I read a rather long, for a newspaper at least, article in the New York Times the other day. About something called, I guess, dialectical therapy or something like that. Started by a, developed by a a woman in probably California. And supposedly the most successful, new, and diagnostically supported by research therapy. Yeah, and I saw her reading it along, you know, just there, you know. And it sounds surprisingly like Zen, and then after a while they started mentioning Zen, you know.

[01:04]

And the center of the therapy seems to be to get the client, the patient, to be able to notice their experience without acting on it. Noticing the experience without acting on it and not identifying with it. Yeah. And they try to teach it in this therapy with a kind of mindfulness approach. In Zen, it's primarily developed through sitting, still sitting. Don't scratch really means to notice your experience without acting on it.

[02:21]

And when you develop this thoroughly, it's a transformative skill. It creates a different psychological space in you, within you. So much of what I'm trying to do is to get us to notice our experience. And, yeah. Yeah. So I'm always trying to find the words, terms, that can help us notice our experiences. And you can't notice your experience, really, if you identify with your experience.

[03:59]

I don't mean you never identify with your experience. I just mean that one of our initial mind... is just to notice and accept. And we can take again part of this yogic skill... is to... is to notice and accept whatever. That's always our initial mind.

[05:01]

And we just develop that as a habit. Now, I don't know, I suppose some of us will have a problem about just being natural, blah, blah, blah. Well, there's no, really, at least in Buddhist world, there's no idea of natural. Yeah, natural is rooted in a belief in God. As if there's some way the world is that we can just sit back and let happen. But everything is... Everything is... Something we can act on and act within.

[06:15]

Maybe to think of it more like a sport, like when you train to play tennis or something like that. It's not natural. It might become natural after training. And Suzuki Roshi's understanding of the word natural, I remember he always used to speak about it. The only way he understood it was how you act after training. So if you really want to do this practice, You take a responsibility for whatever your minds are. And you intentionally develop initial minds. Again, this most fundamental mind, for us, initial mind, is a mind of acceptance.

[07:43]

Now, I'm rather full of what I'd like to speak about because it's sort of piled up in me today. But I don't know how much of it I can kind of find a way to say. Maybe I should start with defining mind. Now I keep defining these words over and over again, you know, different times. But if you want to notice your experience, You have to have some means to notice your experience. And words are one of the most useful ways to notice our experience.

[08:44]

But first you have to have a conceptual grasp of what the word means. And a specific sense of what it means. Yes, a specific sense of what mind means, for example, and not just a general sense of mind. And a specific sense that may be and probably is different from whatever specific sense you have already. And in addition, a specific sense of mind that you can experience. So if you want to make use of a term, You have to get a conceptual grasp of it.

[09:58]

And a specific conceptual grasp of it. And noticing if it's different than the usual or general way you use the word. And then all that means almost nothing unless you find the territory of experience of this term. Now these days I'm often speaking about the craft of practice. Now, craft, I notice that whoever is translating for me usually translates craft as handwerk. And this is not really what it means in English. If you talk about the crafts, you go to a craft store, yes, you mean the handwork.

[11:14]

But if you speak about the craft of writing or the craft of thinking, you don't mean the handwork. Yeah, the word craft in English, really, the root of it means, the etymology of it means strength. Die Wurzel von diesem Wort, Kraft, Kunstfertigkeit, bedeutet etymologisch Kraft. And in that sense, the word might be better translated as art or technique or know-how. Und in diesem Sinne wäre das Wort besser übersetzt mit Kunst oder Technik oder Wissen. So when I say the craft, let's say, the craft of enlightenment... Yeah, if I say the art of enlightenment, the know-how of enlightenment... I hope I'm not causing problems for you.

[12:47]

Not at all. Not at all. And Because I'll use the word craft and say the craft of enlightenment, by that I mean that art of being which makes enlightenment more likely and that skill of being that is based on enlightenment. Okay. The mind of acceptance is such a mind. Mm-hmm. Such a mind, a mind, yeah. I was... driving once I had to get up early in the morning before Zazen and drive somewhere years ago.

[14:07]

And this is when I most clearly noticed this. That as I was driving, I thought, jeez, I wish I could have gone to Zazen. And then I thought, well, I will find what I need from Zazen here while I'm driving. Now, that's... My making that decision was based on the mind of acceptance. My making that decision was based on the mind of acceptance. Because I didn't have the idea, oh, well, tomorrow I'll do Zazen.

[15:09]

That would be not a mind of acceptance. That would be a mind of, well, how can I put it? If I need something, I'll get it later. The mind of acceptance is, if I need something, I'll get it now. Der Geist der Akzeptanz bedeutet, wenn ich etwas brauche, dann besorge ich es mir jetzt. I work with the situation I'm in. I won't try to change the situation. Ich arbeite mit der Situation, in der ich mich befinde, und ich versuche nicht, die Situation zu verändern. Or I'll try to change the situation by working within the situation. I don't know if this makes sense. Is my English clear enough?

