I'm trying to give you, I will try to, I started last night and I'll try to today, to give you a feeling for the area of importance for Buddhism. Buddhism actually is pretty simple. But it's quite subtle. And it's very thorough. So Western culture has been concerned with questions like, what is the self? And what is the world? And Western culture looks for answers to those questions.

[01:01]

The Buddhist culture is a little stupid. It doesn't get much beyond the question. It's definite that we have questions. It's not so clear there are answers. So Buddhist culture tends to stay with the questions. and not even assume there are answers and to the extent that and it looks for answers to the questions it's looking for answers not in like who are we or what is the world But it tends to look at who are we or what are we just now. Or what are we today in our actuality. And it's a little bit like if you were... teaching a painting to someone, you'd give them a brush.

[02:49]

And then somehow you'd get stuck on what is a brush for a few centuries. I'm not kidding. Or what is a stroke? And Japanese and Chinese culture is still involved with this. They're still involved with the stroke. Or making a circle. so much so that you see that their calligraphy and way of writing always reflects the brush. So the emphasis in practice is always staying with simple things till the subtlety appears. As I told the story in a couple of seminars I've done already this year in Europe,

[04:06]

Suzuki Roshi said that what surprised him when he first came to America was that people did things with only one hand instead of two hands. So like if I pass this to Ulrike, I pass it like that. An American would tend to pass it like that. And the sense is that I'm passing this to her. But when you pass what Japanese people and Asian people, I think in general I haven't observed enough to say for all Asian people, tend to turn toward the person and use two hands when possible. And if they don't use two hands, their body or both hands move in the direction where the one hand is going. Because For them, they're not passing this bell.

[05:50]

They're passing themselves. I'm passing myself to Ulrike. She wants, you know. So, as I've said in the previous seminars, when you have lunch today and somebody asks you for the salt, use the salt as an excuse to pass yourself. What is this surely-gun that you say? Surely-gun? I mean surely-gun. It's not surely-temple. Oh, I'm sorry? I didn't say that, though. And this comes from a sense of the body as energy.

[06:59]

So that I'm giving my energy, as I've said, it's like I'm turning a light toward her and shining the light on her. Excuse me. It might be a flashlight or a searchlight. And so when she does the same, or when I look at you, I feel a kind of energy from you. So this way of looking at things comes out of paying attention to simple things very thoroughly. So the Buddha's initial teaching, the Eightfold Path, is really about this really characterizes this kind of common sense, simple way of looking at things.

[08:05]

And I don't know, do you have the word common sense in German? Well, common sense in English is generally understood now to mean a sense that is shared by many people. It's a sense common to everyone. But originally in English, that's not what it meant. It meant a sense common to all the senses. It meant a sense common to all the senses. a sense that arose from touching, feeling, hearing, thinking, and so forth.

[09:18]

It's a sense common to all the senses. And, you know, I don't know if I talked about this last year, but the daimon in Socrates, did I wrong? Well, I'll mention it a little bit. Beate says yes, right? Okay, well, I'll mention it anyway. I hate to repeat myself. So, ich wiederhole mich nicht sehr gerne, aber ich möchte doch etwas von Socrates und dem Daimon erzählen. And the word Daimon meant your individual power. Und unter Daimon versteht man seine individuelle Kraft. And it's also related to an idea of numinous in English, which means to bow your, originally it meant to bow your head before overwhelming reality.

[10:24]

And there's a sense of awe before the power of things. Awe, A-W-E. In this sense that each of us has our own power that we have to recognize, which was called your daimon, became in Christianity the demon or the devil. I think at least on a political level, Christianity didn't want individuals to have their own power. And in a similar way, the word daimon is the root of the word democracy, where each individual has power.

[11:28]

So this sense of Buddhist culture retains this sense that each thing has its own power or aura. And so when Sakriji said to know yourself, He meant something like, occupy yourself with yourself. And also, some people think the real emphasis was on taking care of yourself. In practical ways, jogging, you know, like that.

[12:38]

So the Eightfold Path starts with right views or complete views. And the Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths. These are the most basic of Buddhist teachings. And the most initial Buddhist teachings. So it's almost like a kind of mathematics or something. First, the first teaching is there's existence. At least something we call or find as existence. And the second teaching, or the 1A, is that there's nonexistence. And that's the basic human problem.

[13:50]

There's existence and nonexistence. although I like Gertrude Stein's statement where she says, the fact that the universe has no boundaries is the whole or the entirety of what's interesting about men and women. Is the entirety of what's interesting about men and women. So, there's existence and non-existence. And non-existence is also expressed as suffering in the form of old age, sickness and death. Buddhism says neither existence nor non-existence are permanent states.

[15:01]

There's no permanent soul. And so the second of the four noble truths is that there's a cause to this suffering. And because there's a cause, it means suffering had a beginning, and so there's an end, so there's an end to suffering. Because it's not permanent, it has a cause, and because it's not permanent and has a cause, there's an end to suffering. This is real simple. if you're willing to accept it and have faith in it.

