Everyone okay? Some people aren't so sure. Third day, yeah. Well, it's sort of halfway through. If you happen to be counting. And so, since it's almost half through, I think I'll start doksans tomorrow morning. I'm very glad Gerald is back. And can you give us a brief report on Kislev? How she is right now? Yeah, how she is doing and what she is doing. Is that in English for us?

[01:03]

No, no, no. I know. So she is, since yesterday, I have taken her directly from Freiburg to a friend in Todmoz and will stay there until Sunday. And she still has to rest very much. She is very, very weak. About a week after the operation, She had a high fever for 24 hours and that's an old borreliosis that was caused by her being so weak. And that made her very weak overall and she can only walk for a short time, but she has this warrior spirit, she always does more than she actually can. And she hopes to come here on Sunday, maybe? Yes. It's very generous of her to let you go.

[02:20]

And I asked Gerald to be sort of tanto at large. There's a title in some American universities, sort of professor at large. But it means you can go teach any course in any department in the university. So I asked him to wander around and see what's going on in our amateur sashin. Probably every Sashin should be an amateur Sashin. Or one should make it difficult enough so everyone feels like an amateur. But I also like the title, sort of, Tanto at Large.

[03:38]

Because the phrase is also used like if a lion escaped from a zoo, you'd say, there's a lion at large in the community. Sometimes, for instance, at Creston we get word, in downtown Creston there's a bear at large. So I like to think of Gerald as sort of wandering around like a lion at large. Or perhaps a giraffe at large. Yeah.

[04:43]

Yeah. So what we're doing in the Sesshin, it seems, is we're immersing ourselves in the particular. And this is also a kind of education, maybe. You know, if you have an intimation of something you might understand, if you have a feeling about something you might understand, something that feels profound or like it might be important to you, We have a tendency to try to understand that through what's familiar to us.

[05:48]

And what's familiar to us is often what we've known from childhood, our own culture. And whether you're in Asia or Europe, what's important to you in practice might be the opposite of your culture. So you often need to feel the contrast. And this is where we Westerners have an advantage over Asians because we can feel the contrast often more clearly. But to feel a contrast, or to see something different from what we already know, it's often good to have a neutral territory.

[06:55]

and in that sense immersing yourself in the particular, you can think of it as a kind of education, something immersing yourself in or generating a kind of neutral territory. So maybe we need some kind of expression, mantra phrase. So I've been trying a few out today. I haven't settled on one yet.

[08:19]

It takes a while to winnow out. Winnow is like wheat. Winnow out the... the phrase that works best. So maybe particular not wholeness. Or differentiated discontinuous. I don't know.

[09:24]

Always particular, sometimes whole. You don't want your sense of the particular to always be encased in a sense of relevance or wholeness. Encased is kind of closed into it. So one does not want that the specific as always is enclosed in wholeness. So Shan Lin, a Zen teacher was asked by the proverbial monk What is it, knowing form? That's, you know, immersing ourselves in the particular, we could ask such a question.

[10:32]

What is it, knowing form? And Sean Lynn says, it comes, where does it return to? That's a good answer. It comes, where does it return to? Does it return to a whole picture of the world? Does it return to our narrative sense of self? Does it just become part of our meaning framework? Or does it really remain particular? So that's why I said particular, differentiated, but discontinuous. Just the particular.

[11:44]

So again it's a kind of education to try to immerse yourself in the particular. Without making it part of a whole. Without trying to give it meaning. We often have to know things indirectly. Do you know if you write a book who your main non-readers are? Wisst ihr dann, wer eure Hauptnichtleser sind? Eure Freunde. Eure Freunde lesen niemals die Bücher von ihren Freunden. Oh, I know him or her. I'm going to have to read her book.

[12:45]

They'll all pretend they read it. They'll find a quote here and there at, you know, page 40 and page 82. Oh, yeah, it was an interesting passage, but they haven't actually read the book. The lectures I gave in San Francisco recently, because an old friend of mine, one of the original beat poets, Michael McClure, And his wife came to both the lecture and the whole seminar I did. And then sent me a thank you note and wrote me a poem. But most of my friends, one or two others came, but most of them didn't come.

