This is all a kind of adventure for me. To find out how to be in a practice period and not be in a practice period at the same time. How many practice periods have I led? About 150, I think. So I know something about them. But it's always something original and new. And of course the adventure is partly... Have I done anything that's useful to anyone? Was Suzuki Roshi useful to me and Paul and so forth? It looks like it. I'm enjoying this practice period in the lectures. It seems so because I enjoy the practice period and the lectures and so on.

[01:03]

And next year, I think, Atmar will lead the practice period. And the next year, Gerald Vaishada may lead the practice period. And the year after that, let's see, eeny, meeny, miny. Mickey Mouse? Yes. Mickey Mouse is going to lead the practice period. Minnie Mouse is going to lead the practice period. Minnie Mouse. We need Minnie Mouse. It's a good idea, really. Disneyland here. Yeah, and... And of course whatever I'm doing arises from Sukhiroshi, but it also arises from practicing with you.

[02:29]

You know, I always say that, but I really want you to know that. So the Dharma Wheel group, which is meeting again, starting tonight and tomorrow and Sunday morning, Is another form of my practicing with you which evolves practice, my practice? Mm-hmm. And I'm trying to do this so you don't have to go to Japan.

[03:35]

You have to go to Japan, yeah. Learn the language, be there for years. This is the shortcut. It's a long shortcut, but... And of course, after the Dharma Wheel group left last time, of course, I mean, I know it's going to disturb practice period. So I was glad that some people had the confidence to point out that it was a bit disturbing. And no one pointed out how disturbing I thought it might be. Yeah, but not all disturbance is bad.

[04:43]

So anyway, I think we can incorporate this practice in our practice. I hope so. And I hope it all plows back into our dharmic, sanghic future. Okay. Now, I was asked by a physicist friend of mine, first a couple of years ago, but to participate in an international conference of people who are trying to study consciousness.

[05:56]

Yeah, and there are two phases of it, and it happens in Tucson, and it happens when I'm free next April, so maybe I'll do it. I think the main conference happens every two years, and it's from people all over the world. Yeah, so I learned something about what people think about all this now. So I have to write some sort of little abstract about what I might say if I say something.

[06:59]

And I, you know, sort of wondering about it, I felt I clearly have to say something about how, on the whole, positive, I think, the introduction of various forms of meditation practice had been in the West. So the four aspects that strike me as... ways in which it's been beneficial to persons and practitioners in the West.

[08:06]

Well, I make a distinction between persons and practitioners because I think even if you're not a practitioner, A sense of a wider possibility in beingness is healthy, helpful. And I would like to make a distinction between people and practitioners, because I believe that even if you are not a practitioner, another meaning for being is healthy and helpful. Is that what I said? I hope so. Didn't sound like what I said. I mean, it was in German. Okay. Anyway, okay.

[09:08]

I have confidence. Okay, okay. Um... But it's fun. I mean, I sit here, I don't know what's going on, but I say something and no one knows what's going on. It's kind of fun. But we're doing it together. This is, you know, what else, that's what counts. Not understanding together. This is good. Maybe understanding together. At least practicing together. So one aspect I think people realize practitioners of meditation in the West realize ...is the possibility of, and in fact, in many people, a deep-seated calmness.

[10:12]

Okay. And the second, I would say... A meditation can give a practitioner access to and openness to their psychological processes and habits. And secondly, I would say that meditation can give practitioners access and openness for their psychological processes and habits.

[11:12]

Thank you. Yeah, and I've had many therapists often, I don't know if all therapists feel this way, but I've had therapists often say they like to have clients who meditate because they can make use of what comes up in the therapeutic context. And the third aspect I would say is through the practice of meditation there's often a greater integration of mind and body. And fourth, I would say there's an enhanced development of one's relationship to the world and to others.

[12:16]

And as fourth, I would say, there is an enhanced development of one's own relationship to the world and to others. That sounds like a lot, and it's actually a big deal when you achieve these four things. Okay. But I don't think we want to, I mean, it's for us who are practitioners and not just persons. Are you just a person or are you a practitioner? Okay. We don't want to just passively try to let Zazen do it for us. Or the schedule. Or the guy or gal sitting next to you. I think we want to extend Zazen practice through extend the... realizations of zazen practice, the potentialities of zazen practice, through the craft of practice?

[13:56]

Ich glaube, wir wollen die zazenpraxis oder die potenziale, die innewohnenden Möglichkeiten der zazenpraxis extenden. extend the potentialities of Zazen practice through the craft of practice. Okay. Now, how do you do that? Well, I think it's... I've mentioned these four. So why not take these four as goals... of your practice. There may be others but these four aren't too bad. Okay, but it means if you take them as goals and this is where the whispering of wisdom in your ear comes into the embodiment of practice. Okay, now do you understand what I mean by that?