[16:04]

And if there's an end to suffering, there must be a way to end suffering. And that way is the teaching. This is first grade and Ph.D. simultaneously. All right, so what does Buddha say is our causes? What does Buddha say then, if there's a cause of suffering, what does Buddha say are causes? He says, your views. So the Eightfold Path begins with views.

[17:09]

So when I was first studying with Suzuki Roshi, I kept thinking, what is he really teaching? And I had to come back to, he was teaching, always talking about attitudes or views. What attitudes or views we have. Now, an importance is given to attitudes or views as causes, which is very, very great in Buddhism. To discover what is self in your actuality. Now, I think I should say also that the modern concept of the self, Foucault at least, traces back to Greco-Roman times. I think we historically can say that self is a concept that has a historical... that is... that is historical.

[18:26]

In other words, it changes. And there are times when there was no concept of self, perhaps, or at least different concepts of selves. I think we can say there's something called a self in almost any complex culture. But in addition to something called a self, How it's called a self makes a difference. And where you discover this self, how you discover this self, and how you take care of this self. These are very simple questions.

[19:27]

But if you ask them slightly differently, you have a very different culture a few centuries later. So the earliest teaching of Buddhism is, first of all, see what views you have. And to discover these views in your actuality, then you have to look at these views as intentions. And then to discover those intentions in your conduct and speech and livelihood. That's the basis, that's the first of the fivefold path. That's the first five of the eightfold path.

[20:53]

That's the first five of the eightfold path. Views, intentions. Ansichten, Absichten, Rede, Handlung und Lebensunterhalt. And this is common sense. Buddhism says you have to pay a great deal of attention to this. Then the question comes up, how do you pay attention? Because all of these teachings come down to not a different goal but a different method. So I'm going to try to give you a sense today, and maybe tomorrow, of several different methods. To pay attention to the actuality of self, or discovering self in your actuality.

[22:17]

Ja, wie widmet man jetzt diesem Selbst in seiner Aktualität Aufmerksamkeit, beziehungsweise wie entdeckt man es darin? Now I'd like us to take a little break. And what time is it? And maybe 10 minutes or so. And again, I'd like you to get some familiarity with each other. And then I'd like to start initially with some questions and discussion with you. And then we can try to get more of a feeling for this simplicity and subtlety of discovering how we exist. Okay, thank you. I'd like to have some discussion or questions from you and with you.

[23:44]

And Sebastian, you had the first question you asked during the break. It's not so much on the subject, but I'm reading this book, Sufi Roshi, Beginners Mind, Beginners Mind, and it's repeating that when we can't decide then, we do not try to attain anything. Maybe you should say it in German. And it makes sense to me, it makes sense to me, and it speaks to me. And then he says on page 95, and it probably surprised me a little bit, he says, if you sit down in this way, in this way, and he writes it down, then you will understand the right thing, he speaks about understanding the right thing, about right understanding, you will achieve it.

[24:57]

And that was the middle paradox that caught me. And that's the same you told me before, so you don't have to translate it. Well, first of all, please ask any question. Don't worry about whether it seems to be on the topic. If it comes up during the seminar, you'll be surprised it might be on the topic. And if it's not, it's something everyone's concerned with. Do the people who have their hands up want to say something in relation to what he just said? Well, let me answer his question first. at some other point maybe I'll accumulate questions but right now the main problem we westerners have with such a question is we tend to think in terms of one state of mind and that one state of mind is better than other states of mind

[26:04]

And that one state of mind can be contradictory to or cancel out another state of mind. Buddhist culture has no such idea. I can say this is a box of incense. And I can say, this is not a box of incense. And I can say, this is here. And I can say, it's not here. And they're not seen as contradictory statements. They're seen as statements of different levels. And each statement is seen as a seed. Now, I'll come back to this idea of seed a little bit more. So, what Tsukiyoshi is saying is that when Tsukiyoshi says, well, let's put it this way.

[27:18]

If I say this box does not exist, well, of course it exists. There it is in my hand. So you have to take for granted that it exists, but I'm also saying it doesn't exist. So Suzuki Roshi says, please have no gaining idea in your practice. He takes it for granted that you also have a gaining idea. Natürlich hält er sie doch für selbstverständlich, dass man auch eine Vorstellung hatte, etwas erlangen will. You wouldn't even be reading his book if you didn't. Denn dann würde man doch nicht mal sein Buch lesen, wenn man sie nicht hätte. So it's a little bit like saying, the box isn't here when you can see it is. Das ist so ähnlich wie wenn ich sage, diese Schachtel ist nicht hier, wenn man doch sehen kann, dass sie da ist.

[28:20]

Do you understand that as a way of reading? Versteht ihr das als eine Art, das zu lesen? So all statements tend to be contrapuntal. You know, Freud did a lot of his early work. A lot of Freud's early work was inspired by both hypnotism and cocaine. And being a Westerner and imagining himself a biologist, he... He tended, he looked for... I don't know. Let me just say, he didn't pay as much attention as a Buddhist culture would to the fact that these so-called altered states resulted from, were the source of some of his perceptions.

