Those of you who are new, and there's quite a few new people, it seems, I apologize for not speaking German, Deutsch. But I have my helper here. He would have nothing better to do if he didn't do this. And I suppose, I think we'll have to move to the, do you think we'll have to move to the bigger room tomorrow? All the fully dogs are not received. All right. Fifty people in here, that's probably a little too crowded. Yeah, okay. There are already four or less because four pads. Maybe it works that we have the seminar here. We can decide. Okay, we can decide tomorrow, yeah. And you can hear that I've been sick, I guess, with the swine flu.

[01:07]

A lot of people in... Don't worry, don't get nervous. All right. They closed the school nearby, Creston, and quite a lot of people, they say, had the swine flu. It looks like I wasn't tested, though. And usually what I have thought was the flu, it lasts two or three days. Dr. Aldag here says I've never had the flu. This is the first time I've really had it. So I was sick for at least three weeks. And it wasn't always interesting. It was a nuisance.

[02:14]

But anyway, I'm pretty well now, except the Schweinehund is still wagging his tail. Okay. Now, I suppose some of you are here and will be here tomorrow because I've been away for a while. And you know how happy it makes me to see you when I've been away. But I suppose some of you might have come because of the topic. And I'm always curious if the topic makes any difference. I never used to pay attention to the topic, but now I kind of do pay attention to the topic. Okay. So the topic is, was ist die Welt?

[03:35]

Am I pronouncing it well enough? Yeah, perfect. Was ist die Welt? Well, we're asking ourselves, I think we never stop asking ourselves this question. I think the infant, infant means in English, before the baby speaks. I think the infant lying on a pillow is implicitly asking What is this pillow? And then, when it has stuffed animals... When it has stuffed animals... You have them.

[04:38]

German babies have them too, don't they? Oh, they do, yes. It's just completely somewhere else. Sorry. Also, wenn Sie ausgestoffte Tiere haben, dann... Yeah, so... Then the baby starts wondering, you know, what is my favorite stuffed animal? Yeah. And then, of course, what is mother, what is father, etc. What is this stranger picking me up? And the baby already knows the parents from their voices when it was still, before it was born. So there's always, I think for us, implied, implied questioning in our forming our world.

[05:47]

And at some point as received our received culture and the received answers of our culture take hold and at some point We tend to stop questioning. But one of the characteristics of Buddhist practice is you don't stop questioning. So we have you know got this question, this topic, what is the world?

[06:54]

And we're asking it, of course, in the context, unavoidably, in the context of our lived lives in a Western culture. But we are also asking it now in Johanneshof. In a Buddhist context. In a Buddhist context or context. And I'm very grateful. I mean, I'm just here for 10 days or so. I'm very grateful we have Johanneshof. Because it gives me this wonderful opportunity to come here for a short time and And practice with you, talk with you, be present with you. Yeah, so what does it mean?

[07:57]

We're asking the question in the Western context of our lives. And we shouldn't and we can't ignore the Western context of our lives. And the Western context gives us a chance to ask the questions in new ways in the whole history of Buddhism. And that doesn't mean just in some philosophical sense. But in the actual context of your lived life. And so, I mean... your lived life

[09:11]

And Buddhism have never met before. Not just meeting our Western culture, but in fact meeting your life. And that's what I like about being here too, is I meet your life, your who are new to me and your who are very familiar to me. Okay, so we're, say it again, we're meeting this question, looking at this question, and But by being here at Johanneshof, and with me and the life I've led, we're asking the question also in the context of Buddhist teaching. And Buddhist teaching is one thing for people new to Buddhism.

[10:42]

And another thing for people who have been practicing a long time. For those of us new to Buddhist practice, we have to make use of and make sense of the received teachings of Buddhism. And for the more experienced practitioners, We question the received teachings of Buddhism too. And sort out those teachings which make the most difference in our life.

[11:46]

But we're also not just looking at this question of what is the world. From the point of view of Western culture or Buddhist teachings. But we're also, as practitioners, looking at it through our Through our practice of meditation and our practice of mindfulness. And I think we can say fairly safely that all of Buddhism is based on the experience of the world through meditation. Okay. So if... Yeah, so far what I've said has been clear enough.

[12:58]

So if... questioning remains part of Buddhism, questioning Buddhism itself. In that sense, it's much like a science. Conceptually, Buddhism is not really a religion in the Western sense. At least the Buddhism we're bringing into the West is not based on belief.

