Thank you all for still being here. Thank you for translating still. Yeah. Yeah, part of the motivation, what I spoke about yesterday, that in a few weeks, three weeks or something, I'm going away. Back to Crestone. Presuming airplanes and all work. Yeah, for me, going away is a staying here. That sounds like a zenny statement.

[01:03]

But really, I have to go away so I can come back here. And so that this place can be taken care of. It also might be good just to have a little for me to get away from... What do they say? They say a teacher is something like incense. It smells good from a distance, but up close it kind of hurts to knock. It stinks. So if you... So if you spend too much time with your teacher, you start criticizing him or her. Some of the criticism is, of course, I'm sure valid of any teacher.

[02:04]

But some of it is just being too close too much of the time. Like there might be a perfectly nice person sitting beside you in Sashin. But, you know, they, after a good meal like lunchtime, they might belch or worse. And then you become quite critical of them. Yeah. But also it's because in ourselves it's hard to separate our personal identity from our practice identity.

[03:15]

And when our practice identity must take a next step, our personal identity gets stronger. Say, hey, here's a chance for me. And it tries to justify that by emphasizing the personal identity of the teacher. So this relationship of teacher and disciple and sangha is actually a complex one. And so this relationship between teacher and student and singer is really a very complex one.

[04:17]

skills from us. That's all relationships, spousal, parental, etc., take considerable skills. It's nice to see that you and you two and Susanna, you guys are doing okay, it looks like, as long as you come to Sashin together. But I have very good relationships with my two daughters. I wonder what would happen if I did sashin with them now. That would be quite wonderful, but I don't know. Maybe a test. But it's no accident that the people who are here, who have committed themselves to staying at Kresta Johanneshof and taking care of it, Gerald and Gisela,

[05:37]

and Beate, and Dieter, and Frank, and Christian, and Akash, except that he couldn't get a visa last year, have all done practice periods at Creston. So no matter what we think, there seems to be a factual relationship between one's development in practice period and one's commitment to the craft and housekeeping of practice. So that's what I mean when I say when I go away I'm Staying here.

[06:58]

Coming here. For me, these two practice places are not a haphazard connection. They're more and more one... maturing Sangha. Not everyone will practice it, both of course. But some will, and that makes the difference. So we're developing two new ways of thinking about the Dharma Sangha. We're calling it the Sangha wheel and the Dharma wheel. Dharma wheel are those who are... receiving transmission or developing as teachers, have decided to do that for the Sangha.

[08:27]

It's not just a matter of understanding or something like that. It's a matter of deciding to do this kind of work in one's life. It's a decision, you know, anyone can make. Almost anyone in our Sangha could make. But our circumstances, the logistics of our life affect it. Aber auch die Umstände und die Logistik unseres Lebens, die ist irgendwie anders. Also unser Übersetzer Erich, der könnte diese Entscheidung treffen, aber er hat zwei Kinder und einen Job und so weiter. Yeah, I have a little, as you know, daughter, Sophia.

[09:30]

So I can certainly understand... that this is the highest of all possible work. The best of all possible work. So anyway, at each period of our life we have to make certain kinds of decisions. Beate is making a decision now. Her two children are grown to try to live here more all the time. So each of us are at different stages. Not better or worse, just different. And that's what a Sangha is. So the Dharma wheel is trying to develop teachers so I can die peacefully. and don't have to stay all the time in Crestone.

[10:45]

The Sangha wheel is more so I don't have to stay all the time in Crestone. Because if we can find a way to develop our practice together, then I can come back and forth more easily. And we should start two practice periods a year at Creston. So people can stay through the year more easily. But if we do that, then I have to have someone who can lead the other practice period. So I only lead one a year, and I'll be here the other part of the year. And likewise, we need people here to take care of this place. Und gleichzeitig brauchen wir auch in ähnlicher Weise Leute, die sich um diesen Platz kümmern können.

[11:52]

Someday we might have a practice center here where we can do practice periods. An einem gewissen Zeitpunkt haben wir vielleicht hier auch einen Praxisplatz, wo wir Praxisperioden machen können. If we buy all the neighborhood farms, wenn wir alle umliegenden Bauernhöfe aufkaufen, or we find some other place, But that may be the work for your lifetime, not the work for my lifetime. Because for me, this only makes sense if this continues. It may not make that kind of sense to each of you. But... If your friend or children want to come here, even if you're only here for a few seminars or sashim, I want your friend or your children to be able to come here in 10 years or 20 years.