[13:54]

Oh, we know. We know what he talks about. But they don't know. So when you write a book, you're writing to secrets for strangers. The friend won't read it. Maybe a few strangers will get what you're talking about. And that's also true of giving lectures. I have to give a lecture which you think is not for you. You think it's for everyone or something. Or you think it's for someone else, the person sitting on that side of the room or that side.

[14:56]

And then, if you find it speaks to you, you're surprised. But you're surprised because you approached it sort of as a stranger. Marie-Louise noticed this. She can ask me things almost any time. But... Isn't it the case you went to a seminar and you could understand it, but you couldn't just talking to me? Yes. The secrets are somehow more present when there is more indirection. So sometimes we have to sneak up on a topic.

[16:05]

And isn't it amazing that this practice of weaving mind and body together Yeah, you kind of get the picture. To weave mind and body together, yeah. With your intention, with your breath, with mindfulness. In the midst of this... Newtonian world. What kind of world? Newtonian. Yeah, in this envelope in which time passes by. It's got a stamp on it that says, the future. This envelope.

[17:34]

But when you weave mind and body together, without it affecting the world much, yes, we want to change ourselves, maybe. But to change ourselves, we often have to change the world. And changing the world allows us to change. So to change the world, you have to reconceive the world. That's also to rename the world. Yeah, now we have, I've been speaking about Dung Shan and his disciple Tsao Shan. who were the 11th and 12th generations from Bodhidharma, lived in the beginning and latter part of the 9th century.

[18:58]

So when Dungsan first met Saushan, He said, well, a young man came, you know, and said, what is your name? And Sao Shan said, Benji. So Dung Shan looked and said, what is your transcendent name? That's a fine way to greet a guest. Das ist wirklich eine tolle Art, einen Gast zu begrüßen. And Dung Shan said, I can't tell you. And Dung Shan said, why not? And Dung Shan said, because I'm not called Benji there.

[20:01]

So this is an alert answer. So Dung Shan said, okay, you can stay. It's a kind of game, but it's still an alert answer. Knowing this young person knew already we have to reconceive the world. Or take the names off the world. So immersing yourself in the particular. Bringing each sense to each particular. is to immerse yourself in the nameless.

[21:04]

As soon as you name it, it's generalized. It becomes a rose, a flower or something. then it becomes a rose, a flower or something. And it becomes part of how we think about the world. So the practice of immersing yourself in the particular is to immerse yourself in the nameless. Okay. So again, you're just weaving through various practices, discover your weaving mind and body together.

[22:06]

You're practicing Zen, it makes sense to do these things, and that's what happens. Sometimes it feels pretty good. But it begins to establish another dimension. As I said yesterday, an embodied... mind space. It's neither inside nor outside. And it's where there's a phrase in one of the early sutras where mathematics doesn't reach.

[23:14]

The realization is where science and mathematics don't reach. Language can only hint. So I'm giving you a hint calling it, I don't know what to call it, embodied mind space. Even mind may not be quite right. Anyway, a space that's neither within nor without. But it's a real dimension. It does things.

[24:18]

It purifies. It clarifies. There's an old... In yoga, again, there's an old saying that if you take a towel... It's soaked with water. It's all folded up. It'll take a long time to dry. But if you spread it out, it dries quite quickly. So somehow in this embodied mind space, we find the wet towel of our karma kind of spread out. We find our narrative self kind of spread out. We feel in the middle of it, but we also feel some distance from it.

[25:37]

There's some clarity and preciseness. The mind of Buddha is sometimes said to be clarity, clarity. Nothing but clarity. There is something about this embodied mind space that clarifies and purifies. opens up and puts us and everything at ease. So it's a real dimension.

[26:46]

Hard to notice, but a real dimension. Or in practice, it's fairly easy to notice, actually. But to really notice it is not so easy. And to discover it in your walking and acting, and to discover it in your continuity of mindfulness. Now, again, the word vijnana, which I translate as to know separately together, is a teaching for all of Buddhism.

[27:46]

Not just the practice of the senses. So this is also to know each thing separately, unnamed, Okay, so I'm speaking often about, you know, like here's this seemingly seamless world in front of us. Known through consciousness. But instead of looking at the world, look at consciousness. Bring awareness, the continuity of awareness into consciousness and open up the layers of consciousness.