[15:13]

Ideally, practice embodies us in a new physicality and awareness. Or it opens us to that. But wisdom is something a little bit in addition to that. And you can choose the wisdom you want to practice. And you can choose the wisdom you want to practice. So it sometimes can be characterized as a kind of whispering of wisdom in your ears, quietly, which allow you to develop the potentialities that arise through meditation.

[16:17]

And in this case, the whispering is something like notice comes. I mean, the dynamic of practice is attention and noticing. They're about the same. So you notice when you feel calmer and when you don't feel calm. I mean, if you feel lousy, you don't feel lousy all the time. Lousiness started at some point. Or maybe you feel lousy all the time, but sometimes you feel less lousy. So then you notice, hmm, when do I feel less lousy?

[17:20]

And what happens when I feel more lousy? Or what happens when I feel, yeah, actually kind of calm? This kind of attention, if you don't make it, you're just a passive practitioner. Being a passive practitioner is better than not practicing at all, so, you know, okay. But I can participate with you more, which I would like, if you're a more proactive practitioner. So again, you notice when you go to bed, do you feel calm when you go to bed? Do you feel deeply at ease inside yourself or a little bit at ease?

[18:50]

You can't expect Zazen to do all the work. You have to notice, oh, yeah, uh, Sometimes I just feel completely at ease. Or if you seldom feel at ease, you can know there's a possibility of being completely at ease. Oder wenn du dich selten ganz wohlig fühlst, dann kannst du zumindest bemerken oder wissen, dass es diese Möglichkeit gibt, sich ganz wohlig zu fühlen. Why not? Warum nicht?

[19:50]

Isn't it a better choice? If you're going to live this life, you might as well be at ease. What the hell? Ist das nicht eine bessere Wahl? Wenn du schon dieses Leben lebst, dann kannst du dich ja auch gleich dabei wohlfühlen. Was zum Kuckuck. You know, they've done these happiness studies all over the world. And they've gone to villages, little villages in this or that country and said, who's the happiest man or woman in town? And then they go and interview the happy guy. And almost all of them, when asked, how come you're so happy? I decided to be happy. I decided it was the better choice, so I worked on it. I stopped complaining. I stopped finding fault.

[21:00]

We're all in the same movie. So you can notice when you're feeling more calm, etc., you can also notice when certain psychological patterns come up. And you can start noticing, does the moon affect you? It affects men as well as women. Living more in contact with the day and night, you may notice such things more clearly. So again, it's noticing the moods and so forth of your psychological habits, patterns and so forth.

[22:20]

Every time you feel negative about something or somebody, you stop yourself. Where does that come from? What triggered that? Do I have to continue it? If you don't make that kind of effort, you're again a kind of passive practitioner. Wenn du diese Art von Mühe nicht unternimmst, dann bist du ein passiver Praktizierer. You refuse to let something like that go by without saying, hey, what happened? Du wehrst dich dagegen, so etwas wie das einfach vorbeiziehen zu lassen, ohne dich zu fragen, was ist da passiert? Yeah, like that.

[23:24]

And, you know, I... You might say to yourself, I mean, I find it's helpful to use, as you know, use phrases. And in general, I find phrases in four units are often quite effective. And very generally speaking, I think that turns or sentences with four units are often very useful. Om Mani. You don't have to translate that, unless you want to. So sometimes I might say, now here. And then maybe breathe here. And then maybe stop here.

[24:25]

And then maybe be here. Yeah, and I might do that for a couple of days. and versions of that, and then it folds into the background and is present all the time anyway. And such a, for me, such a fourfold phrase. And I also mentioned to you the other day, wait, allow, accept, physicalize. What you're doing is you're stepping into the delusional continuity of consciousness.

[25:31]

The surface world that consciousness shows you. And I find the four units create a kind of biological, psychological bridge. Is that while Zazen may and does unite mind and body, Mind and body may not stay so united after you do end Zazen.

[26:34]

But if you do something like, just stop in the middle of the world. At this moment in the world, breathe here. Stop here. Be here. Here now. Now here. So, it brings you into a kind of biological, psychological kind of, this is joining mind and body. Okay. Now, I often get kind of tired of people, you know, people come to see me and they say, what is this Zaza all about? What good is meditation?

[27:43]

Is it going to prepare me for death? Will it make me convinced there's reincarnation and I don't have to worry? And what's interesting when people say that to me, I often, it's often a person who does zazen regularly, once a day, and it has for years. And it makes me think of the ugly duckling. You know the ugly duckling? That exists. There's an ugly duckling in Germany too. Which is also a swan. Because for me, when I look at them, I know they're meditators and I see a swan. Weil für mich ist das so, wenn ich die anschaue und ich weiß, das sind Meditierende, dann ist das ein Schwan.

[28:57]

And you know the ugly duckling is actually a swan. Und man weiß ja, dass das hässliche Entlein tatsächlich ein Schwan ist. But it thinks it's a duck. Aber es glaubt, dass es eine Ente ist. So it talks like a duck, but it acts like a swan. Also spricht es wie eine Ente, aber es handelt wie ein Schwan. So I find these people who meditate and are clearly in the flow of the benefits of meditation, they still talk like ducks. What is the purpose of this? They want some consciousness, conscious confirmation. I almost said to someone the other day, let's go sit in the Zendo and stop talking like a duck, but they wouldn't have understood me. Yeah.

