And so the practices, again, the same practices that I just mentioned in regard to sudden enlightenment and the enactment of enlightenment, are also the practices which bring us in accord with basic enlightenment. And enlightenment experiences arise from fundamental enlightenment. Now, when I was sitting at the oxen, If I was sitting at the oxen having a beer, maybe three or four I'd have an enlightenment experience.

[01:04]

But anyway, I'm sitting at the oxen having, let's say, a cup of tea. And suddenly I felt this space stretching out in all directions, that I seem to be inseparable from. And everything seemed in its place. Everything seemed to have some quality of sameness. Everything seemed just as it should be. And that happened to me. That's an enlightenment experience. But if I sit there and I practice noticing how mind points at everything, I'm enacting the condition of enlightenment.

[02:12]

there isn't much difference. Now, it's easier to do that if you've had some enlightenment experience. But this practice of seeing everything as mind does not depend on having had an enlightenment experience. But it does depend on the truth that at the root of everything is fundamental enlightenment. Dogen speaks about the practice of forgetting about enlightenment. Because completely forgetting a person who is enlightened forgets about being enlightened. And if you ask them, are you enlightened, they couldn't say so because it implies some special state or something.

[03:27]

It's like you forget you're wearing robes or you forget whether you're Japanese or American. So this is just a human culture. You can forget about whether Japanese or American or German. In a similar way, you can forget about enlightenment. Just enjoy this corner of the garden. And people may come to see you. And you can be friendly and hospitable. This is a good way to live your life. Actually, this is kind of ideal Zen life.

[04:39]

To enjoy your garden and be courteous to people when they visit you. And the fourth is prior enlightenance. And the most common prior enlightenment for us who are practicing is the decision to practice. And Dogen calls this initial enlightenment. The decision to practice really doesn't arise from your culture or childhood or experiences or something. Certainly there may be things in your experience that reinforce it.

[05:52]

But at some point it felt right to practice. It's a kind of taking responsibility for your own existence. And not looking for something outside. Or depending on someone else to do it. But somehow you just take responsibility for your own existence. And you may even have a deeper intuition. that to take responsibility for your own existence, you need to do it for others as well. And this is also, in all Buddhism, called the thought of enlightenment. Bodhicitta.

[06:57]

And this thought of enlightenment is the root of all Buddhist enlightenment experience. The thought, take responsibility and I must do it for others as well. This is a the classic thought of enlightenment. And I think we've all had some kind of experience like this. So you can understand, yes, this is initial enlightenment for me. Now, how you nourish this and mature this is your own wisdom. So you may not be a you may be a stream enterer but you may not yet be a never returner.

[08:04]

Initial enlightenment is to enter the stream but to decide to stay in the stream. This is a deeper decision. And there's another another kind of prior enlightenment, which are many experiences you've had that were basically enlightenment experiences but you didn't notice them. It may have happened as a child, it may have happened various points in your life that were tiny turning points you didn't recognize.

[09:12]

Or tiny insights that you didn't know how to act on. There's a traditional image of a bee I don't know where they get this from. A bee flies into an unclean hive and flies right back out again. Hive is a beehive. Which means many bees, many enlightenment experiences are flying into you all the time, but your life isn't such that the bee wants to stay. So what I see is these prior enlightenment experiences are like little bubbles floating around. Some of you are kind of shiny with bubbles. And some of you have not a lot, but always some.

[10:39]

Maybe we... Maybe we... Whatever you said, I'm glad it was funny. Maybe we all have the same amount of enlightenment bubbles. But most of them are still stuck in the past somewhere. But the more you... have present cause and not past cause. These little bubbles of enlightenment start flowing into your present.

[11:45]

The more you have a spacious feeling, they begin to be filled with, open to these experiences. And you might have a similar insight today. And it becomes, you really notice it. Because you've had that same insight hundreds of times and not really noticed it. But practice creates the conditions to notice it and then all the other times you noticed it, reinforce it. So I think we can understand enlightenment practice in these four ways. Prior enlightenments, basic or fundamental enlightenment,

[12:51]

the enactment of enlightenment, and sudden enlightenment. And our practice is, all of our practice is inseparable from these four. So you can have confidence that you're in an enlightenment practice. And because you've made a decision to be in an enlightenment practice, you can practice forgetting about enlightenment. Okay. And just trust your practice, have patience with your practice. This Sukhirti, this talk of Sukhirti I've been referring to about Yokohama and all that.

[14:06]

Yeah, occurred in the fall. So he said, you know, a Chinese Zen teacher said, might say, ah, the flowers are in the trees now. And he would mean that the manzanita trees, tassara in this case. What would that mean? The manzanita is a kind of tree. You have them in Germany. I don't know what they're called. Madrone or? I know, I know. They're around Lake Constance, I've seen. And they become quite red, particularly in the fall. The bark becomes red. And so the Chinese Zen teacher might say, ah, ah.

