd like people's feelings and how the children being here work for everyone.

[08:08]

For the parents as well as the non-parents. And of course, Any questions or feelings you have about the outer details of the practice, how we do things, the service? And your own sense of practice, being able to practice here. So it can be... you know, really quite anything. We just have this last hour or so together. So I'll just start and go around the room with Nicole. Okay. Since I just got back from Crestone, it feels quite unsettling for me.

[09:32]

It feels, in comparison, quite not as silent. And I think it would be good I think it would be a good idea we here at Johanneshof become clear in what we want with this practice work. We learn whether we want it to be something similar to a practice period experience, as of the awareness of skin issues with your practice period, you might follow, without being conflict and those concepts are worn, or whether we want a completely different concept than that, and that's intrinsically different. I think that's especially important, referring to the children being here. And my experience was, it was a wonderful two month weeks, and I really enjoyed them.

[10:59]

That was quite different from the silence and also the mind of Crestor. As of one year, If you really want to have a retreat, then I think it's good So I think if we actually want a true retreat during this practice, it might be a good idea to have two completely different programs or families with kids. And the ones who just want to be on a retreat. But it also works together, it's just different.

[12:00]

but altogether I was also impressed of how well it worked together and how much the kids enjoyed being here. Quite wonderful to see. You're 20 or so years away from being a kid, but closer than most of us. Do you think you would have liked to have been a kid running around here? Oh, yeah. I would have loved that. Yeah. Who knows? Yeah. Okay. Simon? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm an absolute beginner, a new starter with practice.

[13:11]

And I was already very astonished about how much the little, unknown work I did at home how much effect it had on me. I was very surprised by the very bewissing, in a certain way, the influence that I had to have that I didn't have, as far as I can see, from what I know, the growth of the home effort that had happened. And the more I came here, the more I thought, and also a specific war here against the community, where every day is much more intense.

[14:16]

So I'm on a very deep journey already, It's just not the time that I have concise words for explaining everything. Doc, did you, when you say the work you did at home or the practice you did before you came, you mean this unknowing practice you did before you came actually was a big help when you were here? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, okay, good. Good, thanks. Deutsch, maybe? He translated right away, but... Oh, you translated what I just said? I know, but they rested.

[15:21]

But he spoke... Your answer. The question was whether your practice, which you had in advance, whether it was a help to get in here. That's what Roshi asked again, yes. Yes, without a background and just sit and see what happens and to get that feeling at home, this was a big help to come here. Yes, I understand. Good, thanks. René? Yes. It was exciting to see how the practice works for us. We have been a little bit anxious about that before coming here, and nervous.

[16:39]

And I looked forward to see if we come get into the practice and getting a feeling for the practice. But I have to say after four or five days there was some sort of switch and I came into the practice, into the flow of the practice. also into the flow of the schedule. . And it feels good for me, and it's good to see that the kids are happy here and the kids enjoy being here, and I hope that the noise and the disturbance they make, that it doesn't disturb the others that much here.

[18:15]

Yeah, okay, thanks. Didier? Yeah, you know, I believe... I am also interested in how the ceremonies for the people are held. And I mean especially the people's ceremonies for the people who have been there for ten days. You know, I'm especially interested in how the ceremonies are for people, especially the ancient ceremonies for people who are only here for ten days. So when you do a practice period, it's free-wind and it's a kind of giving rhythm to your being in a practice period.

[19:34]

If it's only ten days, then it's a question if it decreases your relationship to the Zen door, or if it's just too complicated to run in the realm of Good. Me too. I think that this month of practice, especially the work on the windows, was also an acoustic inspiration for me. For me it was... So I think this practice mantra is an acoustic... Yeah, there's more acoustic for the people working in the building.

[20:44]

And it helped me to see what my concepts of practice are, or what are the expectations, concepts, and then to work with just what is there. And that's to me how... and practice with this just what comes up in the moment and leave without expectations aside. and coming more into the moment and being more spontaneous, feel a little bit more. likely that in retreats we often get into a more attitude of observing and staying in silence.

[22:11]

Of course, I think we'd all like to hear if anyone has some questions about practice itself or teaching. I know Brigitta asked me, what is this Heart Sutra all about? Brigitta asked me, what is this Heart Sutra all about? And I told her I asked Suzuki Roshi that same question once. And he told me, wait a year. So we're hoping Brigitte will stay during the next year, but I hear she has other obligations. But still, that kind of question also enlivens our discussion. But let me speak to a little bit what has been said so far.