[12:54]

Anyway, so this is on my mind. Because I already have to start packing. But I'm so grateful to be here. And to know each of you and to know each of your practice. And I'll start Doxan tomorrow morning. But I like to have at least three days of the Sashin, just intact Sashin days. Yes, so now we've talked about the institution or logic of Sashin. And of the Sangha too. So now let me try to speak about practice itself more directly.

[14:02]

Now, where I'm at in speaking with you about practice is I've, over the last 10 years in Europe, more than 10, but anyway, let's say the last 10, I've, Jesus, been 20 almost. Anyway, I've been presenting what I would call the basic teachings of Zen Buddhism. Yeah, and that I can do. Sometimes I teach this, sometimes I teach that, etc. But at this point, what I have to start doing, I should start doing, is combining the teachings. For example, how do the four foundations of mindfulness work together with the...

[15:26]

Six perfections. And so forth. So I thought of that, you know, both in Münster and Berlin, I tried to, I was moving in that direction. For example, I thought of starting to teach the ten boomies. But each boomie, or it means land, each boomie or... realm is a combination of teachings. How you put those teachings together. Well, that's harder for me to To do with you. Because you know two teachings, and you know two others, and you know two others, but the three of you together don't know the eight.

[16:30]

So what do I do? How does late practice continue at this point? I can go back over these basic teachings, you know, again. And we... Yesterday picked the titles for the seminars and practice weeks and so forth next year. We tried not to pick titles that we've used before. But will I be giving teachings that I've done before? Aber werde ich Lärm geben, die ich vorher schon gegeben habe.

[17:38]

That's okay. Das ist in Ordnung. That's all right. But how can I make this next step where it requires a group of people all to know similar five teachings and show how you combine them? No, I'm not saying that you should all say, well, he's reached the end of what he can do. Goodbye. Sayonara, Roshi. Tschüss, Roshi. Well, that might not be a bad idea, actually. But let's assume this is a challenge and we can somehow solve the problem. This Dharma wheel group is one way I'm trying to solve the problem. Yeah. The Tibetan groups get out all kinds of booklets, so everybody has to study booklets on various teachings.

[18:58]

We've never done that. It's a lot of work. We've never put the effort into it. Yeah. So, I don't know. But somehow we'll solve this so that we can move into the next stage of practicing and teaching together. On the other hand, we have the famous story of Milarepa to his well, his main disciple, Gambopa, he transmitted all the teachings.

[20:03]

It's said like pouring one vessel into another vessel. And then he said to Gambopa, but I still haven't given you my quintessential teaching. But when you leave, I'll give it to you. Or before I die, if I can figure that out, I'll give it to you. So it came time for Kambopa to leave. He said, hey, Milarepa venerable teacher what about that quintessential one and Milarepa lifted up his robes and turned around he wasn't mooning him as we say in English Just wanted to make sure.

[21:25]

Before you translate it. But he was showing him that his buttocks were as hard as an ox's hoofs. For sitting for years on stony mountains without a cushion. And he said, this is the secret of my realization. And he said, this is the secret of my realization. You know, the other day, yesterday morning, this is just an anecdote.

[22:37]

Someone called. The phone rang. So I picked it up and I said, hello. Someone began speaking German to me. Which is not unusual here when I answer the phone. And I said, hello, hello, what do you want? And I said, hello, hello, what would you like? And there was a long pause and then he said, I want money. I said, well, I can understand that. I want money, too. I said, why do you want money? He said, I want Manfred. I said, I want Manfred. I said, I want Manfred. So I said, I'm sorry, Manfred isn't here.

[23:37]

I couldn't resist telling her that. Where's the connection? I said, it's just an anecdote. Everything I say isn't connected. I want money. So I think what Milarepa meant, of course he gave all these teachings to Gampopa. So what did he mean? How I understand it is he means that it is through sitting that we know the mind. There's virtually no other way to know the mind. To soften up the mind, too. To loosen it from its anchors. in consciousness and continuity.

[25:02]

And to transform it. And to mature the teachings through that loosening up and loosening up and transforming. And to develop a wisdom mind. Now, to some extent, if you just sit, you'll get the hang of this, get the feel of this. But thousands of things happen when you're sitting. Which ones should we emphasize? And this we need If you want to do this in one lifetime, you need teaching.

[26:05]

Not only hints from the teachings and the teacher, but a feeling from the teacher and other practitioners. A feeling that allows you to feel into your own mind. A feeling that allows you which is what we are also doing in Sesshin. Now, the practice of, as I've said, bringing, wetting attention to your breath, establishes a basis.