[29:35]

These altered states were the source of some... But from a Buddhist point of view, there are no altered states. All states are altered states. Because there's no natural state. So the idea that this is the natural state and that's altered isn't present really in Buddhist culture. There's more usual states. Mm-hmm. So one state of mind is you have a gaining idea. Another state of mind is you have no gaining idea. And both are in a dialogue with each other. And if you just had a gaining idea, you'd never achieve enlightenment.

[30:40]

That gaining idea state of mind is seeded by non-gaining idea state of mind. Now, do you see there's another kind of thinking here also being exhibited? Which there's not just saying There's the idea of gaining versus the idea of not gaining. I'm saying there's a state of mind associated with the idea of gaining that's contrasted with the state of mind associated with the idea of non-gaining. That's a very big difference.

[31:49]

So, if you want to practice, you need to have as your most fundamental, your kind of home-based state of mind, Now you can choose any state of mind as a home-based state of mind. I'm not saying one is more home-based than the other. I'm saying it's an adult decision of wisdom to choose one of them as home base. And what state of mind you choose as home base has to do with what your method in practice of Buddhism is and in what your overall culture is.

[32:52]

And in fact, what your civilizational context is. And so the great thing that's happening right now that I'm concerned with is this meeting of Western culture and and Asian culture. And Buddhism has developed in each culture it's entered by the questions the culture asks it. And in a sense, Zen is the teaching that Buddha gave to us. But in a more particular sense, Zen is the teaching that the questions the Chinese asked of Buddhism gave us.

[34:01]

So what is the question, what is the Buddhism Buddha gives America and Europe through the questions you're going to ask of Buddhism. Okay. And you had a question. Yes. Can you say that in English? I'm not quite sure if I understood your question right, so please correct me. He's asking about the non-self.

[35:01]

And he said, how can there be a non-self if there is no self? Is that right? How can you say that self exists when there is a non-self? And what he asked me during the break, as I understood it, was, How can we say there is existence? From where do we ask the question of existence? From how do we say even that there is existence? We could spend the next several years on these. Or we could have civilizational time spent on these, as has been done.

[36:09]

And what's happening right now to Buddhism is its Western culture and civilization is the greatest challenge Buddhism's ever faced. Coming into China or Japan in the sixth century, isn't the same as coming into the West in the 1980s. It's funny for me to hear Buddhism, Buddhismus, is that what it's called? I never think of it as Buddhismus. And muss has certain kinds of meanings in English. So I'm getting used to it. It's Buddhism and Buddhismus. Well, it changes my feeling.

[37:21]

Okay. A good part of the time in Ireland I needed a translator. A good part of the time in Ireland I needed a translator. I actually couldn't understand the English sometimes. And on the plane I embarrassed this Irish guy sitting beside me flying here. And I was on Air Lingus, the Irish airline. And I said, boy, I really can't understand this Irish. And the guy beside me said, he's speaking German. And he spoke German. It was the Irish pilot speaking German with an Irish accent.

[38:34]

So I heard the Irish accent, but I couldn't pick out any of the words. Okay, this kind of question, like, how can we say there's even existence? Buddhism, again being fairly stupid, doesn't initially at least try to answer the question. But just says, well, there's a question. Even more so, there's a thought. And what is this thought? So at least we can recognize there's a thought. And this thought, in the end, is the thought of existence. And the thought of existence in its purest form is the thought of enlightenment.

[40:00]

And the thought of enlightenment is called bodhicitta. Bodhi is enlightenment and citta is thought. At least that's a simple translation. So all of Buddhism emanates from this thought of enlightenment. Thought of enlightenment. Or thought of existence. What is existence? Or just existence? Now. Now. For some peculiar reason in Buddhist culture, language is thought of as mantric as well as meaning.

[41:14]

So questions are not thought to be answerable Well, let's see. Buddhist culture assumes that thought... This is very hard to say. Buddhist culture assumes that the world cannot be understood intellectually. cannot be understood by thought. But the world might be thought, but not understood through thought. Do you see the difference there? So Buddhism says since the world or our life cannot be understood, can only partially be understood intellectually, or the intellect is only a guide, you have to understand these questions through the process of life itself.

[42:47]

Within the actuality of your life. So then the question is, what is the actuality of your life? How do you take these thoughts or ideas and plant them in the actuality of your life? Wie nimmt man jetzt diese Gedanken und Ideen, pflanzt sie in die Aktualität unseres Lebens? So the idea in the first teaching is that there's existence and suffering and a cause of suffering. Also die erste Idee ist wieder, dass es gibt Existenz und Leiden und eine Ursache für das Leiden. And that cause is understood as a seed. Und diese Ursache versteht man als einen Samen. And understanding it as a seed has more ramifications than understanding it in the limited sense of the word cause.

[44:01]

Ramification, what does that mean? Extensions or... Extensions. Please forgive me for answering these initial questions in a rather lengthy way. But I'm always trying to create the conditions by which these things are understood or looked at. To give you a feeling for the world view within which these things are considered.

[44:44]

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