[23:20]

Both Suzuki Roshi and I seem to have shared questions the same ideological vision of practice. Which is in Asia, in Japan in particular, serious practice is designed for only young men. And so, I mean, neither of us liked that. And a lot of people in Japan don't like it.

[24:23]

And a lot of the priests don't like it. And some of the more idealistic ones who don't like it actually come to America. So... So that Tsukuyoshi saw two major problems, which was sort of killing, in a way, Buddhism in Japan. It was highly institutionalized and basically a career system. And it was really not for the population as a whole, it was for young men. Okay, so Our ideological position was, let's just find a way to make practice open to everyone, old, young, male, female, etc.

[25:33]

And what we've discussed before here is, yeah, when you open it to men and women... There's some kind of biology involved, and children often come along with that combination. Not in all cases, but, you know, fairly often. And as happened in the West, in America too, the leading people of most of the groups tended to be couples. Not all the leading people, but significant ones who were able to stay for years.

[26:34]

Often single people tended to leave after a while. Except for the more deeply committed. Okay, so then, all right, so that's one, that's the ideological concept of trying to open practice to people. Das ist die ideologische Idee, das ideologische Konzept, die Praxis für Leute offen zu machen. And the actual fact of what happens when you do that. Und der Fakt, was passiert, wenn man das so praktiziert. Yes, but now let's look at another concept of practice. Which is that we try to create a practice situation which shows you what you need. Which includes, at the center, a certain kind of silence.

[27:36]

Stillness more than silence. Can you make the distinction in German? Stillness... Like the pond is still, but... Stille mehr als Ruhe, ne? Stille mehr als leise sein. Stille mehr als leise sein, ja. Okay. All right. So at Crestone we have this fortunate situation of being about as isolated as you can be unless you're in Siberia. Although I've heard it's cold enough here in the winter that some Russians call this German Siberia.

[28:42]

Although I've heard that it's so cold here in the winter that some Russians call it Siberia. Anyway. Yeah, so... But then also that concept includes that eventually you have what you need in yourself in all circumstances. And it's some contrast with the Taoist vision and the Hindu practice vision. The Taoist view is you go to a beautiful place, it's calm, there's a waterfall, and that's where your mind is most calm. But Zen says, okay, you go there for a while until you discover that in yourself, and then you have that wherever you are.

[29:44]

So in a way, that concept supports our practice here in the midst of a construction zone and... children and so forth. But we still also need to find a place where we can really deepen our experience and our life. So we're actually pretty lucky here. Within Europe, this is a pretty calm, good place. Yeah, so the question is, One, you might share my ideological commitment to practice being open to everyone.

[31:00]

And in a Western culture, being open to people, yeah, to try it out, to come in sideways. and to be open in a Western culture, to try it out and to enter from the side. Or to come to the Kinderfest or to come and help to build a window and then to decide to practice. And there's a self-selection process going on, though. When we started in the 60s in San Francisco, we could say we were the only 24-hour, seven-day-a-week church. Because the synagogues and the Protestant churches and the Catholic churches were closed up most of the week.

[32:20]

So we were always open. Every crazy who thought they were having a religious vision showed up at our door. And quite a number of them with some help from, you know, substances. Yeah. So, yeah, we had everybody. Everybody thought Zen was going to be the answer to every psychological, emotional and spiritual problem. Or health problems. Yeah, I remember walking in my robes in New York once, in a Puerto Rican neighborhood. And out of some basement kind of stairways, a man came staggering up drunk saying, Father, Father, save me!

[33:26]

So I blessed him and rushed off. So habe ich ihn gesegnet und bin davon gegangen. I once walked in Chinatown just dressed like that and a Chinese girl stopped in front of me. Can you give me blessings? And I really didn't know what to do. This was the first time it happened to me. I was really surprised. Yeah, so... So since then there's a self-selection process and mostly the people who show up kind of know what Zen is really about or something. They have some idea. But since then there's a self-selection process and mostly the people who show up kind of know what Zen is really about or something.

[34:37]

Okay, so again, although you, let's imagine all of you share my ideological commitment to practice being open to everyone. And being a permeable membrane. that you can pass through in our culture. But at the same time, it has to have some difference from the culture and from your usual life if practice is going to work. So it's really a matter of Not so much whether there's no children, but how many children, or what ages, or should it be part of the time, or how should we, should we only have orioke meals, should we have, you know, etc.

