Next time we have Taisho, if you want, the people in the back there can sit more up here. I'd like that, but right now it's fine. Okay. Of course, as you can imagine, I'm glad to be back, particularly with the prospect of maybe as much as four months in Europe from now. and most of that time here at Johanneshof.

[01:03]

And of course I want to speak this morning about the practice month we're starting. But I'd like to take a few moments to speak about my visit to San Francisco and to Corpus Christi. One thing it turned out I was able to work on when we were in Crestone was for four or five years now I've been trying to move the center in Crestone to a place where we could buy the land above us, between us and the mountain. Because the opportunity to buy it was simply seemed impossible a few years ago.

[02:07]

But now it's possible. We haven't signed the legal agreement yet, but we have signed at least a letter agreement. And we both promised to sign a legal agreement. And we needed $15,000 in so-called earnest money to start with. And we raised that, it was given quite quickly by the Sangha in the first few days I returned. But we have to raise an additional... $135,000 by next March.

[03:40]

And much of that between now and December 31st. So I'm going to try to do that from here without going to the States. The danger is some other person or group could own the land between us and the mountain. And I think that would be quite detrimental to the development of Crestone over the years. Negative. So that's, to me, a big step.

[04:58]

It would be like if we were able to buy all the land from here to Herrschried and over to the forest or something here. So we'll at least double the size of Creston. And then I did two weekends of lectures at the San Francisco Zen Center. Which went pretty well, I guess. And one lecture, included one lecture at the Hartford Street Zen Center, where Atmar is going to be the resident priest for a year. Resident monk, priest. And they really like Atmar. Which is not surprising.

[06:13]

Almost everyone does. The attempt to establish a really secure, isolated practice place like Crestone He is essential, pretty much essential for a certain kind of practice. And we have the potentiality of that kind of practice to a great extent here at Johanneshof. And I appreciate you coming, those of you especially who can stay the month.

[07:14]

Because you have the chance to make this... How can I say it? A physical place in which to anchor your practice. Now, what's the importance of that? I think we have to understand that mindfulness is a form of thinking. It's not analytical thinking.

[08:21]

But it's a way of thinking with the world. And letting the world, in a sense, think through you. So what I would suggest for you if you want to really make use of this practice and the days or weeks or if possible the month you're here See if you can maintain a continuity, a sustained continuity of mindful attention. And see if you can do it throughout the day and throughout the night.

[09:25]

And make this your first priority. Now, of course, our doing this here is, of course, an experiment. Does Yohanasov, so close to the oxen and so forth, The oxen of the eleventh oxherding picture. The one that breaks the development of the first ten. Can we really Does Johanneshof really lend itself to being here without going anywhere, unless it's absolutely necessary, for four weeks?

[10:41]

Now, next year we planned it better and we'll try it again on the month of... of August. It's probably easier for most people to come during August. And I won't have any house distiller obligations next year. Now, mindfulness is a little bit like, since I've had to take medicine recently, I've only taken an antihistamine once or something in my life. And I did not like the experience.

[11:44]

And now, because of having Borrelia, I have to take antibiotics. Right now it's not so bad, but the first two or three days, I could tell it made my mind more brittle. Like it breaks like... Rather cold and unfeeling. Kind of sharp or hard. Yeah, it's okay, but it's kind of a nuisance. Yeah, but mindfulness takes your mind in the opposite direction. Mindfulness makes your mind more soft. Absorb. Resilient.

[13:06]

Resilient means it bounces back, comes back. Testing. Yeah. And most of all, it makes it more appreciative. The feeling of caring that is involved in all perception begins to come out more. And everything you see creates a feeling of appreciation. See, hear, etc. And mindfulness is located, anchored in...

[14:08]

anchored in zazen, is quite different or deeper than just bringing your attentiveness. zazen Yeah, and you can, of course, without ever practicing zazen, you can practice mindfulness. And this is many, of course, good, it's a very good thing to do. But when it's rooted in zazen practice, Well, one thing Zazen practice does is it initially begins to bring the mind of deep sleep up into your consciousness.

[15:36]

And if you practice mindfulness along with zazen, it's almost as if you're not attentive to just the surface, something wells up from beneath the surface. This especially becomes clearer, apparent, when you develop a continuity of mindfulness. You see through and into the surface of things. And mindful attention is also a bit like a clear inlet in a muddy lake. You know, I'm sorry, but it's amazing, such a small practice like mindfulness can make such a difference.

[17:12]

I feel like an English teacher or, well, I'd like to say a German teacher, but I can't say that. I feel like you can substitute the word German. I feel like an English teacher who says, I'm going to teach you what you already know about. You already know how to speak and read English or German. Yeah, but now I'd like to give you the eyes of a poet who sees language in a fresh way always. and finds language, a way to say things that have never been said before or seen before.

[18:30]

This is something amazing, that a language that has been spoken for, I don't know, a thousand years or so, by millions of people, can still stir up into its surface new ways of seeing and thinking. dass diese immer noch an neue Sichtweisen oder neue Arten zu denken an ihre Oberfläche spüren kann. If this is possible in language, how much more so it's possible in the language of the world itself. When you let the world think through you with mindfulness.

[19:38]

So going back to, as you know, when a stream comes in, a mountain stream comes into a muddy lake, The first thing I did when I got out of the car yesterday was go up and walk around our new pond. But it's the same pond, but it's a new pond. Es ist zwar der gleiche Teich, aber es ist auch wirklich ein neuer Teich. And the water is quite clear. Und das Wasser ist ziemlich klar und rein. So when clear water pushes into a kind of muddy or algae-filled lake. Also wenn sauberes Wasser in einen schlammigen oder algigen See oder Teich hineinfließt.

