So we have this practice of body, speech and mind. Let's start there. And I think you're getting the picture that it's a kind of procedure. The Eightfold Path is a kind of procedure. So what is this procedure? Now I've spent most of this three weeks trying to find a way to talk about this, this practice which I know in my body, but I've never really articulated before. So maybe it's better, maybe the people who didn't come to this practice a month are better off because they just get the fruits of

[01:01]

my trying to articulate it. But maybe it's also beneficial for us because we've and I hope to some extent you've gone through with me the process of discovering how to articulate this practice. Okay. So we can ask questions of each of the three.

[02:32]

Okay, so what is speech? And I've tried to find some way to speak about what is speech. Now we know the rules of a context of practice. Practice tends to be inclusive. So what is speech? Speech is what is not body or mind. So what is not body or mind? Now I've tried to find some word for what is not body or mind. And the best I've come up with now is attentional forms.

[03:52]

Yeah, forms that arise through attention or call our attention. I don't know what you can say in German, but in English I can say noticings or even notifications. Notification is good because it has this sense of truth. It's a notification about the truth of the world. Now, what is true speaking?

[05:00]

What is the teaching of true speaking in Buddhism? It's speaking in which you find the body. Now, as I pointed out, one of the reasons, I pointed out that lie detectors often work, work a large percentage of the time. Because it's much harder for the body to lie than the mind to lie.

[06:02]

Yeah, so if you can always find body in your speech, you're more likely to speak the truth to others and to yourself. This is the mystery of the truth of body, speech and mind. Das ist das Geheimnis der Wahrheit von Körper, Rede und Geist. Okay, okay. So if the key to the Eightfold Path is this strange word suddenly, speech, yeah, sort of views, intentions, Speech even before conduct.

[07:14]

Views, intentions, speech, conduct. Ansichten oder Sichtweisen, Absichten, Rede. Es ist noch vor dem Verhalten oder ich weiß nicht, wie sich das übersetzt, betragen. I don't know what the classic translation of conduct is. Behavior? Verhalten, I mean that sounds good. Verhalten, yeah. Okay. So, why You'd think that conduct is more, behavior is more important and speech is secondary, second or next. But the Eightfold Path clearly and extraordinarily insightfully says in this sequence of coming into life, coming into our true nature, views is followed by intentions, and intentions is followed by speech.

[08:41]

Speech is more rooted in intentions than behavior. And behavior is more rooted in speech. How do we talk to ourselves? Let's say a deaf-mute person who signs. Do they think in signs? Do they think in a kind of interior speaking? I don't know. I'm just throwing out some peculiar questions. This was actually a question for both William James and Wittgenstein.

[09:59]

Okay. Okay. So, I'm saying attentional noticings or attentional forms. Attentional noticings or attentional forms. Or notifications in the sense of promises that you're speaking the truth. To stand, we say in English, to stand by your word. So why are these

[11:07]

Why doesn't it say body, attentional noticings, and mind? Or attentional body, attentional forms, and mind. Yeah, I'm sorry I'm being so philosophical, but you're going to be stuck with it for a few minutes. Otherwise, I think you don't... This is about not classical philosophy, but the logic of our living. The logic of our living.

[12:35]

Yeah. Yeah, because life and living is the same word in German. Okay, the logic of our life. Okay. Okay. So, attentional forms are the seeds of speech. Mm-hmm. but they have no meaning until they have grammar. And grammar in this way of thinking means speech. What is the dictionary definition of grammar? The rules of a particular language which generate sentences and which generate all possible sentences that have meaning and the rules that fit standard usage.

[13:52]

But is how we actually exist fit some kind of standard usage? Is our experience contained in all possible sentences? Ist unsere Erfahrung in all den möglichen Sätzen enthalten? That might be a prison sentence. Das könnte vielleicht ein gefängnisartiger Satz sein. Can you say that in German? Prison-like sentence, yes. Prison sentence, sentence, yeah. Oh, fui. Das könnte...

[15:04]

Okay, so, you know, in Koan 20, which in a way this practice is a key to, of the Shoyoroku, in the eyes it's called seeing. In the ears it's called hearing. What is it called in the eyebrows? Is that a meaningful sentence? What is it called in the eyebrows? Wie nennt sich das in den Augenbrauen? Wansong stroked his eyebrows and said, cat. Wansong strich sich durch die Augenbrauen und sagte, katze.

[16:12]

Wohin will uns dieses ganze Zen-Zeug führen? Warum kann Religion nicht einfacher sein? Yeah, because we don't have a God, so we've got to do it all ourselves. You're the creator of the world. And you create the world through a kind of grammar. Sophia's now got the word ball. She's had it for some time, actually. But now she knows you can throw a ball. But I can't call, I can't say a globe is a ball. She wouldn't know what that means. And a globe is also a map.

[17:14]

So with all of this, that's a kind of grammar to put that together. And I can get her. The other day she was throwing the ball. She throws quite well, actually. and she threw me the ball and I'd catch it and then she was standing in the bathtub so I'd throw the ball back to her and make a big splash she thought it was very exciting And then I'd bounce it off different walls so it'd come in at a surprising angle and she thought, this is great. And then she'd get the ball and bounce it off the floor back up to me. Now if I said to her, don't just throw me the ball, throw up.