[35:39]

Should we do service at all? Should we bother with ceremonies like Nenjo, where we all wander around the room and bump into each other? I don't know. Marie? I'm not expecting you to answer all these questions. You're next. She is called Marlene. Marlene. What did I call you? Marie. Marie. Oh, that's your clone. Your clone.

[36:39]

Your younger clone. Marlene. I don't know Marlene. My practice is no different from that of China. I know my life and my practice only together with kids. Is it normal for me to be here with the children? And therefore it's normal to be here with my kids. The cats stayed at home, yeah.

[37:41]

With my kids. And it has been a wise decision to come here with my family, yeah. I feel it's easy for me to enter practice, but I also very fast get out of practice again. But I understood that I also have the benefit of some easiness out of that. I don't feel stuck in it. I stayed till Sashin and it's good that I brought that much time here and it's important that I have that much time here.

[39:00]

I feel a little bit like Dieter. Some people say, oh, during sitting I heard a bird singing and that was great, but no one says, oh, I heard a kid screaming and shouting. I thought it was okay. You ran out a little too fast sometimes. It was all right. And I want to thank everyone who covers that with my kids. I know it's an effort when the kids are not their own kids.

[40:27]

And as a suggestion I would try how it is if Joshua could join us by eating Uriyoki. Maybe next year, yeah. And a wish for the seminars, that you could participate in the seminars. I have to learn German, I'm sorry. Yeah, and Sophia, of course, fell in love with Joshua, Yoshi. And now calls him Yoshi-Roshi. And now calls him Yoshi-Roshi. So we tested it, René and I, and she wasn't talking about me, she was talking about Yoshi Roshi.

[42:05]

That's my fourth practice month. Fourth practice month here? This is only our third year, isn't it? Second year? Christian is really sure that it's the fourth, but I'm not sure, I don't know. Yeah, I think it was the third. But for you, it's probably your fifth or sixth. This is, I think, with the children, a very good idea. And it never went that well with the kids. As it has this time. Yeah. It works quite well, and how it works during the daytime, the schedule is fine.

[43:16]

Boris and me, we are quite a good team. Food has been good. One difficulty I have, and maybe a suggestion, one difficulty and maybe a suggestion and maybe it's just my own my own problem my own difficulty I would prefer if we have one text we could forget during the whole practice month.

[44:23]

And I don't know if that works because we have three parts and people are coming and going. But when you talk in your teishu that we should have just one practice and choose one of the practices to stay with that, I could feel a physical reaction to that, yeah. A good physical reaction or a bad physical reaction? It is perhaps a little more spiritual. It's physical in the sense that my mind is awake and starts searching.

[45:37]

And that goes back to the physical feeling like tension. And that I have the difficulty not to stay with one thing. When one thing doesn't work that well, my mind looks for something else which might work better. And when I have to look at different texts every week, that supports this. I understand. Well, I find it's fine to move, you know. I think to trust what interests you. Ich denke, es ist gut, dem zu vertrauen, was dich interessiert. But it's also not good to jump around from one thing to the other.

[46:57]

Aber es ist auch nicht gut, rumzuspringen von einem Ding zum anderen. So again, this is a kind of aesthetic or craft. Das ist ein Handwerk. You have to get a feeling for when the movement to another is really... So you would suggest that we stay with the text we have so far, or just the Dogen one, or the piece that I wrote? He doesn't want to choose in front of me between Dogen and me. That's difficult. Doggone it, yeah. I can feel that I look in a different way to a text when I know we stay with that for a month. And I can stay with one sentence for a week. That's good, yeah. That's why I shortened the Dogen text fascicle to just one page.

[48:14]

I thought that would be enough. But I included what I wrote because it refers, I think, to the second part of Dogen text. So since we have those two, why don't we continue with them throughout the practice month, or let's try that out. Is that okay with the rest of you? Okay. Thank you for your suggestion. Brigitte? The practice was not too exhausting for me, because I also sit at home.

[49:24]

The service The practice hasn't been so difficult for me because I sit for myself when I'm at home. The service was difficult because I don't have any background what's all about and I need that background when to join him, yeah. I have also fallen in love with him or I have sometimes dispensed myself from it. That's how I avoided in service.

[50:27]

I couldn't... I couldn't follow you. I didn't understand. I didn't get it. From your heart feeling you mean? Yes. I always need this combination of heart and mind. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You can tell that I like eating but... But my suggestion, the meals could be more easier, for example, just one warm meal a day, and so that we have more time for other things, but it seems that that's not how it is practiced in Japan, in with Uryogiyam.