[16:17]

I don't feel too articulate today. Okay. But if you do have this feeling that you're always working with the situation you're in, your first idea is not to change the situation, but to work within the situation. So somehow really feeling that and knowing, in fact, there's no alternative, I found the flow of mind and ease that comes with Zazen appearing while I was driving.

[17:17]

No, I'd done that before, of course. But somehow it really clicked or I really noticed it that particular time when I was driving. You know, in English the word notice is spelled N-O-T-I-C-E. Im Englischen wird das Wort notice, n-o-t-i-c-e, buchstabiert. I also notice that when I spell letters to Germans, I say, huh? Und dann bemerke ich auch, wenn ich... Even Marie-Louise or, you know, anybody.

[18:23]

Because you pronounce the letters differently. Ja, wenn ich dann die Worte buchstabiere, dass so ein huh auslöst. Yeah, anyway, so... But I find if I'm... When I think of the kind of noticing I mean, what I'm just speaking about, I in my mind spell it K-N-O-W-I-T-C-E. Or K-N-O-I-T-C-E. T-I-C-E. You don't have to spell it. In other words, it's the word know, K-N-O-W, and notice put together. Okay. I am causing problems. Yes. You don't really have to translate it. We'll ask Frank to translate it. Are you there, Frank? Yeah. Okay.

[19:33]

Now, okay, defining mind. I usually define consciousness as a function of mind. And self as a function of consciousness. Okay, now how do I define mind? first of all as the field of mind, and the contents of mind understood from the point of view of the field of mind. Okay, so whenever I say mind, I'm emphasizing the field, the particular field of mind, that may have different contents, but whatever those contents are, they're conditioned by the particular field of mind.

[20:45]

Now, if you don't have an experience of the field of mind, it's very hard for you to anchor your experience. Or even to notice your experience. Because the ability to really notice your experience is to be identified with the field of mind and not the content of mind. Okay. Now mind with a capital M would be the essence of mind or the fundamental nature of mind which is various fields of mind. That emptiness of mind or field of mind which allows things to happen.

[21:57]

And in Zen stories that's usually what's meant by mind. But in our own thinking, our own noticing, it's good if we can notice the field of mind. And thus, from the point of view of the field of mind, notice the contents of mind. Now, this might sound to you like, oh, of course I can do this. Or it may be that you say, are you kidding? I could never do this. Or it may be that you actually do it, but don't notice you do it. That's probably more the case.

[23:13]

But really the essence of Yogacara thinking, pedagogy, is that all, again I tell you often, all mental, all, how do I usually define it, all mental events have a physical, all minds have a physical component. All minds have a physical component. Aller. And all sentient physical states have a mental component. Now, the contents of mind don't have a physical component. Well, of course they have a physical component. But they don't have exactly an experienceable physical component.

[24:27]

But we can feel the difference between different states of mind. So part of the crafter practice is to be able to anchor yourself or settle yourself In a particular state of mind. Like you can feel in your body the mind of acceptance. And you can work with your energy in that mind of acceptance. You don't say, I wish I had more energy. You say, what kind of vitality or energy can I find just now in this state of mind?

[25:32]

Or in this situation. Or we may want to bring our intention to our breath. But we can also say, can I find my breath in this particular situation? So I can have an intention to breathe. to bring my attention to my breath. And that's one of the fundamentals of our practice. But I can also have the intention to find my breath in each situation in which I am in. And there are actually different practices with a different fruit. Different result. To develop the habit so your attention continuously rests in your breath.

[26:35]

As I say, for example, as our intention continuously rests in our posture without our even thinking of it as attention. As our attention can rest in our posture, so our attention can rest in our breath. Which is, as you all know, is a transformative in that it allows your attention not to rest in your thinking. But that intention is still different from the intention to find your breath in each situation in which you are in. Or to find your vitality or energy in each situation you're in.

[28:10]

Or to find the space or silence that permeates and allows everything in each situation you're in. These are the constants, I call them four constants, that we develop in our practice. Not like Bodensee. Constants, something that continues. Yes, these are the four constants that... Now I forgot the rest. These are the four constants. The four constants are to reside in your breath, continuously without breaks, to reside in your energy or vitality.

[29:21]

That's a lot like establishing the root of heaven and earth. and to reside in knowing that all objects are mind objects, or relational objects, and to reside in the emptiness or space or silence that allows everything to be possible. Now, mature practice is rooted in these four being always present. And they're rooted again in this mind of acceptance where you find them in each situation. You don't just have a continuous flow of energy, but you might.

[30:37]

Each situation you're in, you find the energy that's there. And that changes the inside-outside relationship. Many of these things I'm speaking about I really need to spend more time on with you. We'll see if it's possible. But I want to speak about daydreaming. I used to be accused of daydreaming in school a lot. So what I'm speaking about that is I'm again pointing to the contrast I always make that we're all familiar with, dreaming mind and waking mind.

