I will hear a list of questions. Ich habe gehört, dass ich eine Liste von Fragen bekomme. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Ich bin so bereit dafür, wie ich jemals sein werde. Jan, die Fragen jetzt auf Deutsch. Zwei Optionen. Jeder, dessen Frage das ist, kann die selber nochmal stellen. Oder ich übersetze sie, wie ihr meint. Can someone just read them to me? Yeah, I could just read the translations for you. I mean, in Turkish, of course. Well, yeah, I think with some of them, I'll just say a few things. Just the question may not mean as much because it came out of a conversation. So then each of you who asked the question, please feel free to contribute to what you meant by it.

[01:03]

Okay, so first question came up just directly from your text. The question is, can an intention be cultural? Because you're saying... Of course. Oh, that's already answered. Of course. Okay, so then next question is sort of also answered itself halfway, but we still wanted to hear. Of course. No, you don't want to say that. Not sure. It's a good answer for the next one. But we wanted to hear your voice on that. So should, as Zen practitioners, are you saying or implying in this text that we need to adopt the East Asian, Japanese worldview? I think That the worldviews are a game. Okay?

[02:06]

And we're already playing the game of the Japanese and East Asian worldview. And the West is... The West itself is not any one single game. There's dominant themes, but it itself is a layer of cultural games, views, rules, expectations, etc. Und auch die westliche Weltsicht selbst ist nicht ein einziges Spiel, sondern es gibt eher so etwas wie dominante Themen und unterschiedliche Schichten von different layers. That's good enough. It's interesting to me that yoga, as we have it in the West, although it represents the Far East, was in many ways a creation of the British Empire.

[03:07]

And I find it quite interesting, for example, that yoga in the way we imagine it, even if it is something that actually represents the East, or should represent, that yoga in the way we imagine it is actually a creation of the British Empire. Now, that came up with all the folks in Japan, because I was... FaceTiming with them quite often about what was going on, the cultural differences and so on. And I pointed out that fundamentally there's no public space in Japan. We take public space for granted. Public space, you walk down the street, it's public space. Because it's just, that's what space is.

[04:18]

But when I was in Japan and living there in the 60s, Before most of you were born. Not all of you. Each house owned and was responsible for everything in front of their house to the middle of the street. and you had to clean it and you had to take care of it, etc. I first saw this when I was in Bali years ago after a trip to China and Japan with Thich Nhat Hanh. And it was clear in Bali they wanted to create and were creating a tourist industry.

[05:31]

And the tourist industry requires public space. But I could see they didn't know how to do public space. They built hotels and they made lobbies, but they didn't know what to do with the lobby. The employees at the hotel, and there was a swimming pool and things like that, they were all struggling about kind of relate to public space. Now, since this is just an example and what we're talking about is culture, maybe this is a useful example. Now, I'd noticed this earlier living in Japan and I'd never quite languaged it as clearly as I did after Bali.

[07:06]

So all Japan, basically, and still is, private space. Which means that you can go into private space, but you don't have a right, R-I-G-H-T, to go into private space, but you have a right, R-I-T-E, to go into private space. When I remember, I mean, one of the prime examples for me was Nakamura Sensei, the Japanese woman, quite a really extraordinary Japanese woman who was And in effect, one of my main teachers.

[08:32]

Every now and then she had a particular purple eggplant pickle I particularly liked. Now you get a lot of purple aubergine pickles in Japan. It's fairly common. But there was something I liked about this. Every time she had it, I said, geez, that's really pleasant, that taste. And she said, would you like to buy some? I always knew I should say yes. So she took me to what looked like a private house, but was a family that had been making pickles for several generations. And they only sold pickles to people who they were introduced to, who noticed the difference between their pickles and other people's pickles.

[10:01]

It's like a musician might, in the old days, only play for people who really appreciated their music, not just anyone. Right. Yeah, I understand. So the right was, R-I-T-E, was I had to notice the difference between that pickle and other pickles before I had permission to buy their pickles. And they had sold a whole bunch of other pickles too, but they only showed me that one from a back room they brought it. I would have had to develop a relationship to buy other pickles. These are pickles, man, not BMWs. So you can... No, no, no, no, no.