[52:07]

Okay. Well, I think, first of all, just let me say, what kind of background do you think would have helped you with the service? Die erste Frage, was für eine Art Hintergrund hätte dir beim Service geholfen? Ja, erstmal den Ablauf. And strangely enough, I mean, I know that it was mentioned before that it is not important what you quote. But for me, I can't understand what I don't understand. It has been mentioned that it's not important to understand what we chant, but I want to know first of all, I want to understand the text we chant, to kind of understand it, to get into it. Yeah, I understand. Makes sense. Doesn't make sense in Zen, but it makes sense in general.

[53:34]

Yeah. Like, I'm sorry, Marie Louise was in the middle of taking care of the kids, was given that film, Enlightenment, unconsidered. And she mislaid it somewhere. She put it down somewhere. And... And I don't know if we should watch a film during practice month, but, yeah, still, Doris Dury said she was surprised when she talked to the monks who were in the, Japanese monks who were in that They themselves didn't know what they were chanting. And she was surprised.

[54:54]

She thought at least the Japanese monks will know what this is. I don't know what we're chanting. And how can I explain that? When I was at college, in the big Christian church that's in the yard of the campus. They had some ecumenical kind of event with many different religions. And The only, the Christians and the Buddhists were the only ones who bowed to the Jesus figure.

[55:58]

For the Buddhists it was just, oh, I can bow to anything. I don't have to, there was no meaning, like, there's no, I don't know how to explain, there's no meaning. You can chant anything. You can bow to anything. It's just the universe is around us. It takes the shape of Jesus. It takes the shape of Buddha. It takes the shape of dog shit, you know. I wrote a poem once when I was first practicing about taking baby shit and making it into the shape of a Buddha. You made that?

[56:59]

I wrote the poem. So the life in a place like this, in a monastic place, and this is a kind of version of that. One of the things it's designed for you to do is to do everything 100%. I'm not complaining, I'm just telling you what it's about. And the service is one of the things I've had most problems with myself in practicing. But part of, you know, when we're doing zazen, You may measure your zazen by or think about your zazen in terms of how your mind is.

[58:14]

But it's just as much how your body is. You may be thinking a lot, but how does your body feel? There's a... a cell phone, which is out already or was going to come out, I don't know, Which doesn't have an aerial because the whole case, the whole thing itself is the aerial. It's a little bit like if you had an automobile in which the engine was also the fenders. Yeah, and they've also, they've now realized that biologically there are brain functions, little brain-like centers in several places in the body.

[59:27]

But the yogic feeling is, idea is, that your whole body is intelligence. And your whole body is your engine, or your aerial, or your antenna. So the life is designed so part of it is just boring. Because if you're always looking for interesting things or exciting things, your practice is quite shallow. So some of the most fruitful parts of practice are the most boring. The parts of the daily life where you think, Can I last another 20 minutes?

[60:44]

So the service should be a little longer than we can stand. Until you just, but you do the whole thing 100%. And it's also scheduled so you're rather tired a good part of the time, exhausted. So when you're completely like you really need at least a nap, How do you do it 100% still? And it's not about doing it right or wrong. It's simply about doing it 100%. It's better to do things 100% and make lots of mistakes. If I'm completely exhausted during the service and I knock over the incense burner and nearly fall down, I still should knock over the incense burner 100%.

[62:01]

Sometimes in the morning, you know, for various reasons, I've got only three or four hours of sleep. And when I bow first thing in the morning, I don't know whether I bow once or twice or three times. So I sort of look at the Doan, is he stopping ringing the bell or is he continuing? So sometimes I bow, I might bow twice or I might bow four times, but from my point of view, that's just the way it's done. Sometimes I like to bow twice, sometimes four times. But from my point of view, that's exactly the way I do it. Two times is right, four times is right, although three is usually considered right. So when you do the service, you just chant. And if you're coughing or sick, just do it.

[63:19]

And who knows what meaning there is there? And then if you want to find out the meaning, that's okay. But it's really about the physical entry into it, not about what it means. Okay. I mean, we could be chanting, shall the devil come and get me? What difference does it make? You don't have to tell her that we actually chanted that.

[64:20]

Don't tell her. Boris? I have the feeling that there is a difference to bow to a Buddha or to dog shit. That's the difference. It has been intensive for two weeks. I didn't suspect. I have been scared, all the work, all the kids and people coming and going.

[65:21]

But it's deeper when you sit. And the question which came up in the first stage was, can you relax, be at ease when you sit? That bothered me because I couldn't find a real reason why that shouldn't be possible. I can feel that I reach a deep point in my practice where I am hurt and injured.