[28:51]

See the activity of consciousness. And also, when we look at the particular, we start looking at the particular free of names. Free of its rush toward generalizations. So you'd be almost, we could say you begin to see the layers and activity of the particular. Okay, so let me speak about our posture. Now I always say, find a way to lift through your spine.

[30:11]

Okay, so, but now, yesterday I spoke about, and just now, this subtle space that feels like space that's neither within nor without. So another way to come into this subtle space is to feel the space of your body You can start out as an exercise. And you start with your ankle. Or your toes. Your toes get kind of cramped and chopped up and sweaty down there.

[31:11]

So you say, hi toes, how are you? Are you still able to wiggle? You better be if you're going to get up in a few minutes. So you can make a little space for your toes. And for the soul of your toes. And so forth. Or you can take the whole unit of the legs and feel the space of your legs. And then lift that space up into your hara, your hips. And then in that space, kind of feel your hip bones moving out toward the sides.

[32:37]

And feel you're making some space in there for each of the organs and intestines and so forth. So here I'm trying to look into the parts of the body. I'm hoping for a kind of democracy where each part can vote. For what kind of wholeness the body is or is not. For? What kind of wholeness, devote for what kind of wholeness the body is or is not. So we're trying to get somewhere pretty profound through simple physical things.

[33:40]

Simple physical things. Things anyone can do. But somewhere where philosophy, mathematics, science doesn't reach. Simple things like practices that we mind and body together. And here just noticing the space of each part of your body. and lifting that space. A gravity's job is to pull us down or to stick us in a location. It's very helpful when you put a glass of water by the bed at night, it's still there in the morning. Sometimes you fling your arms around.

[35:01]

It's not, but usually it's there. So gravity keeps our world nicely stuck together. So we can be friends with each other. Compassion in Zen is to really know oneself well. Not to create some idealized compassion. which often stops real compassion from developing. But in Zen, compassion comes through knowing oneself well, accepting oneself with open eyes, And at the same time to really get to know, to feel each particular.

[36:22]

Each particular as it covers the world. So here you're bringing yourself into each particular, some particulars you can notice of the body. And while gravity's job is to keep us stuck to the earth, Your job is to lift up. So you start with the hips again. You feel the space of the hips. And once you feel the space of the hips, And lift that space up into your waist.

[37:28]

And then you feel the space of the waist. And then likewise up into the chest cavity. And the ribs. And again you try to move the chest cavity out in all directions. And try to move up into the tips of your shoulders. Feel like the lungs are reaching up into your shoulders. And then feel your shoulders are moving out. Out and relaxing. So there's a movement to open and to lift.

[38:44]

And while you're doing this, sometimes if you do this as a little practice until you get used to it, you find your mudra opens up. the ideal mudra is a big oval. And though it's not always the case, it's often the case. If you feel this kind of interior space, this is kind of the garden of your body. And it collects the landscape of the body. And your mudra will open up. Then into your neck. And your skull. And you really feel the sides of your skull. Almost as if it was the dead skull it will be someday.

[40:06]

You just feel this old physical shape that lasts for right now is serving you well. The eye sockets. And for some reason, the cheekbones are often connected to this subtle space. shoulders are important too. But the cheekbones sometimes almost feel like they're vibrating or glowing connected to this subtle space. And then up along the ridge and crown of the skull. So you kind of grow through the body.

[41:15]

You grow up through the spine. And you often will begin to feel now a kind of space. But aren't just these separate spaces you lifted up? You bring your attention to your breath. It feels suddenly like you're bringing your attention in a big space somewhere. You're bringing your attention to your breath. Now there are many unfolding experiences. Many unfolding minds through zazen practice. But this space, which is neither within nor without, is a dimension worth noticing.

[42:38]

strangely arises often through the purification of the particular. You know, there's an interesting distinction in English, which I don't know if it makes sense to tell you. But if you say the whole is comprised of parts. Comprised is made of? Yeah, made of. But you don't say the parts comprise the whole. You say the parts compose the whole by composing music. Because when you have a whole and you divide it up, there's just the parts. But when you start with the parts, you don't know what they'll compose.

[44:12]

So we keep bringing ourselves into the particular. And let the particular sing the song of ourselves. Let the particular begin to hum with the world. Sing or hum, I'm sorry, with the body of Buddha. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[45:03]

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