[15:22]

meaning that the manzanita tree is quite red in the fall, the bark, and that's the flower of the tree. Well, this is a Chinese way of looking at things. That the flower is not just the flower, the flower is also our desire to see the flower. And so if we see the flower on the bark of the tree, that's also a flower. And then... But that's not necessarily Chinese. We can have that same feeling. That the flower we see is also the flower in ourselves. And the more we find ourselves in the present cause... The more we find ourselves completing the present, completing what appears, the present blooms in us.

[16:33]

And then Sukersi added, Then this Chinese teacher might say, the manzanita is red because of the hard practice of so many Zen masters in the past. So this is another turn of it. It's the flower of spring on the tree, and it's the result of the practice of so many people to make our practice possible.

[17:35]

You know, as I said to someone this morning, that no... no mind, no Buddha, no things. It's a way to take vacation in Zazen. You can just take a vacation. You know, there's this little Zen saying, the flower is not red. Nor is the willow green. It's the same kind of statement. But where is the flower? The flower is not red. Nor is the willow green. And Dogen likens Zazen In another poem of Dogen's, the tide is out, and on the shore, the empty shore with the tide out,

[18:49]

There's an abandoned boat. And the moonlight meets, fills the sky. I think in Japanese it's moonlight meets the sky. But that's hard to say, so maybe moonlight fills the sky. On the empty shore, the tide is out. An abandoned boat. An abandoned boat. And the moonlight fills the sky. So when we practice zazen, we can have this feeling. This feeling of... Anyway, like that poem.

[20:08]

And this brings us close to the deepest practice. And the realization of essence of mind. Okay, thank you very much. May our intentions be the same as that of every living being and every living being with the service of the Buddha's path. Oh, no. Oh, gee. Say, God. Oh, boy. Oh, hey. God. God. Good. [...] They are countless.

[21:13]

I believe in saving them. They desire to solve the problems. They are boundless. I believe in conquering them. The path of the brother is unshakable. I believe in achieving it. negawa kuwa nyorai yo shinjutsu giyo geshita te ma tsuran An indestructible, transparent and complete dharma can also be found in hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas,

[23:19]

Nun, da ich ihn sehen und anhören, erinnern und annehmen kann, gelobe ich, die Wahrheit des Tathagata zu erfahren. I'm sorry I was so slow this morning. On my desk I had one of those radio-controlled clocks. And so I tend to trust them. But I think the clock decided it was in England. Because it said it was 9.30 when I heard Gural's voice. Anyway, so, excuse me.

[24:23]

So this week I've tried to explore the mysteries of our living our life, letting life live through us. The mysteries of trying to reconceive of ourselves Reconceive of our experience. At the limits of what we can think, even beyond what we can think. Discussing practices that the way mathematics can take us beyond what we can think.

[25:56]

So practices can take us beyond what we can think. I mean, you know, mathematics can imagine a world of... present us a world of ten or twelve dimensions, which we can only experience three or four. And life-wise practice, I don't know, about ten or twelve, maybe more than that, can bring us into a world that we can't really think, but we can experience. And one of the steps, as I said, is to bring, is to emphasize the immediate present as the first cause.

[27:19]

And one of the first steps is to consider the present as the first cause. And this takes, I mean, you can recognize perhaps the possibility and importance of this. But we have to keep... Letting ourselves down into the present. Or maybe letting ourselves up into the present. Because we have such a habit of defining ourselves through the past and future. Which are imaginary. The past is, whatever you think from the past, it's in your imagination.

[28:23]

And whatever you think your future will be, it's at the present time, your imagination. Now, again, I don't mean that the past is not real for us. Or that we don't have to make reasonable plans for the future. But I mean that we shouldn't do that at the expense of the present. There's an alchemy of letting yourself down into the present. And letting the past be one of the aspects of the present. And the future being an ingredient of the present.

[29:49]

But at the moment of letting yourself down or up into the present, there's an openness and freedom. And how do we reach this freedom? The only true freedom we can possibly know, even if you have future plans for freedom, you better aim that future at the present. Because the only freedom you can have is in the present. And that's wonderful, because the present's already here. You don't have to wait for the present. But you do have to be present to the present. So how do we let ourselves down into the present?

[30:50]

Nun, wie lassen wir uns hinunter in die Gegenwart? You know, if you look at Kant in the sense of noumenon and phenomenon. Noumenon is real for Kant, but it's not graspable. Phenomenon is shaped by our imagination and so forth. Phenomenon is shaped by our imagination and so forth. And the Yogacara makes a similar kind of... A distinction. The present is what's real, but it's not graspable. So we ask ourselves your questions, or you ask yourself the question. What is the present? So we can say it's what appears. Mm-hmm. Yeah, what appears, what appears.