[14:00]

Yeah, it's conceptually much stronger conceptually quite close to science. Der ist konzeptuell... Yeah. And as the electron microscope transformed Western science, even Newton, except in his spiritual quest, didn't accept unobservables. Newton, except in his spiritual quest, didn't accept unobservable atoms and molecules. Even though, even before the electron microscope,

[15:05]

it was pretty clear something like atoms and molecules must be fundamentals of this world. But once electron microscopes came along, there was no denying it. My point here is that meditation practice developed mature meditation practice moves you into a world where that was probably unobservable without meditation. And by bringing meditation into Western culture,

[16:27]

It's not just that it is different from Western habits of looking at the world. Within Western habits, it's like a tool that makes us see the world differently. If we let it, they love it because for many of us we want to We're really, I'm sorry to say, we're really so attached to our personal worldview.

[17:41]

As a male or female with a particular hoped for future. That we only let a little of Buddhism affect us. One of my favorite poets is Cavafy. Cavafy, a Greek poet. I happened to, by accident, yesterday, found a poem of his. It's an extreme version of what I'm talking about. To help my translator, I made two copies. It seems it's easier to translate me speaking than to translate something in red text.

[18:58]

I don't have any experience of this because I can't translate anything without consideration. Without pity. Without shame. They have built big high walls around me. And now I sit here despairing. I think of nothing else. This fate gnaws at my mind. For I had many things to do outside. And why didn't I observe them when they were building the walls? But I never heard the noise or the sound of the builders. Imperceptibly, they shut me out of the world. I think we're actually the builders.

[20:07]

And as we get older, we start building these walls around ourselves. And I think some of us come to Johanneshof because they think maybe there's no walls in Johanneshof. There are, in fact. But at least we're questioning the walls. And making use of the walls. Peering over them. Oh, I like the way you translate it. Peering over them. Okay, so again, we have this dynamic in Buddhism of continual questioning. And also of accepting. You can't just question, you also have to accept.

[21:11]

And if you don't practice accepting, you end up in a world so much of your own making, you hardly feel alive or intimate with others. So one of the first practices of Zen Buddhism is to, as I many, many, many times pointed out is to say yes to each occasion.

[22:13]

Until it's your habit. But at the same time you have to be able to say no. But there's a big difference between your first initial response to the world. If your habitual initial response to the world is no or suspicion or fear or protective you're going to live in a very constrained world. And if you just notice this, and you can notice it by trying to practice with yes or welcome, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[23:28]

And then, I mean, as I give an example, I get crest on. Tom was just there. Did you have a good drive through Breckenridge, etc.? Oh, good. And I was in a well period when he was here. If someone said to me in Crestone, let's go to the movies, I would say, because it's my practice, yes, let's go. Except the nearest movie theater is 100 kilometers away. And almost certainly doesn't have a movie I want to see. So I say, well, of course we can't. So the no is there, but I start with yes. And if you try starting with yes, you really notice what your habits are.

[24:55]

To live in this world, we have to trust its possibilities. It doesn't mean we're not cautious or careful, but we have to trust its possibilities or you don't see the possibilities. Okay, now we have something very basic here. characteristic of Zen practice which is noticing appearance already now if we talk about noticing appearance You're already practicing the most basic of Buddhist teachings.

[26:06]

Is that the world is a series of appearances. There's continuity. But there's more discontinuity than continuity. Or, how can I say that? It depends what you mean by more or less continuity. Excuse me for saying this, but at any moment, at each moment, any one of us could die. Sorry to remind you of this. But we could say this is discontinuity big time. And we live in the midst of big time discontinuity. Yeah. I mean, people my age... I'm 75 this month, occasionally die of influenza.

[27:26]

There might be a more noble way to go, but, you know, it's... But what the heck, it has to happen sometime. So there's this... potential of discontinuity, big time discontinuity. And at the same time, from moment to moment, there's always slight significant changes. And this is one of the unobservables, very difficult to observe these slight changes. Recognize them, accept them, notice them. but accepting them and beginning to have the extended sensorial acuity extended

[28:56]

extended sensorial acuity which one can develop through meditation which actually enters you into a consequentially different world. which allows you to enter into a consequently different world. Now, I like to start on Friday. It's what I call a prologue day. Since not everyone can come on Fridays, it's easier for people to come, obviously, on Saturday and Sundays.

[30:13]

That... I like to start without meditation. Because I have the feeling I want to be with you in more pre-meditation western sense of aliveness. But from tomorrow we'll start the sessions with half an hour or so of Zazen practice. And then, you know, I've been doing this for years and it's very clear to me that I can speak differently if you've done half an hour of meditation before I start speaking.

[31:17]

And I'd like us to, you know, to notice the differences. But I think now it's a good time to take a break. I will come back together in about 30 minutes or so. Thank you very much. Thank you for translating. You're welcome.

[31:50]

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