[18:40]

Though perhaps the physical motion of throwing is not so different than vomiting. All the way we can use the word throw are not yet contained in just learning to throw a ball. All the meanings contained in the word throw. But throw up is not throwing in German. No, I don't care. In English it is. We vomit differently in different languages.

[19:46]

Now, but Noam Chomsky became famous and transformed linguistics by saying, though I'm not sure it's entirely true, that all languages have a kind of universal grammar. Which means that somehow language is something close to genetic. Or at least that the way the world teaches us to speak is similar everywhere. Okay. So he says, in the eyes, you don't have to repeat this, you don't have to translate it, in the eyes it's called seeing, in the ears it's called hearing.

[21:13]

What is it called in the eyebrows? Now you can translate. And then there was a long silence. You don't have to translate. Okay, go ahead. And then he said, in sorrow we grieve together. In happiness we rejoice together. What a wonderful and even yet somehow despairing comment. And just in sorrow we grieve together.

[22:22]

In joy we rejoice together. But then he says, we all know the useful function, our useful functioning. But few of us know useless great functioning. Okay, what's useless great functioning? If you don't understand that speech is simultaneously body and mind, you won't probably get that. Okay, so again, one practice, one way of looking at practice is to see that we identify with our thinking

[23:33]

And that thinking, when we identify it, generates a certain kind of consciousness. Now, that's one way of working with, let's say, thinking, attentional forms. Waking mind thinking. What about more fundamental thinking than waking mind thinking? The strange, meaningless sentences that sometimes our dreams can generate. Or a grammar of meaning that doesn't have any usual meaning.

[24:44]

And it's not always good to try to find the meaning of dreams. But takes the power out of them, the sting out of them. Yeah, it still might be useful. But it turns it into the waking mind thinking. Yeah, how do we let these, you know, let's just talk about dreams. How do we let them work in us? Without trying to interpret it. How do we let these attentional forms work in us?

[26:05]

A speaking that doesn't know only the grammar of our language. What more subtle bones of the world will become visible? Okay, so then we have the practice, you know, of Eightfold Path. of bringing breath attention to our speech. Okay, now this, that's one way of practicing. This particular procedure of practice, Yeah, that would be all right to bring breath to your speech.

[27:15]

But this practice is emphasizing more find the body in your speech. Find the mind in your speech. Now, we could also say this is to live in this world. The thisness, the thusness of this world. So you find your body, your mind, your speech inseparable. And that inseparability starts to extend to other people.

[28:34]

I remember Uchiyama Roshi had this image of, well, we're all like squashes in the garden. Yeah, what's that Italian squash that... Zucchini. We're all like zucchinis in the garden. We look like we're separate. But if you look more closely, we all got this kind of stem reaching to all the other... We don't see it. Yeah, and it's the grammar of our culture. Yeah, and our fear actually at really being different from others. Yeah, but the more subtle stem... is this grammar that goes beyond our culture.

[29:48]

So let's go back to the little story of Corinth. He's asked, why did Bodhidharma come from the West? Sitting long is tiring, says Koran. So that goes against the... Yeah, yeah, that goes against the myth of Bodhidharma who sat for nine years, you know. But let's ask another question.

[30:53]

Why did Lance Armstrong come from the West? To do the Tour de France. No. Why did... Someone asked one of the other racers, Why is Lance Armstrong such a much better bicyclist than anyone else? And the person answered, why is Lance Armstrong the best bicyclist? So the guy, the reporter asked someone else, another bicyclist, and he said, he asked the same question. And three or four times he got the same answer.

[32:07]

The question was repeated, why is Lance Armstrong the best bicyclist? Why are the eyebrows horizontal? Why are they up above the eyes? Well, they'd look really funny under the eyes. There are some questions we can't ask. Language doesn't help us. Why are the eyebrows not under the eyes? There's no meaning to such a question. Die Sprache hilft uns dabei gar nicht, warum sind die Augenbrauen unter den Augen. Da ist keine Bedeutung dran. Sometimes people ask me, are you Baker Roshi? Manchmal fragen mich Leute, sind Sie Baker Roshi? And involuntarily, I often answer, oh, sometimes.

[33:10]

Und ganz automatisch oder unbeabsichtigt antworte ich, oh ja, manchmal. And then I say, and sometimes I'm the one who's not busy. No, I've never said that. But sometimes I'm Dickie Bird. Dickie Vogel. Hey, that's good. Anyway, okay, so say there's some guy who's been practicing Zen entirely too much. And he doesn't know who he is anymore. So he falls down and hurts himself. And he cries out in pain. And someone says, who's feeling this? Who is it?