[31:39]

I think any definition of mind that we kind of really move toward and experience is really will be helped if you really of the simple recognition, waking mind, dreaming mind. And dreaming mind is rooted, dreams are rooted in dreaming mind. And consciousness is rooted in waking mind. So the contents of waking and the contents of sleeping are determined by dreaming mind and waking mind.

[32:47]

All right, largely determined, that means mostly determined. And conditioned. Okay, so what is daydreaming? Yeah, now, again, what is dreaming? Now, if you practice lucid dreaming, which some of you may be able to do, You can be present with a certain kind of consciousness in your dreaming. And sometimes I notice there's even dreams behind dreams. And it's not just that a dream will pop out and then It really is just an idea in addition to the dream you're dreaming.

[34:00]

But under the dream you're dreaming is another dream. You can see it has been dreaming along under the dream you're dreaming. Behind, above, where? Here we have something again like the inside-outside distinction. If you open a box, there's no more inside. Suddenly the inside has become outside. Now, could we say that when we open the box, the outside has become all inside?

[35:13]

Or could we say the inside has become outside? I would rather say it's all inside. Why? Well, there's more power for us in the word inside. If I'm inside this world, there's much more intimacy. And Inside is what you're connected with and outside is what you're not connected with. So when the outside becomes what you're connected with, we can call it an inside. So practice, we could say, is when everything becomes inside.

[36:20]

Maybe, you know, Kai Eichermann told me the other day he knows somebody who's a kind of scientist of bubbles who also works as a magician. And he actually works with the, Kai says, with the mathematics of bubbles and he works with scientists and stuff. Yes, this guy blows square bubbles. And how he does that is he blows five bubbles, one in the middle and four on each side. And it makes the inside bubble square. Like I always think this teaching staff is really one of those things you use at New Year's. So maybe the world we're seeing is like a square bubble and around it are lots of round bubbles making it look square.

[37:48]

Anyway, I used to be accused of daydreaming a lot in school. And And I think the teacher would be offended because I wasn't interested in what he was talking about. I wanted to think about something else. But that really wasn't my experience. I really wasn't thinking about anything else. Yeah, maybe because, and it wasn't that I was bored with what he or she was saying.

[38:49]

It was rather that everyone in the room was bored. It was a very thin consciousness where everybody pretended to be studying or something. Yeah, they were all sort of paying half attention. The teacher was counting the days until Saturday. And this thin consciousness really isn't very engaging. So my so-called daydreaming I found much more engaging. I really would be just absorbed in the movement of the leaves of the copper beach outside the window.

[39:59]

So really I was entering a kind of, let's say, a mind of greater connectedness. And the universe was gathering around the leaves of the Copper Beach. And so I wasn't thinking about something else. Maybe I wasn't daydreaming, but rather dreaming the day away. Dreaming the day. Or I was... Hmm... taking a time out of time.

[41:17]

So in the midst of the day was a time out of time, a mind of much more engagement and connectedness, much more absorbing, and not really involved in thinking or fantasizing or something or other. Just rather choosing a more deeply engaged mind than what was going on in the classroom. Now, It's similar, we could say technically, it's isomorphically similar to dreaming.

[42:20]

Because they both displace the contents of consciousness. Going to sleep displaces the contents of consciousness. And daydreaming displaces the contents of consciousness. So they're both similar, but really they're basically different. Similar in structure. Function. And it's quite similar to the mind of Zazen. Which is not the mind of sleeping.

[43:21]

I mean, I kind of hate to mention Edward Teller because he invented or claims he credits himself in inventing the hydrogen bomb. Also, I Edward Teller is a scientist who credits himself with inventing the hydrogen bomb. And I suppose I hate to mention it because, one, the hydrogen bomb is a terrible thing to invent. But I think one of the roots of the problems we have, many of the problems we have in the world, is the stupidity of our culture in inventing these horrible weapons. The practice of right livelihood means you do not make weapons.

[44:35]

One of the definitions of right livelihood. And this has bothered me actually since I was in high school. I gave my high school graduation talk on it. I said, you know, if we invent these weapons, nuclear weapons and others, to think that Everyone isn't going to use them. It's just nuts. You can't lock up Pandora and her box. Pandora will get out of it and the box will open and the inside will become outside.

[45:41]

So I don't blame so much these people who are blowing up everything. Because it's completely obvious if you make these weapons, everyone will start using them against each other. It's too late. It's really too late. Anyway, Edward Teller was waiting for his wife. He was shopping in a grocery store, and he was daydreaming in the car and thought up the hydrogen bomb. It's like Watson and Crick dreamed, or one of them, I can't remember, which dreamed the double helix thing. It's too bad that Teller didn't go shopping with his wife Anyway, aside from all that.

[46:57]

So in the midst of waking mind, there can be daydreaming mind. And in the midst of the contents of consciousness can be the mind of acceptance. And in the midst of all of our activity can be these four constants. This is the art of Zen practice. Which makes enlightenment more likely and are based on enlightenment. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[47:49]

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