Guten Morgen. Oh, good morning. Oh, dear. So you're already practicing new Buddhism. I think that's the title of this seminar. New Buddhism, something like that. Yeah. And the topic interests me, of course, because it's been my life. But in what way and what does that mean for me to say it? And maybe you can open a window for some new air. Maybe open the one farther left so nobody gets blown on. Thank you. Doctor. Yeah, it's whatever we might mean by new Buddhism.

[01:44]

It's, I guess, been my life. And if you're here participating in what we're doing, it's also... Part of something we can call new Buddhism. Yeah, but what categories are we going to speak about this? There's new and old Buddhism. Is it old Buddhism is the contrast? Yeah, and we could have traditional Buddhism and not traditional Buddhism. Or non-traditional Buddhism. Sorry. Yeah. I mean, not traditional in English would mean it's somehow contrary to or not traditional Buddhism.

[03:03]

And non-traditional would mean, well, it hasn't been part of traditional Buddhism, but it could be, or it's developed from traditional Buddhism. And I see there's quite a few new people here, or people I don't know. And I wonder if you came to this seminar because it has the title new in it. Nor maybe just because it's a German holiday. Maybe any topic would have done. But anyway, it's going to be this topic because I have to start somewhere. But if I say I'm going to start somewhere, that already implies I don't know where I'm going to end.

[04:25]

If I don't know where I'm going to end, what's going to influence me to get to wherever we end up? Well, what's going to influence me? I mean, I know the lights and the ceiling, but mostly you. And if you're going to influence what happens between now and Sunday, Then you're part of what we're discovering is Buddhism. And I apologize for not speaking German. Beyond apology, it's just, you know, let's not say stupidity, but anyway, I don't speak German. But maybe this is good because you hear Buddhism in a new language.

[05:32]

I can remember when Tsukiyoshi, my teacher, came to Japan to visit me once when I was living there for some years. And I remember when my teacher Suzuki Roshi came to Japan to visit me because I lived there for a few years. And I lived there because he asked me to go to Japan. Not so much to study Buddhism. Of course I did that. But to get a feel for traditional Buddhism. I mean, maybe he thought I was so hopelessly new, he wanted to stick me in traditional culture, Japanese Buddhist culture. But, I mean, I think mostly he thinks that Buddhism is not just the teaching and the practices, but a certain...

[06:35]

feel for how you are in the world. Okay. So anyway, he came when I was living and studying in Japan. And I also, you know, it looks like I will be telling some anecdotes about Tsukiroshi. Because they are the, yeah, the basis of attitudes I formed. When I went to Japan, he said, don't worry about studying Zen Buddhism, just find the best teachers of any kind of Buddhism.

[07:57]

And he also said, you know, I didn't study, although Soto Zen has a large tantric aspect to it, He said he didn't study tantric Buddhism as much as he would have liked, and he suggested that I study it. But basically he just said, find good teachers. I don't care what kind, just find good teachers. Yeah. So I did the best I could. That doesn't mean it was good enough, but it was the best I could. And anyway, he came to visit me at some point. And I was friends with a group of people who had set up a kind of hippie colony on Suwanase Island.

[09:25]

What was the name of the island? Suwanase. Suwanase Island. I'm just telling you stories now. But you don't, I mean... I was speaking to somebody the other night. And they were asking me what it's like to be old. Implying I was old. I mean, that's the point. And I said, I don't feel old at all. I feel kind of disabled, but not old. But what is contemporary to me is much bigger than for young people. I realized, you know, I was born not too long after the First World War.

[10:32]

So I was living in a pre-war culture that was, I mean, I was living in a between-the-war culture, World War culture. Which people older than I saw as created in significant ways by the First World War. Yeah, but for me the First World War was back. Wait, I mean, it could have been in 1700, you know, from as far as I was concerned. So I'm living in a culture created now by really the First World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War.

[11:35]

As was Suzuki Roshi. So I think war has actually, forgive me, a lot to do with Buddhism in the West. Okay. So I was, you know, Suwanase Island is to me contemporary, but for you, you have no idea what it's about. Yeah. Anyway, I don't know how much Suwanase Island was influenced by hippie beatnik culture in America. The Swansea Islands were influenced by the hippie and beatnik culture in Central... What did you say? In America. In America.