[32:08]

What's that? Yeah, but somehow you have to let Take what appears as it is. Now the more you practice mindfulness, the more you have the satisfaction of the present. The more you practice mindfulness, the more you have the satisfaction of the present. Satisfaction of the present. So the more you practice mindfulness, the more you open up the present. Mindfulness is very simply to be aware of the present. To keep reminding yourself to be aware of the present. Yeah. And so mindfulness is one of the ways we let ourselves down into the present.

[33:43]

And exercise the power of the present. Because you're not only becoming more aware of the present, You're letting the present become more active within you. This is a lot. To become more aware of the present and let the present become more active in you. And it's a kind of relaxation in the present. Because the way we're tight, hardened, paved over, The way we're tight.

[34:49]

Hardened. Paved over, like you pave over the road. Surfaced by the past. Like you surface a road again. Like you surface a road again. surfaced by the future. Yeah, because all the tension in us comes from the past or from the anticipation of the future. And the more you practice mindfulness, and open yourself to the present when it actually begins to happen it's like digging up the pavement and turning the soil and letting seeds you know not where they come from

[36:05]

surprise you with their volunteering to grow in your new garden. So we're talking, you know, the Buddha, the first teaching of the Buddhism is the Eightfold Path. I mean, is the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. And the first is that there's suffering. which means the basic condition of uncertainty. It means mental suffering, of course, and the way so much suffering in the world. But it also means more fundamentally that the very uncertainty of this existence, order and disorder, always we don't know exactly what will happen.

[37:33]

This is suffering. And the second is, there's a cause of suffering. And hence, there's a freedom from suffering. So we have to work with the second truth. What is the cause of suffering? And again, as I said, karma is conditional, not deterministic. So you have a choice of causes. You can understand causation. You can experience what causes your suffering.

[38:33]

And you can't escape from things affecting you. But you can change the territory of causation. You can change the emphasis. So one of these Very first things to do, all of Buddhism is about, is changing the emphasis from the past and future to the present. This, yeah. It's obvious. It's common sense. But it's not always easy to act on common sense. Because we define ourselves through the past and future.

[39:34]

Just stop and notice for yourself when you define yourself. I'm such and such a kind of person. Whether you describe yourself to your children or your parents or you fill out a form, Or you speak to yourself. It's almost always in terms of the past or the future. So somehow we're deeply engaged in the past and future. And I don't imagine we can change this much. You can't? I don't imagine we can change this much.

[40:37]

Such a deep habit. But we can practice in a way that begins to undermine this habit. We can practice in a way that adds new dimensions to our life. Because when you are engaged, so engaged in the past and future It's like your present is paved over. And you see it as a kind of highway to get from past to future. And you're You almost try to get through the present as fast as you can.

[41:50]

And then you find the future is paved over too. And there's a big difference between a garden and pavement. There is. There just is a difference between a garden and a paved over piece of dirt. And so, you know, when you practice mindfulness, you're kind of digging up the pavement. Okay, now that you've got it dug up, what do you do? You've got a little clearing. Then we have this teaching of to notice what appears, to enfold it, to let it come into you, The present is no longer than that, but it does have some duration in us.

[43:10]

And through the practice of mindfulness you increase the sensation of duration. And you can let the seeds of the present enfold with you. And mix with now the associations from... past and anticipations of the future. So there's an infolding, a holding, and then an outfolding. And the outfolding is often just, again, noticing what appears. Now these words are quite clumsy in relationship to the subtlety of the present.

[44:13]

So if you look at Buddhism, you can look at there are many and many practices to cultivate the present. The one I often give you is how separated we feel in the present. And in fact, how The present is where we're connected. So you can work with a phrase, like already connected. And when we do simple things like this, you're reinventing your life. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and we need some faith and patience to allow this new life an opportunity

[45:47]

to develop. Because you're not just unfolding or uncovering your past or some tendencies you have. You're not just fulfilling tendencies. What I'm saying is, you know, in English it's not usual to say these things, so it's hard to say them in German. that I'm using unusual combinations of words on purpose.

[46:53]

Because I want to shake us a little bit out of our habits, predictable habits of thinking. To fulfill your tendencies. Reinventing ourselves. Not unfolding, developing ourselves. By listening to ourselves and listening to the possibilities of the present,

[47:55]

Now the practice I brought up yesterday, yesterday evening, is a practice of not just opening up the present, but of dissolving what you bring into the present. Disassembling what you bring into the present. And that practice is to... perceived non-duality.