[34:10]

Who's feeling the pain? And the person says, I don't know who it is who's feeling the pain, but the one who doesn't know who it is is feeling the pain. Well, this is ridiculous. This is actually a question that Wittgenstein asked. We all know who's feeling the pain, even if he says, I don't know who's feeling the pain, is the one who's feeling, etc. So no matter how much you practice Zen, we know who's feeling the pain. Okay. So why did Bodhidharma come from the West? Something emerges, practice emerges.

[35:13]

When you feel tired from long sitting, something emerges. Who are you when you're feeling tired from long sitting? You're the one who's feeling tired from long sitting. Sometimes you might be Richard Baker. Sometimes you might be Sophia, perhaps, if you're Sophia. Yeah, sometimes you're one who feels pain. So this answer of Corin emphasizes momentary appearance. Not to think I'm monk so-and-so, but I'm one who is tired from long sitting. When you know that, you're close to knowing why Bodhidharma came from the West.

[36:25]

Okay, so we can go back to speech appearing. And within this procedure, this practice, you locate, you find your body in your speech. Find your mind in your speech. And through finding your body in your speech, you find your body. What's speaking to myself raises my arm. What speaking to myself raises my arm?

[37:50]

So we started out this seminar, this month I mean, with what is the body? It's not the stuff, what is the body? How do we locate the body? Okay. Now in the same koan, Shoyaroku 20. Yeah, it says, just hold to the moment before thought arises. Can you imagine that's possible? No, this is Zen yoga. Basic instruction of Zen Yoga.

[39:08]

Yeah, it just says it right in the koan. Just cut the carrots. Just put the water on for tea. And then just hold to the moment before thought arises. That's one of the reasons you get struck in Zen. You say something and some teacher gives you at least one blow. We can't do that in the West, though. Because there's no psychological free zone. Everyone would give that a psychological interpretation.

[40:13]

He hit me. I got hit. I bowed or he bowed or whatever. As long as everyone's in a psychological zone, there's no way to hit somebody to make them feel the moment before thought arises. But we're seeing in this practice of body, speech and mind if it's possible to get to a psychological free zone. Where there might be a psychological interpretation.

[41:13]

But that kind of association or grammar or meaning comes second if it's pertinent. Pertinent means... What is first is it just happens. in a big space with no association that's zen yoga why is Lance Armstrong so good in the end all you can say is he's so good why did Bodhidharma appear We chant all these in the mornings. We chant all the Buddhas before Buddha and so forth.

[42:31]

You know, if you're Clinton, you study all the presidents. Then you run for election and you imitate Kennedy and not Nixon. Well, if we're practicing Buddhism, we study all the Buddhas. We begin to actually feel they might just appear. Und dann fangen wir an zu spüren, dass sie wirklich vielleicht auftauchen. And they're more likely to appear if we just appear. Und es ist viel wahrscheinlicher, dass sie auftauchen, wenn wir wirklich auftauchen.

[43:32]

With no psychological attitudes grabbing us. Ohne dass irgendwelche psychologischen... We just appear. That's such an unbelievable fact. To start talking to yourself about it is so terrible. A baby comes out, it's like it is a miracle. And your appearing is a miracle. You've got to know that. Where no Buddhas will appear. Just hold to the moment before thought arises... And look into that moment before thought arises.

[44:40]

And you will see not seeing. Now, does an ordinary grammar, does that make sense? You will see not seeing? And then, he says, the activity, even of meditation, will not interfere with rest. Rest here means the one who's not busy. So your busyness will not interfere with the one who's not busy.

[45:41]

When you can look into the moment before thought arises. And the one who's not busy will not interfere with your activity. This is Zen yoga. Whoops, I said it the wrong way around. Well... So when the silence of speech is realized, is that the silence of the absence of speech?

[46:43]

No. It's when speech is absorbed into the body. When speech is absorbed into the mind. Then we know what it's called in the eyebrows. Then we know the useless great function. Then we understand Dogen's statement when he returned to Japan. Studying with Ryujin, Plainly realizing.

[48:00]

The eyebrows are horizontal. The eyes are horizontal. The nose is vertical. Now there's no indication in that sentence, the grammar of that sentence, that he means the mind of. The eyes are horizontal and the nose is vertical. In dieser Aussage gibt es überhaupt keine Andeutung. The mind before speech arises. Dass er dabei meint, der... and speech is absorbed in mind and body, so then Dogen can say, without being fooled by anyone, When you know your absolute appearance without any qualifications, you will not be fooled by anyone.

[49:18]

When you know your absolute appearance, like a baby appears, a Buddha appears, then you will not be fooled by anyone. And you can say, I returned empty-handed. The palms like souls which walk on a landscape of feeling. I take time as it comes. The sun, morning after morning, the sun rises in the east. Morgen auf Morgen steigt die Sonne im Osten auf.

[50:48]

Night after night the moon sets in the West. Nacht für Nacht geht der Mond im Westen unter. Clouds disappear. Wolken verschwinden. The rains pass. Die Regen ziehen vorbei. The mountains appear. Die Berge tauchen auf. The four mountains are suffering. The four mountains are low. Die vier Berge leiden. Die vier Berge sind nieder. Thank you very much. Vielen Dank. Thank you.

[51:44]

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