[11:37]

I'm not even close to being done. Sorry, you said a whole lot there. And they had... You can think of all of Japan as a Stammtisch. And if you go into the little restaurant, the new Italian restaurant in Harris Street, which is quite good, they gutted the first floor and made quite a nice restaurant in there. Gutted means renovated? Gutted means you cut out, you take out the whole floor, the walls, everything, and rebuild the new... Okay.

[12:37]

They have a stockfish. They have a Stammtisch, and even when they're quite full, they kind of don't let customers sit at the Stammtisch. Now in Japan, this could be carried a little bit farther. If you, I mentioned this to you the other day, Andreas, if you come to a, you discover a restaurant, Und in Japan wird das noch einen Schritt weitergezogen, wenn du in Japan zum Beispiel ein Restaurant entdeckst. Yeah, and lots of restaurants you have to be introduced to to even know it's a restaurant. But you do find a restaurant, you either find it or someone introduces you. And some, they'll make you feel rather uncomfortable so you don't come back, because they don't really know you.

[13:41]

But if you're reasonably nice and you're practicing unlimited friendliness, probably they'll feed you. And you have a pretty good meal with a couple of people. And at the end, they give you a little piece of paper which says 3,700 yen. It's not itemized. There's just a piece of paper with a number on it. And you go back regularly. You come back with a bunch of friends once or twice a week for two or three weeks. And once you have five people and you're eating more and they give you a piece of paper and it says 2,700.

[15:00]

If they like you. And you're a neighbor? Yeah, the price goes down. So that's not public space. That's ritualized space. Nicole called me at one point, FaceTimed me. FaceTime was more stable to Japan than it was to America. Yeah. And her phone was based in... Estonia. Estonia. I'm calling Estonia to reach Japan. And she said, I've discovered that even though the restaurants, I'm foreshortening it a bit, even though the restaurant, the whole wall of the restaurant disappears, not the restaurant, the whole wall of a shop disappears, and it looks like

[16:20]

just part of the street almost. But she noticed that you have to catch the eye of the shopkeeper really before you go in, because even if it's on the street, it's private space. And then before you pick anything up, you have to catch their eye again and nod and see if it's okay. And if they nod back, then you can pick something up. And living in Japan off and on for 35 years, after a while, you discover if you have a relationship, they begin to show you products that are in the back, they don't have in the front of the store, and they begin to lower the prices for you.

[17:48]

So on the one hand, Yoga in the West, even if it is partly a creation of the British Empire, as is public space, is rather a creation of the British Empire. We are getting used to ideas like yoga is a practice of embodiment. The martial arts require embodiment. But also in the West, being an artist or musician requires embodiment.

[18:49]

So if you talk to, you know, I've been reading a lot of Matisse recently and Cezanne, and they clearly were going deeper and deeper into experience. I mean, Cezanne wrote to his nephew, maybe, I love sitting by the river and painting, and I change myself just a few inches left or right, and I paint a new perspective into the painting. Then I move a few inches more to the left or right, and I paint a new perspective. So the painting ends up to have several simultaneous perspectives. That's embodiment. And for example, he wrote to his nephews that he sits on a river and starts to paint and then his perspective just changes a few inches, a few centimeters, a little to the left or right.

[20:07]

So there's an overlap between these cultures. And artists, as usual, it's Traditionally thought to be, and in case, at least it seems to me, are often a little bit in front of the rest of the culture in adopting new ways of experiencing things. And it seems to me that artists, over the centuries, are always a little bit ahead in the way of introducing new ideas or new perspectives into the culture. And so we're a group of pioneers in exploring an experiential culture rather than an intelligible culture.

[21:09]

And the feedback, our group You have to confirm or not confirm this. The feedback our group, I wasn't there, our group got, our Dharma Sangha group got in Japan, in Heiji and in Suzuki Roshi Temple, Rinso Inn, is that somehow we had got some of the secrets of how you are present in Japanese space and not as a tourist. And the feedback that our group, when we were in Japan, in several places, in Eheiji or also at Tsukiroshi, is that we as a group had a feeling of it, something like the secret, or were in resonance with it, how in Japanese, in Japan, in the room, you are in a way present, that you are not a tourist.

[22:14]

Yeah, and so something's happening. And one fellow I met when he was much younger, when I was in Eheji at the time, I was with Thich Nhat Hanh. He was rather a little bit like Baker and Suzuki. We're real Soto, you guys are some kind of... But Christian and Nicole and I saw him two years ago. Was it two or three years ago? And he's someone who has written letters saying, if you're going to come to a social meeting in Germany, you have to wear a raksu with a ring and you have to wear white tabi, those white.