[27:42]

It establishes a basis through changing how, through changing through what? You experience continuity. Now maybe here's a point at which I could speak a little about Sophia. Yeah, because, or maybe I should stop getting close to that time. Okay. She recently had her third shot. Which is some kind of cocktail of lots of different things. And it made her lose it for a couple of days. So what did she lose?

[28:57]

And I've been trying to observe this little tiny girl. I sort of think she's actually a midget. A midget? Zorg? A zorg. A little, a tiny, an adult that's a tiny person. An adult who's tiny. It's impolite, political to say that. It's impolite, yeah. Okay, so a dwarf. Well, I'm sorry to say something. I try to be politically correct, but some people are just small. Anyway, sorry to cause a little crisis here.

[30:05]

That's not really a crisis. Anyway, she's like a little adult who doesn't understand. But I try to bring the vocabulary I've developed to sort of observe the mind through practice in a Western context. So what's happening now, she's also learned, as I've told you, to crawl quite vigorously. And what I see, particularly since she's learned to crawl, she has a lot of problems with transitions. And that particularly was the case in the couple of days after her shot. What I would say is that... How can I put it?

[31:12]

She's... She's developed, as I've pointed out, now she's put her sense fields together. And then began to develop a kind of consciousness related to those sense fields. And then once she established And after she stabilized this consciousness, she could start acting through her body, through that consciousness. Yeah, and I don't really care whether this is exactly right, but this is what I see. But I think it's useful to speak about because it says something about how we establish our own consciousness.

[32:13]

And some kind of established consciousness within our sense field allowed her to begin to start alternating hands and legs and things like that. Okay. Now, that consciousness... then allows a certain self-consciousness. A certain separate self-consciousness. And that separate self-consciousness allows her to establish continuity. Establish her own continuity. Because up till recently and still, her basic sense of continuity is a biological one with her mother.

[33:32]

If you could watch her start, she would start... as she started being able to crawl away from her mother, she suddenly had separation anxieties. And she turned around and went right back. But she began to be able to develop more separate self-consciousness. And establish her own continuity. It's almost like imagining a record player. I suppose. Even the younger among you have seen a record player.

[34:34]

Anyway, there's a turntable wheel that turns, you know. And you put a little piece of plastic down on top of that. And it has bumps on it, grooves with bumps on it. It's terribly primitive. And then you have this needle that bounces along. Okay, so the turntable is sort of like continuity. The record is sort of like consciousness. And the grooves are like karma associations and so forth.

[35:35]

And the self-consciousness is like the needle which follows in the grooves. And you need that self-consciousness to pinpoint the needle and to establish to hear the tone and to establish continuity. So it seems that when she had her Another kind of needle, the shot. She lost her ability to handle transitions. In a very similar way, with crawling away, she lost her ability to deal with the transition of being separated. And just waking up or falling asleep, she couldn't handle this transition because you could see she couldn't find herself.

[36:49]

No, I think this image seems to me pretty accurate, at least it holds together for me watching her. But we also have to establish our continuity. It's one of the key functions of self. And one of the keys to all of practice is you change how you establish your continuity. And I don't think there's any way as a Buddhist I can teach her not to establish separate self-continuity. She has to do that. Okay. But I can slowly perhaps teach you that the turntable and the record are not the same thing.

[38:15]

The record is consciousness. But the turntable, the ground of being, doesn't have to be consciousness. So in practice, we're changing what we know of consciousness. Even this morning, speaking about dreams. Not only do we have more dreams during Sashin, or a different kind of dreams, and kind of karmic or vivid dreams, what's also strange is I've noticed that during a Sashin, people in the house who are not in the Sashin, like Marie-Louise, start having dreams like people in the Sashin.

[39:17]

I've seen this very often over the years with people who are present in the center but not in the Sesshin. But this increased dream activity or newer kind of dream activity which also may continue into your first or second period of Zazen, allows you not only to feel the more vividly, the contents of the dream, but also allows you to feel the background of the dream. The kind of field of light on which the dream occurs. And so she allows us to you begin to notice dreams during your daily life through practice.

[40:42]

In the midst of daily activity, you can feel the presence of dreams working in the background of the mind. And that's more... more clearly so in Sashin. And then you can begin to shift identity from noticing the content of the dream to the kind of light space that's the background of the dream. But to really do this, you have to have changed your... the way you establish continuity. Now we're in a place where different practices come together. So that's enough. For now. Thank you. Thank you.

[42:00]

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