[12:46]

Really. Anyway, so they were friends of Gary Snyder and the poet, who most of you wouldn't know. And I lived in... what had been Gary Snyder's house. And the Swansea Island folks, this kind of tribe, would arrive at my house sometime, 10 or 15 people, and I'll sleep everywhere. Now these were all people who were trying to sort of get outside of Japanese culture. And they'd even gone back to build houses on Swansea Island, which were prehistoric type houses. Nice guys. I had a lot of fun with them. Yeah. Those are other stories.

[14:07]

Okay, so anyway, Sukhiroshi gave a lecture first in Taiji Temple, Uchiyama Roshi's temple from the hill above my house. Uchiyama Roshi's temple. And then in the evening or the next morning, I don't remember, the next day, he gave a talk at my house. And the talk he gave in Japanese, everyone said, oh God, it's the same old Buddhism. I mean, old Buddha, it's the same old Buddhism. And then? the reaction to the talk in English, which was basically the same talk.

[15:13]

Oh, God. I mean, oh, Buddha, this is different. This is new. This is fresh. Yeah. I mean, I was quite surprised by that. Because I... To me, I would have thought they would have heard into the Japanese what I was hearing in the English. So the English, or in our case too, English and Deutsch, already makes a big difference. There's no way Buddhism in English or German is going to be the same as Buddhism in Japanese or Chinese or etc. Yeah, and I made a decision early on in my Buddhist life

[16:17]

To not use Sanskrit or Pali terms, except obvious ones. Because, you know, I use Dharma and Karma and Buddha and things like that. And, you know, Dharma, Kaya, Buddha, things I can't find English for. But in general, I try to find some words in English and have Nicole and other people translate for me, find some words in German. Now, there's an advantage to this. Yeah. One advantage is in trying to find words in a Western language.

[17:35]

We have to explore our use of words. I remember someone said to me, he doesn't like to use German words for Buddhism. Because the German words are so leased to, owned by, Western culture that you can't get Western culture free from them. Sorry, the last thing you said. You can't get Western culture free from it. Yeah, so there's some usefulness. There's problems with using words owned by a particular culture. Also gibt es Schwierigkeiten damit, wenn man Worte benutzt, die von einer bestimmten Kultur besessen werden.

[18:46]

But there's advantages too, because it means you have to notice how your own experience is encapsulated in words. Aber es gibt darin auch Vorteile, weil man bemerken muss, wie die eigene Erfahrung in die Worte eingekapselt ist. You have to kind of see around the words and move them around a bit to make them have new uses. Yeah. But if I use a Sanskrit term, I mean, it has no meaning in our culture. So endlessly I would have to explain to the extent that I would know everything that's associated with that word in Sanskrit or Chinese or something. But then I would have to have decided, which I was close to deciding, to be a scholar. And I decided I wanted to practice, concentrate primarily on practice, my own, but also with others.

[20:08]

Yeah, and also German, Deutsch and English words have coinage in our culture, our respective cultures. Die sind in unseren entsprechenden Kulturen geprägt. We can spend them, use them. Also die sind auch wie Münzen geprägt. Wir können die benutzen. And if we use them in new ways, still they have filaments that reach out into the language. And that pulls our experience into the use of the word.

[21:11]

And if we're careful, it pulls our experience into the use of the words in useful ways. So already this happening in English and Deutsch is new Buddhism. But that might also be traditional Buddhism. Because traditional Buddhism has thus evolved into the Chinese language, into the Japanese language, and so forth. So you could say that within traditional Buddhism, at the center has often flowed a new Buddhism. Also kann man sagen, dass innerhalb des traditionellen Buddhismus, in dessen Mittelpunkt oft der Fluss eines Neuen oder darin oft der neue Buddhismus schwebt.

[22:31]

Maybe like in a stream, the stream is going along and carrying leaves and stuff from the banks and things, but in the middle there's some sort of clear water uninterrupted flowing along in the stream. Sounds good. Now the question is, is this clear water flowing in the middle of the stream? Some kind of Pure Buddhism, uncontaminated by culture? Or is it some kind of new Buddhism, constantly renewing itself, separating itself from the more cultural Buddhism? Oder ist das eine Art neuer Buddhismus, der sich kontinuierlich erneuert und sich dabei von dem separating itself, from the more acculturated Buddhism, von dem bereits in der Kultur eingeflossenen Buddhismus sich davon immer wieder absetzt.

[23:50]

And the process of renewing itself becomes maybe more ancient, more true to Buddhism. Well, if there's anything I'm trying to do, it's what I just said. Okay, okay. Now I'm talking about this in this way. not just to describe my own experience or position, but also because if you're interested in what Buddhist practice might be, Yeah, then you ought to also explore your own thinking about what you're doing here.