[29:58]

To pause for the particular is for. Just now is enough is for. Yeah. I think these four units tend to create a biological, psychological bridge which takes us out of the discursive consciousness, at least some. Which is usually thinking about ourselves and the future.

[30:59]

I mean, sometimes we have to think about such things, but not all the time. So somehow you have to kind of trick yourself with a little wisdom into... this biological, psychological bridge. Now, I started this by saying that these four beneficial practices within the West.

[32:00]

Beneficial practices within the West. Okay, now that means in the paradigms and views and world views of the West. And that means primarily within the consciousness of the West. But one of the main shamanic and alchemical powers of Zazen and of Buddhism and of Buddhist wisdom But one of the most important shamanic and... Shamanic and? is to get us out of constantly defining ourselves through our culture, through our friends, through our family, through our job, etc.

[33:12]

That's okay, but that's not, that's kind of, well-beings as Buddhism. Buddhism wants to actually, real, in-depth Buddhism wants to get you out of that. I mean, if you were born in Russia, you'd be brought up as an orphan and somebody brought you to Russia, you'd be brought up as a Russian. Or an Ethiopian or a Japanese, you know. And then you'd be within that cultural consciousness. So those potentials and many other potentials are there in you all the time. And you can begin to feel those potentials and find a new way of knowing the world and beingness, being in the world.

[34:29]

If you can... well let me say where do you draw the line well I think for us to understand it accessibly is to say we can draw the line at associative mind the fourth skandha between the fourth and fifth skandhas And I think I implied this in the last the time I spoke Friday evening a couple weeks ago or three weeks ago or so

[35:33]

If you can find a way to shift out of consciousness, Most of the time. I really mean most of the time. When you're in ordinary consciousness is a small percentage of the time. That's what defines and transforms an adept practitioner. So most of the time you're in associative mind. Or percept only mind. Or non-graspable feeling mind. Or form only mind. Or we could say form only mind. And dreaming mind is an ancillary mind to associative mind.

[37:13]

And when you first start practicing associative mind as the first step in being not in consciousness all the time, Associative mind is often kind of the trash heap of consciousness. Trash heap? Yeah, when consciousness doesn't mind, it throws it in the associative mind. Freud noticed that. So you've got all this trash from consciousness, you know. It appears in our dreams too. But the more time you spend in the field of associative mind and not just in the contents of associative mind,

[38:15]

Now you need the skills of noticing the distinction between a field of mind and contents of mind. That's a necessary yogic skill for an adept practitioner. Now that you know this, develop the skill, please. Feel the difference between the field of mind and the contents of mind. The more you do that, the field of associative mind becomes a powerful way of knowing and analyzing even the world. Much of the creativity of artists and scientists who have breakthrough ideas comes from this field of mind that is knowing and analytical.

[39:35]

And it can be your mind too. It doesn't have to just be the mind of special people. Yeah, so you can do something like, you know, start with the first skanda. Maybe again, make up some kind of phrase. Perhaps, form. Why not? Form. Form. Form. Almost as if you're sleepwalking in a daze. Just form. There's walking, there's something supporting my feet, etc., I mean, don't fall off the bridge or hit the crocodile or anything like that.

[40:54]

But, you know, form. And then maybe non-graspable feeling. Maybe infinite feeling. Endless feeling. And then trying to find some way to practice, enter into the third skanda. So far the research I've seen of people who, microgenetic research, etc., I'm trying to see how this consciousness arises. So far, most of them seem to think this all happens almost instantaneously, and it's true.

[41:59]

But they don't know you can slow down the process and find a world in each of the steps. So percept only, you can just, yeah, we're not, this, this, every percept that appears, this. Every percept, every percept appears also with mind. So there's a sameness to every this. So this is extending the practice of Zazen and now taking, as Paul often mentions, the backward step.

[43:12]

Into the attentional body. Now I like the philosopher Levinas' emphasis on the infinite face. Because if infinity is anything, it's here. And I think there's a kind of power to give each person you meet the respect of infinity. That kind of respect each person can be is so many things. The therapist trying to see someone's patterns and habits, this is good.

[44:51]

But to always know at the same time, even with the patterns and blah, blah, blah, something more and different can always be present. It's what makes practice possible. So in this sense, now this is also I'm speaking to We vow to save all sentient beings. Which are numberless or innumerable. And also infinite. Right now people are dying and being born. Genau jetzt sterben Menschen und andere werden geboren.

[46:01]

Wir sind Teil dieses Feldes der fühlenden Menschheit. Und jeder Mensch ist auch unendlich. In jedem Moment begegnen wir dieser Unendlichkeit. Das ist Zen-Praxis. Thank you very much. Thank you. Super, really.

[47:35]

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