[66:25]

Where I touch that, yes. And where I can feel the basic resistance. And I can feel that this practice man supports that. It's a kind of safe room to work with that and to look at that. And I'm thankful that I can join it. Yeah. Yeah, thank you.

[67:45]

Yeah, I make light of these things a little too much. I make light of these things. But I don't want us to be too serious about practice, you know, as a group. But individually, personally, I hope each of you is completely serious about practice. And by not being too serious, I mean we, as a group, we make room for each other. And you know, one of my weaknesses is I like beautiful things. And... But I also find if I look carefully, what a beautiful thing does is it does most of the work for you.

[68:50]

It does most of the work for you. But I find if I look carefully at anything, it's beautiful. If I do the work, it's beautiful. Yeah, and we need a lot of help. So we have a 500-year-old beautiful Buddha in the sender. Maybe we should put a little... A tray of dog shit there, too. I don't know. It wouldn't be bad. But, you know, it wouldn't help as many people as the 500-year-old Buddha. But... Yes, so as you can see, I prefer the 500-year-old Buddha.

[69:59]

But fundamentally, there's no difference between the dog shit and the Buddha. All expressions of this all-at-onceness. So we should know both. We try to create a nice practice place and a nice place with a nice Buddha, but at the same time, Buddha is everything that's manifesting. And we can know the truth of both these points of view within ourselves. Yeah. Speaking about dog shit, sometimes when I use the toilet I bow to the toilet and that's for me almost the same feeling as bowing to the Buddha.

[71:10]

I hope you bow and flush. My grandson, he bows but doesn't flush. Flushing is the practice of emptiness. So, spilling is the practice of emptiness. Yes, the two weeks were good for me and intense. The two weeks has been intense and good and almost you needed one week to arrive. Especially in the first week I could see resistance in a new way, but also in a way I already experienced before.

[72:56]

Concerning Oryoki, the first week, half of the week I was hungry, starved. This has been a nourishing crown for my resistance and being nasty or something like that. For my feeling, I'm really fast, but Oyuki is still too fast for me. Yes, what I just noticed over these two weeks was that I really liked this change between activity and sitting again.

[74:10]

That we worked a lot and then again in the center. I liked this change very much, I liked it very much. I like and I enjoyed a lot this change between activity, working, and then back to the center, and then back to work, always this change. I enjoyed that, yes, this was good for me. It also goes with the fact that I have noticed that my attention has to be both intensively outside, in the attention to what is going on outside, and at the same time, because I have the opportunity to go inside again, so that I can bring the focus back to the inside. This is also a change in my mind-fulness. It just flows inside and out, and I find this very remarkable. It's very important for me to feel this change, to focus to the outside in the work and then to focus back onto the inside and then this flow inside, outside, that's nourishing in my practice.

[75:25]

Personal problem is in Doxan and that's my problem with the language. I realize that I hardly speak English, and I need at least a few days to be sure that I am in there, and that I can hear Roshi, and when I sat down I realized that I was constantly speaking in English during the sitting, I noticed that it annoyed me that I was busy with all the sessions with language. I don't talk English that much and it takes me always a while to get back into the language.

[76:31]

And when I'm getting ready for Doksan, I'm angry with myself that I need that long time in sitting to kind of formulate what to talk to in English in Doksan, to get ready with that. But I also asked myself, why don't I ask for translation, but I don't want to miss this intimacy between you and me. I always feel I understand you quite well in Doksan. Your English is Good enough for me, but there's probably something you can't say that you feel. Yes, I also have the tension that I don't always understand exactly what Roshi is saying. If he expresses it in a fine way, that's the next problem.

[77:34]

Yeah, and then there's also the next problem that I'm not always quite sure if I get what you talk to me. Indux, huh? Yeah, I'm sorry. I feel okay, but I'm sorry. Nico, could you get me a glass of water, please? Thank you. Okay. Thanks. Okay. It has been an intensive time for me also to feel when I'm not in my practice. Maybe it's a period of a headache. And at the same time, if I manage to let go,

[78:54]

And then at the same time when I succeeded to let go, I really enjoyed that. But that was sometimes very difficult. And I feel the same like Brigitte in service. But in the times when I succeed in being in practice, I just do it and then it's okay. But when I succeed to just be in practice I'm just doing it and then it is okay. But I also have the feeling I could experience it deeper if I would understand it. And the image of a mem, I say that?