[24:59]

And I'm speaking, of course, to those of you who are new to the Dharma Sangha and me and so forth. And I'm also speaking to the many of you who I've been practicing with for a long time. That, what do you want from Buddhism? Why are you here? Now, Maybe you simply want your own practice. But if you really want your own practice, you probably wouldn't be here. To some extent, you've had to come here because you think, maybe they've got something going on, I don't know.

[26:01]

But I don't think you shouldn't give up what you would like. Yeah, and I would like this seminar to be a kind of referendum on what kind of Buddhism we want. Referendum? Like referentials. No, referendum is like a vote that's... a vote which decides whether you like this person or this... Referendum. Referendum? Okay. Yeah. Um... We now have to referendum on nothing at all. Okay. I would like this seminar to be a referendum on what kind of Western Buddhism we want. What do we even want at Western? Maybe you all want Japanese Buddhism. I don't know.

[27:03]

Let's see. Now I've been talking, obviously I'm talking about new Buddhism, blah, blah, blah. And I know from my past experience and perhaps some of your experience, You've arrived here and you're not familiar with it. And it's supposedly new Buddhism. And... And... What do you get here? You find out we start ringing bells that are, you know, un-Buddha, ungodly hour, un-Buddha. What is a godly hour?

[28:03]

We say that in English. Do you say that in German? How do hours get to be godly or not? Anyway... And there's Otmar all dressed up in robes and stuff, you know. LAUGHTER Not the only one I twist out like that. I mean, you should have seen when I had teenage daughters. when I went in robes to pick them up at high school. Dad, are you going to be in your dress and shoes with white straps? Please wait around the corner.

[29:18]

Yeah. And one of the things Sukershi told me when I was ordained, I would like you to wear robes and you can't wear a shaved head, can you? And for one year without taking them off except to sleep. And bathing, you know. And you can imagine what in some kind of western United States cowboy towns I looked like. Yeah. Anyway. So you may say, my gosh, this is already awfully traditional.

[30:21]

I said, my gosh. So we've We, I, have developed over now 50 years or so. Yeah. A Western practice. Which has, which is also strongly traditional. Yeah. I'm trying to find a balance which allows us to explore what is traditional Buddhism and what we want Buddhism to be.

[31:24]

Yeah, but we can still vote. Yeah, you can still have a feeling for and respect what you want But please be open enough for the duration of this seminar to explore the decisions we've made about what is practice in the West. No, I think probably we should take a break pretty soon. But let me just say, there are, of course, many traditional Buddhisms.

[32:40]

Right now, there's in the West alone. Yeah, there's Japanese, national Buddhism, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan, etc., And within Buddhism, which has come from particular countries, there are their versions of various traditional schools of Buddhism. And within Zen, there's three traditions, There's three Japanese traditions of Zen. Only two of them are present in the West.

[33:43]

And Zen itself is part of a larger flow of Buddhism from India. And all of Contemporary Buddhism, Asian and Western. It's really based on the teachings and not some particular practice. It flows from the same teachings and the same translations and texts translated in the early Christian era. The early Christian era. No, again, in the early? Christian era. Christian era, okay. Well, the early Buddhist era, too, but in our calendar, it's the early Christian era. Okay, so what among this are we going to call these... various traditions are we going to call traditional Buddhism?

[35:04]

And I think at some point I should say, what is traditional Zen Buddhism? And I think we ought to explore, continue to explore, Well, in the larger sense, how Buddhism is developing and has developed in the West. At this early stage. But also, I think most fruitful would be to look particularly at how the Dharma Sangha has developed.

[36:11]

Because of course this is the example I know. But also we can get deeper into it by looking at some particular example somewhat carefully. And I think we should recognize and feel that even if you're here for the first time and know nothing about Buddhism, I don't know, you are actually part of what we can call a new Buddhism. What we're doing here does not exist in Japan. If it existed in Japan, it's copying us. Because in Japan, if you go to a temple, they're about to do a funeral ceremony usually.

[37:24]

Yeah, or I don't know, having bingo or something. I mean, I'm not entirely joking. So what we're doing here is unique already. And the fact that there's so many lay people doing it is very unique. So that's also good. What is the relationship between lay practice and monastic practice? Yeah, so that gives you something to munch on during the break. Darauf könnt ihr jetzt während der Pause ein bisschen herumkauen.

[38:12]

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