[20:44]

Often it creates a clear space of some dimension where fish like to come. In somewhat the same way, mindfulness attracts wholesome qualities. Wholesome qualities. And again, you'll find this the more you can keep a clear stream of mindfulness, of attentiveness coming into your activity. And mindfulness is something like a washboard. Or it turns the world into a washboard. Because what is the actual dynamic of mindfulness?

[22:13]

You bring something into your attention It can be attention itself. Or it can be some aspect of your life. Of your physical health. Or a particular teaching. And you just hold it presently before you or within you in mindfulness. And you do not think about it discursively or analytically. Of course you can. Okay. But that's normal way of thinking about something. That's useful sometimes. Das ist sehr hilfreich manchmal.

[23:18]

It's a good way to get the white Volkswagen fixed. Und das ist wahrscheinlich die gute Art und Weise, wie man zum Beispiel den weißen Volkswagen repariert bekommt. You don't want to go around holding the white Volkswagen in mind all the time. You don't want to go around holding the white Volkswagen in mind. Unless you're a teenage boy and then you think of a different car. But if you think through something analytically and discursively, You bring only to it the resources of conscious thinking. But if you... Everything's changing. So you hold something before you, within you.

[24:33]

And the world is changing around you. If I hold up this finger, what do you see? If I hold up this finger, what do you see? Well, if you look at the finger, you only see the finger. But if you look at everything, you see a different background every time. So the finger may remain the same. But not only is the background changing, but even if I hold it up in the same place, But I, who am holding it up, is changing. And that's more likely to be experienced, that difference.

[25:40]

If you feel the world changing around the finger rather than seeing the finger. Okay, so when you hold a teaching, let's say, before you, within you, the world begins to change it. Yeah, I've just been... We just got a washing machine for upstairs. We're going to need one soon. Anyway, at least in some months. And a big difference between American washing machines and German washing machines is American washing machines are fast. Also, ein sehr großer Unterschied zwischen amerikanischen und europäischen Waschmaschinen ist, dass amerikanische Waschmaschinen sehr schnell sind.

[26:45]

It takes about 20 minutes, something like that? Yeah, 25. 25. Also, es dauert ungefähr 25 Minuten. A Miele washing machine takes an hour and a half. Und eine Miele Waschmaschine braucht anderthalb Stunden. Sometimes it seems to be doing nothing. It goes chimp, chimp. And sometimes it seems as if she doesn't do anything at all or just swings a little bit. And the Americans then become very impatient and say, do it faster. But the Mele machine says, I'm practicing Mele mindfulness. And it just takes its own good time to wash the clothes. But they come out without bleach. Way cleaner than any American washing machine could possibly produce. Yeah, it's amazingly different. I have white shirts now. I used to have gray underwear. So what I'd like you to do is practice Mila mindfulness.

[27:45]

Just hold some teaching in the little window there. You see, the whole world is a kind of washing machine. It works. It doesn't require electricity. what happens is the whole of your alaya vijnana begins to come into play instead of just analytical thinking the deeper thinking associative thinking associated, connected thinking of the alaya-vijñāna, the storehouse consciousness, through the washboard of the world, begins to come into play.

[29:12]

And whatever, let's say, teaching or something concerning yourself is held in mindful attention over some period of time. The various changing moments, circumstances, objects come into a deeper and deeper interaction with this that you're holding in mindfulness. And the world begins to think with you. And so you want your mindful attention anchored, let's say, rooted in zazen and anchored in a place.

[30:34]

And it's a profound difference when you're anchored in a single place. I can't exactly explain why. But When you stay in one place for some length of time, located in that place through mindfulness, the place itself begins to work with you in a deeper and deeper way. It's like a box that starts to open from inside. Another kind of process occurs through sustained mindful attention. Is there a distillation of what's most fundamental and subtle in your nature?

[32:19]

You begin to feel what's most fundamental to you and what's most subtle within you. So what's fundamental and subtle within our nature begins to come into our attention. So mindfulness is a distillation process, too. I didn't say where it comes into very well. Oh, I'm sorry. That's fine. Go ahead. No, you have to say it again. It comes into mindfulness or in awareness?

[33:29]

Oh, it comes into your attention. You begin to be able to be attentive to what's most fundamental and subtle about your nature. You begin to be able to see what's invisible. Like you feel the space of a flower arrangement as much as the flowers. And then you feel the space within a situation. This can't be really felt, really be in your attention if you're thinking. So maybe we could call this the non-thinking of mindful attention.

[34:36]

The non-thinking of mindful attention. And you begin to feel the space of yourself. Yeah, and the field of mind itself. Yeah. All these funny things happen through sustained attention, especially when anchored in a physical place. What you already know about. What you think you already know about. begins to reveal itself. But the place itself won't do it.

[35:48]

The schedule won't do it. But to the extent that the place and the schedule support sustained mindful attention, then you have a chance to reveal the world to yourself and open yourself to the world. Now you'll understand Rumi's short poem. Ihr werdet Rumi's kurzes Gedicht verstehen. For many years I knocked on that ancient door.

[36:50]

Jahre lang habe ich an dieses uralte Tor geklopft. For many years I knocked on that ancient door. Jahre lang habe ich an dieses uralte Tor geklopft. When at last it opened. And when it finally opened I found I was knocking from the inside I found I was knocking from the inside I don't know if it's possible, but tomorrow I have to give this talk at the... I'm going to give this talk at the Thothmos conference. It would be nice if you could all go. Maybe you could ask Peter if there's room at the back of the lecture hall, Kirill.

[37:57]

If we all carry a stick of incense. Offer it to Peter. Thank you.

[38:13]

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