Some other questions before we stop? Yes, Yuta. It's not a question, it's a possible answer to your question. My son Richard went to first grade last year. Two years ago he was ordained to be a Buddhist from you. We shaved his head and everything. No, we didn't shave his head. So then there was this questionnaire and we had to fill out what confession he had, so we left it blank. And when he came home from school, they asked him, well, now, how did they solve it?

[01:05]

Which religious class are you participating in? Oh, he said it was so simple, you know. The Catholic, they wanted to go, and I just wanted to sit, and the Protestant just keeps sitting. Now he gets Protestant theory. Theology. And now we just have this big subject of baptism, sorry. Okay, and the teacher asked, who is baptized from you all kids? So Richie said, yes, I'm also baptized as a Buddhist.

[02:06]

I'm ordained as a Buddhist. And the teacher said, ha, so take all of them, they're all Catholics and they're all baptized. Take all of them as Buddhists. Okay, so the teacher said, oh, then you can all bring a picture from your baptism to your school. And so, Richie, you can bring yours from your ordination, too. So, Richie also has a little bib like this, you know. I didn't want to give him the bib to school. I thought the photo is just sufficient here. So she looked at all the photographs and there were many little babies when they were baptized. So I learned a picture of Ritchie in this big sangha and he being the little child there.

[03:11]

And she asked him, what does this mean to you? So this is maybe my answer to what is reality. He explained his experience of it. You know, we don't kill any animals, never. Not even a mosquito. That's when you go into shopping mall or street. And every bum gets that money. Always. And has he converted the teacher yet?

[04:16]

And we love human beings and we love all human beings. So Richie can give the next seminar. So Richie was also quite sad that he wasn't allowed to come here. Yeah, I love Ritchie. It's nice to see him. It's an experienceable reality. He never asks what is Buddhism or something. He just kind of, I feel like he grows into it. It's his reality. Thank you. Someone else? I want to say something about these two realities, these different states of mind. To me, it feels sometimes like a curtain, that these cultural things and this everyday mind is like a curtain who covers up the other.

[05:27]

And sometimes I can open it a little bit, sometimes I can open it wide, sometimes it's difficult to do it, sometimes it's easier to do it. Yes. Thank you. You know, the name of this... Oh, yes, German, please. I would like to say something about these different realities or these different states of mind. For me, it often feels like these cultural things and these... This temple is called, the Japanese name of it is Genrinji. Which very simply means black forest temple. But gen also means dark, reddish black. And it means the mysterious female. It means living in two worlds at once.

[06:49]

Yes, so... Maybe I'll talk more about that after lunch. But it's wonderful how a word, well, it's Black Forest Temple. Actually, when you look carefully at the verticality of the word, not the horizontality, the verticality of the word, it reaches out in many ways. That's a really exciting, simple word, like Schwarzwaldtempel. If you look at the verticality of this word, not the horizontal, then it can really be used in all directions. Joseph? I have a question or an experience concerning what you have said about disconnecting your breath from the emotion. My experience is that when I disconnect my breath from the emotion, I lower the level, the emotional level.

[08:00]

And there might even be a danger in there. because if the emotionality becomes too small, it's just that I feel unhealthy So, I asked myself during this exercise if I should reduce the emotional outburst according to my experience and sometimes I see this as a possible danger, because sometimes it is good to be there emotionally and not to weaken an emotion. This is an experience and a question at the same time. This is an experience and a question simultaneously. The more you breathe, the more emotion you have.

[09:07]

The more you've got the vitality. The more I ask, what does it mean to deeper? Okay. Yeah, thank you for pointing that out, bringing that up. Yes, there is a danger of... I think in psychology it's called dissociation, dissociating yourself from your emotions. And it is the case that some, you know, I think when Zen's badly taught – let's hope we're not doing it today – Practitioners use Zen as a way to suppress their emotions or their self, their feelings. But my experience of what I'm talking about or trying to present

[10:11]

Because I need some, you know, I need to make some distinctions or make some words. Let's, yeah, so let's say distinguish between emotion and feeling. It's not that there's no connection between the breath and the emotion. And I would say, again, emotions and feelings are just two words, but the range of what emotions are and feelings is much wider than those two words. So, I mean, I think emotions are more fundamental than thinking. Thinking is rooted in emotions, actually.

[11:33]

Thinking is rooted in caring about things. Then there's emotions in the service of self, of self and selfishness. And then there's emotions which are part of our caring about the world and other people. So my, anyway, what I see happening through this practice is, you know, in myself, is my feeling increases. My thinking and knowing is inseparable from feeling.

[12:44]

But it's not emotional or so connected with emotions in a simple sense. And one of the let's say it should be a parallel practice in Zen, is to find that place, often through meditation, where you let yourself, encourage yourself, exaggerate even, that you feel everything, But you don't need to suppress it or overtly express it. Ausagieren. Ausagieren. Übermäßig ausagierst. So you get in the habit of feeling things completely but knowing you don't have to act on it unless you want to.

[14:07]

So if that's familiar to you then you're really in the habit of you feel things completely, but you don't have to express them. And if you do express them, you express them. You're not out of control or something like that. So, anyway, this is a territory of some You know, one has to have some common sense and develop a kind of basic psychological health and so forth. And that's one reason why one should practice in a healthy sangha and so on.

[15:11]

Because these tools of practice are powerful and they can be misused. But in no way meant you should separate yourself from your feelings. But you aren't caught up in the emotion in a way that you're controlled by the emotion. And that occurs when you have this more fundamental sense of an ongoing beingness, more like a like the ocean with waves on it, but you feel the stiller water underneath the waves. So, okay, anyway, thanks for bringing that up.

[16:12]

Yes, Yudhita? Yes. Oh, is falling in love more emotional or more feeling? You tell me. I think it's more deceptive and more likely to lead to suffering if it's emotional and not feeling. But falling in love is probably the most dangerous thing we do other than stupid things. But... thankfully falling in love and practicing are in the same territory.

[17:25]

Maybe practice is to fall in love without unrealistic expectations. Maybe we should sit for a moment and then we have our lunch.

[17:59]

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