[80:24]

Membrane. So, I personally would like to see more exchanges or discussions with the so-called culture. I would like to see it if there would be more exchange with the local culture. And maybe also that it has become clear to me And I also noticed that the possibility to solve psychological problems with them is somehow limited. With them? With the locals? With them, yeah. Well, we're doing what we can to have a relationship with the local people.

[81:54]

I was very disappointed the other day when the next door farm had a film of this man who constructs with willows. I was very disappointed a few days ago when the neighbor showed a film about the construction of what? From willow trees. From vines. Yeah, I think it should have been posted and some of us should have gone just out of neighborliness. But I think nobody from here went. I didn't really realize. I was supposed to be away at my father-in-law's birthday party, but I happened to be here that night. I didn't realize something was going on until I heard the loudspeakers because they had the film outside.

[83:05]

The thing is, we... The only way we're going to have relationships with local people are through things like the Kinderfest and stuff like that. Or coming here and doing the windows and so forth. Or, you know, our neighbor does our electrical work. Because only... I would say only one in every three or four or 500 people really is interested in practice. And only one in several hundred of those are interested seriously in practice. That means not many of these people, no matter what we do, will ever practice.

[84:06]

And then there's the cultural barriers, their own traditions and their family thinking, what the heck are you doing? So it's kind of great that our grocer is coming. Our grocer, the grocer, the grocery man. And it must be interesting for him because it looks like his family name is Mutter. And it looks like the Mutter family owns the whole of Goreville. Every business is called Mutter something. Almost. Except Edeka. So they must think he's a little crazy to come over here at four in the morning. A religious fanatic.

[85:27]

So, but my experience in the past has been, if you have good relationships with the road crew, you fix the road, you end up having quite an interesting thing happening in terms of how practice works in the local area. So, you know, how many artists are there in a culture? You know, this is sort of like being an artist or a yogic artist or something. I don't want to be a psychotherapist, but if you want to speak to me more about psychological aspects of practice sometime, I'm quite willing to do it. Because, of course, Buddhism is not a psychology, but over the centuries it's worked out ways to work with psychological situations.

[86:52]

Donatello? I was thrown into this, like in cold water, because I never had contact with Buddhism before that. It was brave of you to come. Yeah. Sorry? Don't forget to say it. Oh, yeah, that's right, because I'm not German. Well, you can speak in Italian too, but ... In the first days it was very hard for me. The schedule is very hard to follow. The city was difficult.

[88:17]

What I would have wished in those first days, it was more explanations, more assistance. Dita was very helpful to me. Dita was very helpful, but it was just once and then that was it. I had to deal with it alone. I also had the feeling, a positive feeling, that I was part of, I was taking part to something.

[89:24]

in a very generous way from your side. The room, to make room for somebody who comes to the other side. with a lot of the services, what Peter asked. I quite appreciated being part of it. Ich habe die services genossen. and everything, not the Japanese things. I tried. I tried to say the Japanese things, but I gave up pretty quickly. Not because I didn't understand it, but because I am Catholic, so all we have to say in church, and it's much more longer than this one.

[90:39]

The Catholic Church has Masses much longer than this one. That was no good for me at all. But I was getting confused. And I realized I could be more part of it just sitting 100% into it than trying to follow and... And I realized that it brought me a lot more, and I was much more involved by just taking care of myself, instead of trying to participate and still get behind it. Yes, of course. quite folkloristic at first.

[91:40]

It's such a folkloristic society. What's the word? Folklore. Like folklore? Oh, okay. You feel like you're in New Guinea with a group of primordial natives. Yeah, okay, all right. What's this about? Yeah, no one knows. I don't know. born in a cultural mixture anyway, being born into it. So I can't quite accept things without asking myself to manifest it. I had some questions about meanings of things. This, for instance, things I had to do that were involved in worship.

[92:43]

What is it? Worship? Yeah. Das wollte ich wissen, was ich da tue. Das habe ich dann auch gefragt. I wanted to know what this was, for instance. I asked Nita and Janssen that. And it was very important for me to know, because then I could really do it. And the second week was easier. Die zweite Woche war einfacher, because I knew it, because I knew also the people and how it was working.

[93:55]

I also appreciated a lot the balance between sitting and working. Gott sei Dank war das Arbeiten da für mich. I came here for a personal reason. I'm sorry, I don't think I can say anything, but mainly. Okay.

[94:57]

And we are very thankful to everybody here, because I came while I was looking for some things, and I could find it, so I'm bringing quite a lot home. Well, we have a little yogic cultural difference in how...

[95:36]

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