[23:20]

Was that Yokoyama, really? Well, he was... Okay, yeah, but... But this visit, I mean, they're trying to make us fit their patterns. Also die versuchen, dass wir in ihr Muster hineinpassen. And from what Nicole said, if I go straight, there was some discussion of Suzuki Rishi told me, I would like you to reform Japanese Buddhism. I've said to Sukiroshi when he said something like that to me two or three times, Sukiroshi, I've done everything you've suggested. This is way beyond me. It's crazy to ask me. Expect me to do that. But according to what Nicole told me, if I'm getting this a little bit straight, this guy said to her, maybe Suzuki Roshi was right.

[24:41]

we should reform Soto Zen instead of us reforming you. It is interesting, the Soto Zen approached most of the Buddhist groups in America and asked to do special sashins and train them. They never asked me because they knew my view. So, even though I... couldn't do what Sukiroshi asked, in a way, our lineage is, by sticking to our guns, is doing something like that.

[26:09]

So there's a... engaging little by little cultural overlap. There's huge overlaps and there's conscious overlaps. So that's my short answer to the question. do I expect us to adopt the East Asian worldview? In effect, we're already doing it to some degree. When we're bowing to the Buddha, and we realize we're making space by bowing to the Buddha, we're involved with the East Asian yogic worldview.

[27:33]

I think a good example is my hailing taxis, which I mentioned before, but some of you weren't here, so I'll mention it again. What? No, just my own process. A good example for that is... It looked interesting, your process. It was, it was very interesting. A good example is when I discovered how to approach taxis. I've already mentioned this example, but it was interesting, so I'll say it again. For the first two, two and a half months, that's what I remember about, I couldn't get taxis to stop for me. I put up my hand and the taxis would just drive right by.

[28:37]

And often if they were near and I could see them because they were right beside me and I'd put up my hand, they'd go like this. That means a big time no. And suddenly, after two and a half months, I don't know, three months, two months, they started stopping for me. So I had to study myself. Why were they stopping for me now? Well, I also realized why they don't stop for you, because they can see you're a Westerner and you don't know where the hell you're going, and they don't know where you're going either, so they don't want to stop for you.

[29:40]

Because they're nice and they'll take two hours to find an address, which even the department stores can't find. So what am I doing that's different? I said to myself. Why have they stopped it? Well, I realized before I was signaling for the taxi, like I was in New York, and in Japan you don't signal for taxis. You gesture for a taxi. It's almost like you're in liquid and you were moving the water in a way that made the taxi driver notice the ripples in the water.

[30:50]

And what's interesting to me, and I've learned these kind of examples often, is the body knew it before I knew it. And what's interesting for me is that the body knew that before I knew it. So I said, what am I doing? I'd look at my hand. Well, I was cupping my hand toward the taxi driver as if I could put a flow of a liquid space toward him, and then he'd stop. I could see, I knew there was a difference, they were stopping, so I had to study what I was doing And similarly, if the taxi was nearby, I didn't do that.

[32:08]

If the taxi was nearby, I had a different kind of hand gesture to get the taxi nearby to stop. So there's gestural space. And my body learned it before my mind could tell what I was doing. And most of the forms we're doing in Buddha when we pass each other the bow, this is all gestural space. When you pick up the Yoyogi with both hands and bring it into the space of your body and hold it at the level of this chakra, that's gestural space.

[33:09]

When you take the shells with both hands in the Uriyoki and put them in the middle of your body in front of this chakra, then all this is a gestural space. And the Supershi passing by turning his whole body, that's all gestural space, feeling there's a spatial connection between us. Now, if we're going to practice Zen, it's good to develop our own sense of an experiential worldview and not necessarily only an intelligible worldview. And if we want to practice Zen, then it is important that we develop our own feeling for an experience-based worldview and not just worldviews that are reasonable.

[34:27]

Okay, next question. Yes? If we practice Zen, something really changes in this direction. I also notice that when I behave in such a way that I experience space more as a liquid or as a connection, it has an influence on people who are still very anchored in Western culture. Through practicing Zen, something in the direction of what you're saying does change for us. I can notice that when I do start acting in space as if space was a liquid, and it does seem to affect people, even when they are completely anchored in Western worldviews, there's still something about that that they seem to be able to feel.