[49:20]

This is the central practice of Mahayana Buddhism. And again, I just want us to... Let's not rush into the practice. Let's just recognize its significance. We build up the world through perception. We build up the world through the perception of dualities. Normal. Normalerweise. We got to do it. Tun wir das. Yeah. But a wisdom practice is to disassemble this process.

[50:20]

Aber eine Weisheitspraxis bedeutet, diesen Prozess in Teile zu zerlegen. The koan, the mu koan, which is Zhao Zhou's mu. Und der mu koan, der sich mit Zhao Zhou's mu beschäftigt. You know, does the dog... I have a Buddha nature. And Giorgio said moo. And Giorgio said moo. Very good. And so this is translated as no and emptiness. It's the first koan in the Mumon Khan collection. And muhman khan means gateless gate. And muh is the gateless gate.

[51:22]

So this is the central practice. This is just given to people when they're first starting to practice often. They don't mostly know what they're doing. They just try to do this because their teacher said to concentrate on Mu. And it says that Mu will dissolve the illusions of the past and the delusions of the past and the illusions of the future. And it will suddenly spontaneously join subject and object. So it's just a practice every time you notice something. Instead of every time you notice something, you complete it.

[52:27]

Every time you notice something, you say, no. Emptiness. And I don't know if this works for us as a practice. But you should understand the basic idea of it. Is to break your habit of perceiving in the usual way. So you can say, not mind maybe. Everything you see, not mind. Or someone suggested, This morning. No leaving, no arriving. Nothing arrives, nothing leaves.

[53:34]

Some phrase like that is on each perception. Begins to open you to... The merging of non-duality. Non-duality. This is again to decide on what is the first cause. If you're walking along, you know the famous example, Buddhism, if you're walking along and you see a snake, it's dark in the forest. And you jump back.

[54:47]

But it doesn't move and after a while, as your eyes adjust to the light, you see it's a rope. And instantly the snake disappears. There was a snake there and now it's gone. And maybe you could put the snake back on the rope, but... It's not the same. So now you have a rope there. Just a piece of rope, so you can't use it for much. And the rope itself has many fibers. Joined to make something useful as a rope. But still your own mind is assembling it as a rope. It's a rope because you know something about. the making of ropes and the use of ropes.

[55:57]

Someone who had never seen a rope before would think it was maybe some unusual plant stem or something. Now it's quite easy once you see it's not a snake. Just to feel the snake disappear. It's not so easy to feel the rope disappear. But the more you develop the habit of seeing everything as mind, To see everything as an echo of mind. Maybe you have to find your own way to remind yourself to see everything as mind. But the more you have the habit of seeing that everything points to mind,

[57:05]

This rope points to the mind that sees it as a rope. At some point, the reality of the rope is something... What can I say? the substantial reality of the rope disappears. And you see it as mind or as a function of mind. And maybe Again, the flower is not red. Nor is the willow green. Makes the flower more red and the willow more green.

[58:17]

So by changing your perception in the present moment, to perceive mind and not just object, And to perceive the ungraspability of the mind that perceives the object. You end up not losing the usual world. but the world becomes bathed in its own loveliness, bathed in a new light. It's not so substantial, but it's very clear. So if you change, find a way in the craft of your own practice, as you can bring your attention to the present, as you can bring your attention to your breath,

[59:44]

As you can bring your attention to a phrase and have it working in you. You can begin to bring your attention to the present moment. in a way that often or sometimes takes away the subject-object distinction. And just the habit of doing this begins to actually change the world you live in. Not only is the world discovered in its own light, but you discover the light of the mind itself. and a new way of being from inside yourself.

[61:03]

So this experience, and I'm defining the practice of emptiness here, This is often called dharmadhatu or source reality. Or it's called suchness. The suchness or thusness of everything. So you don't sort of see a rope outside you that's oppressing you. You feel the suchness of the rope. Or the suchness of the snake. Or the suchness of the path in the forest. Or the suchness of the whole momentary present. And you feel strangely complete.

[62:15]

And as I always say, nourished, finally, truly nourished by the present. and you've changed your nature. This is what Buddhism means by discovering your true nature. Your absolutely truly established nature which cannot be grasped. Sometimes it's also called the reality limit. Because reality goes no further than this. You really feel fulfilled in the reality of the present which includes past and future.

[63:22]

You say this again. you feel absolutely included in the reality which includes past and future. So in this way, causation and realization are one. Samsara and nirvana are one. Samsara means to see the illusion of a subject-object. And nirvana is to be free of the illusion of subject and object. There is subject and object. But now subject and object are merged in the non-graspable present.

[64:26]

Now the present is really moment after moment completing itself. This is called realization. Thank you very much.

[64:50]

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