There's a phrase that was used as a rallying cry, as a slogan to create a rally. In the student revolt in Paris in 1968. And the phrase was, be realistic. Expect the impossible. To be realistic is to look forward to, to aim at a Buddha appearing in our midst.

[01:12]

To be realistic means to look inside, To know how, in some way, how impossible this is. And also, at the same time, how completely ordinary, everyday, realistic this is. It's not just about somebody else. It's about each of us appearing in such an aliveness in our own life. This life is impossible.

[02:30]

I sometimes wake up at night. Sometimes included last night. I wake up because of the pain in my legs. I think, this is impossible. We do it every day. And when we can't, we'll do something else. But as long as we can to embrace the possibility of this impossibility, Outside of our ideas of what's possible or not. Embracing the possibility that each of us can be a Buddha for our own practice.

[03:32]

The possibility to include or embrace that each of us can be a Buddha for our own practice. That in every moment the space that we create together is a Buddha field. As Laman Pong says, this is the place where Buddhas are chosen. Not any other place. Not during Sashin. Not some special experience we may have in our zazen.

[04:51]

But just each moment of this preciously dense and mysterious temple life we weave together. And even in the midst of our likes and dislikes, our so sincerely, seriously held beliefs and preferences. Our important sense of self. In spite of it, in each moment there is this possibility.

[06:01]

What does it mean to say such a place is a Buddha field, a place where Buddhas are chosen? We may say that wherever people come together to practice is a Buddha field. Throwing our sense of small self aside into a wholeness. Unser Gefühl von einem kleinen Selbst zur Seite zu werfen, in ein Gefühl von Ganzheit hinein. Bereit zu sein, um Unterstützung zu bitten. Und bereit zu sein, großzügig Unterstützung anzubieten. It's a practice that begins and ends with us.

[07:25]

And that is fundamentally not about us. These cool, crisp, gray days I was reminded of a weekend that the Vienna Sangha organized in the Waldviertel. And Hans-Jörg and Rosa. drove me from Vienna to this place in, not dissimilar to here, in the woods, in the mountains, damp and cold. And Eric and maybe 20 or so, 25 or so others, we came together in this country farmhouse to make a weekend sitting.

[08:28]

And we walked into the living room. And there were some couches and tables and lamps. And we started to move things. And in about a half an hour, it was a Zendo. Not out of some idea. And we didn't know what we were going to find. We didn't know about the tables and couches and lamps. We were coming together and making, shaping and forming a space together.

[09:46]

And the shaping of the space in this practice, not just the physical materiality of the space that we have made, And the mutuality So these elements that are continually present for us in our daily practice, paying attention to things, paying attention to placing the foot on the floor in qin hin, Paying attention to how the floor seemingly rises up to meet the foot.

[11:19]

Establishing each moment in breath, body and phenomena. And at the same time discovering and unfolding the mind that arises as we place the foot. The mind that arises as we continually shape a Buddha field together. So we've been talking about different minds, a foreground mind, a background mind, all-ground mind.

[12:28]

These minds operating in what we may call a field of mind. Feel that we're continually generating. A field where the attention is not so much on the contents or the objects of mind. as it is to the awareness and unfolding of these many minds. kind of absorbent awareness, where each arising is an opportunity to experience and generate a new mind.

[13:54]

One of the most fundamental choices that we have is a choice as to where we place our attention. We don't always have that choice. When Sigmund fell in the woods, his attention went to his broken leg. But we also, even in such a situation, have a choice about what the relationship to such an experience is. Aber selbst in so einer Situation haben wir eine Wahl darüber, wie unsere Beziehung zu dieser Situation ist.

[15:09]

Wir leben in vielen Behältnissen. Unsere Geschichte, unsere Vergangenheit, unsere Kultur. Our civilization, our lack of civilization. Lack of civility. And the possibility of being intimate with these minds and beginning to be able to choose where to rest our attention. means we can begin to live outside these containers. Even as we function within them.

[16:14]

The possibility of practice is to live a life relatively free of these structures. This tendency we have to continually organize each arising according to what we know, what's familiar. Diese Neigung, die wir haben, automatisch all das, was auftaucht, danach zu organisieren, was wir schon kennen oder was uns vertraut ist. Wir hatten ein Abendessen bei uns zu Hause, kurz bevor ich zur Praxisperiode nach Deutschland gekommen bin. with some photographer acquaintances of mine including somebody who made this wonderful book Life in One Cubic Foot He made a metal frame out of a quarter inch

[17:44]

rebar, round rebar. He made a metal frame, 30 square centimeters. A ramen cube. A ramen. And he placed it in different environments. A cloud forest in Costa Rica. Cloud forest. Oh, okay. A coral reef in French Polynesia. Thank you. Anyway, he left this frame in these environments for 24 hours to see what kinds of life passed through it.

[19:05]

From microscopic insects to sea turtles. and I asked these two quite accomplished photographers, I asked them, did they have an experience of an unframed life? An uncomposed life. An unstructured life.

[20:08]

And the immediate response was that they're continually structuring, framing, and composing how they relate to the world. But they both shortly recognize that that comes out of a sense of the world not being formed or structured. And that they, through their intention and their craft and art, bring a frame to each situation. But practice for me is not only that it's possible but it's essential to live not just within but also outside of any of these frames.

[21:20]

Aber Praxis für mich bedeutet nicht nur, dass es möglich ist, sondern dass es notwendig ist, auch außerhalb jedweder dieser Rahmenwerke zu leben. Die Möglichkeit in jedem Moment, dass wir uns selbst untereinander so begegnen können, wie wir wahrhaftig sind. mixing the many minds in a field of mind. A formed mind rooted in our history and culture and experience. And a continually forming mind. A mind of

[22:36]

uniqueness and unknowingness and mystery and darkness stepping back in our life prior to physically prior to dividing the world up where anything is possible. That's being extremely realistic. Please let's support each other not to wait for the right moment for the perfect circumstances.

[24:14]

For a wonderful Sashin. Let's all help one another to be realistic now. Thank you very much.

[24:40]

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