[35:43]

Yeah, that's absolutely true. So that seems to be an important aspect because we don't want to be a cult like where we just understand each other amongst each other but we want to participate in the world in a way that we maybe initiate or participate in changing the world. obviously something that our bodies or our existence, how it is accessible, so that other people, who do not need to be here, can feel it in the same way. Is there a basic human And it seems like there is a fundamental basic possibility here because people, whether they practice Zen or don't practice Zen, seem to be able to feel this difference.

[37:02]

That's right. You walk down the street, and if you're walking in a different kind of space, people begin to relate to you differently as they just pass you on the street. Now the practice of the six paramitas and the four Brahmaviharas which you all know by heart, right? That's Darth Vader. Dickie Baker. What? So, the six parameters and the Brahmaviharas, for unlimited friendliness, empathetic joy, equanimity and compassion, they assume the practice, assumes that kind of gestural space.

[38:20]

And, but are practicing it, if we're doing zazen and have some feeling for stillness, etc., they become doors to this kind of space. And if they don't, they're just rules. Why should I do these rules? Mm-hmm. That's why I call our practice a craft or a craftist. And that's why I call our practice a craft, a craftiness as a combination of craftiness and practice. Because when you practice the Brahma-Viharas or the Paramitas, you're making a Buddha and you're making the space Buddha space for others. It sounds religious, but it's true. And what I find interesting is that in Butoh, even with people who don't practice Zen, the same kind of thing happens.

[39:47]

Yeah. So... Okay, Butohism. Mm-hmm. Do we have time for one more? What time is it? No, we don't. Maybe not. Wait a minute. No, no, it's only, maybe my watch is wrong. It's only six o'clock. Yeah, but we need to walk over and the karaoke is at 6.15, so we don't have much more time. Okay, let's have one more. Okay. So is, and that's based on, you have this whole thing here about metaphors and so forth, and then one question came up. Is in East Asian metaphors, is the base, is the conception of a mystery or of emptiness, is that an essential part of the metaphor?

[40:51]

Yes. And the koan number 11 in the Mumonkan, is about Nanchuan, no, not Nanchuan, Zhaozhou, visiting a hermit. There were a lot of hermits in China living in the mountains. And there were two kinds of hermits, hermits who were deepening their practice and hermits who lived their life in caves. And in this choir it's about Jojo. Jojo. Jojo. How do you pronounce it? Jojo? Jojo. Jojo, okay. You can pronounce it some other way if you'd like. But it's Jojo, right? It's the same word? Jojo, but that's Japanese. Okay, okay. But Jojo. Jojo. Jojo. That guy, yeah.

[41:55]

Yeah. Nice guy, I heard. Yeah. He goes by one little hermitage. And he says something like, are you in, are you in? And out comes a hermit. And Hermit puts up his arm like that, gestural space. And Giao Giao says, oh, it's too shallow here to dock a boat. And then he goes, walks a little bit further and there's another cave and He says, are you in? Are you in?

[42:57]

And another hermit comes out and he puts up his arm like that. Neither of them say anything. They just put up their arm. And Zhaozhou says, hmm, a master of life and death. Okay, so what's the difference? The whole koan is, but what's the difference? And it starts out with, the first line is something like, thinking in metaphors is necessary if you're going to understand practice. So, thinking in metaphors is assumed to be the way to look at complexity with subtlety which isn't intelligible because it's too complex and it's ultimately empty and mysterious.

[44:09]

And the view through metaphors is necessary to approach things with complexity and subtlety in a way that is not accessible to reason, because it is fundamentally empty and a mystery. You can understand the concept that ultimately this is not understandable is also the concept of emptiness. Im letzten Ende ist das Konzept, dass etwas nicht dem Verstand zugänglich ist, das gleiche ist wie das Konzept. Okay, so now we have ten minutes to walk over there according to our proud director's recommendation. Jetzt haben wir zehn Minuten, um darüber zu gehen und der Empfehlung unserer Direktorin zu folgen.

[45:12]

Thank you very much. I like your questions. Vielen Dank, eure Fragen gefallen mir. I'm sorry my answers are so long. But I've had 60 years to prepare them.

[45:23]

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