To the extent that there's space, I'd like you to, you know, if there is space, to move forward as much as, well, some. And there'll be, I think, if one or two people coming, you'll sit in the back anyway. We'll come late. I like to be near you. Good morning.

[01:22]

Last night I didn't speak about anything. I mean, I didn't have a fixed idea what I'd speak about last night. But I had a general idea of what I might talk about. And I didn't even talk about the general idea I had. Because when I'm sitting here with you I realize I have to create each time a base from where we can speak. We saved a big space in the middle for you.

[02:28]

And by a base I mean Specifically, a base in the way I have come to try to make Zen Buddhism clear. Zen Buddhism is I think unique within Buddhism in its emphasis on trying to present teaching and practice in a way that allows you to discover practice for yourself.

[03:32]

It's a kind of radical emphasis on if Buddhism doesn't come from some place outside the system, If it's here in the world of birth and death and it was discovered by ordinary human beings then you also can discover it. So Zen emphasizes, rather than to show you what the ancients realized, instead of showing you what they realized, their emphasis is to show you how they realized.

[04:59]

So there's also in Zen a... profound emphasis on the attitudes you bring to your life and to practice. And if those attitudes are not present, then practice itself doesn't work very well. If the attitudes are clear, then when you practice, your practice bears fruit. If you practice within false views and false attitudes, you can practice real seriously and it's not very fruitful.

[06:02]

Our ideas are very, very powerful. They're more powerful than any physical practice. As I said in a recent Sashin, no matter how difficult I made the Sashin, No matter how much you suffered, at the end of the week you'd have the same ideas as you had at the beginning of the week. So we have to work with the ideas themselves. Of course, a lot of concentrated sitting will help you loosen up your ideas. But we are lucky to have here this weekend a fairly small seminar.

[07:05]

So I invite you to interrupt me or bring up anything you'd like to discuss. And in particular, how you would like to use practice in your life. And And how to extend practice in your... extend your understanding of practice and your use of practice.

[08:05]

And to the extent that I know a little about practice, I'll try to share it with you. Again, this statement that to study Buddhism is to study the self, which is in the which is a section, a small section, of the most famous and perhaps representative fascicle of Dogen Zenji's work, Shobo Genzo.

[09:09]

And this is a short section from Dogen's representative work, Shobo Genzo. And the Shobo Genzo is divided up into what are called fascicles. And one of them... And this most famous and most representative is called the Genjo Koan. Which is translated usually something like actualizing the fundamental point. But actualizing really means something like noticing arising and completing the arising. noticing the arising and completing the arising.

[10:24]

Now that's rather more articulate or specific than just actualized. It suggests a view of how the world exists. and a view of how to function within how this world exists. And it also suggests that to actualize our existence requires a certain teaching, consciousness, wisdom. We always have this idea of naturalness in our culture and it's not a very present idea in yogic culture. If you took your baby and

[11:34]

Throw it in the woods. No, don't throw it in the woods, but put it gently in the woods. It's not going to turn out to be an ordinary human being. I mean, nature isn't going to help it much. It needs mom and dad and culture and all that stuff. Mama and papa, yeah. Who's taking care of Julius now that Mama and Papa are here? Grandmama. So in effect, there is always teaching. So if in effect there is always teaching, this means you can't depend on naturalness You can leave things alone and not interfere.

[12:48]

But that itself is a teaching. Then you have to know in what way and what circumstances you leave things alone. You look worried. Well, I was worried the first... I'm not saying you are, but I was worried the first time I heard this. I thought, oh, gosh. Yeah. Hmm. And that's really the gift of us human beings, is how we bring teaching to what arises.

[13:55]

In what state of mind do we know the arising? What kind of pace, energy, presence do we need to even be present to the arising? And knowing the arising, then what do we do with it? What is meant by completing the arising? So if translating it as actualizing or manifesting sometimes, hides the details of the process. It's like it shows you the photograph of a building, but you don't know where the doors are. In any case, you have to look behind the sentences to see what the actual experience is. So this Genjo Koan arising and completing the fundamental point

[15:19]

And the fact that Dogen calls it a koan means for him at the root of all koans and all teachings is this immediate situation as our fundamental koan. Sometimes it's not so obvious that some situation is a koan. But Dogen would say, then notice how even ordinary situations are koans. For example, how is this seminar this weekend for you a koan? Well, undoubtedly, you have some things you're not doing this weekend.

[16:52]

Yeah. And there's things you're going to have to do after the weekend. And there's a particular, you know, we're here and there's a kind of warm, probably rather warm this weekend. Yeah, and there's a particular group of people here, and each of us has a particular presence. And you came here with, surely you came to this seminar with some kind of curiosity about Buddhism, or me, or my translator. And probably more important, you came with really either explicitly or implicitly some feeling of working on something or changing something.

[17:54]

So the sense of noticing this weekend as a koan, as a genjo koan, is a certain trust that underneath this weekend In each of you, there's some fundamental point. You may not be in touch with it just now, or you might be. But how to move into contact with this fundamental point? Or to let this fundamental point contact you? And it means a certain gentleness in how you are present to yourself. So then say that you have a sense of perhaps there is a fundamental point.

[19:20]

There must be in your life some aspect, there has to be in your life, in this weekend, some aspects that are characteristic of the whole of your life, and are also unique to this particular June weekend. So this title, Genjo Koan, anticipates that you will think this way. That you're willing to have a kind of, what shall we say, archaeological... willing to have a kind of archaeological process this weekend.

[20:37]

To excavate a little and see what's here in yourself this weekend. And this is also part of the reason, this is also the meaning of enlightenment. Enlightenment has absolutely no meaning if you assume it happens in the future. Such an attitude will prevent any realization. The only attitude that's fruitful is that this realization that enlightenment, whatever it is, is possible in this moment.

[21:41]

So you should always be ready. Makes me think of when I went to the Near East, when Iran and Iraq and such places, when I was, I don't know, 20 or something. It's very hot there. Much hotter than here. The hottest day I had was in Ethiopia. I think it was 146 Fahrenheit. What the heck would that be? Centigrade. Fifty something. And in much of Iran it was above 120 the whole time I was there. The highest temperature I think recorded where human beings live is 156. It was quite warm, anyway.

[22:44]

And they had these really loose-fitting, kind of baggy pants everywhere that are quite inexpensive. And they're... They're not lederhosen, I guarantee you. And they are completely baggy. I said, why are they so baggy and loose? They told me, because, I think they told me, because Mohammed might be reborn at any moment. And I said, to me? They said to anyone, that's why these pants are baggy, to receive Mohammed if he appears. This is rather interesting.

[23:45]

Even men walk around with pants ready for the reception of Mohammed. So maybe it's somewhat similar in Buddhism. One of the basic attitudes is to have a state of mind ready for uniqueness, ready for enlightenment. And if you think in your mind somewhere, oh, it's not really going to happen, Unless some very powerful masters with big hammers come, it's not going to happen. To pound this idea out of you. So first of all, even though you may not have that state of mind, you have to start with the cultivation of the idea that it's possible.

[25:07]

If you don't think it's possible, it won't be. So this in itself is rather exciting. I mean, if you did nothing else from this weekend but awaken in yourself a real openness to the possibility of enlightenment. Not just that you want it, as the big candy, but rather that you're ready for it, whatever it is. And that readiness is also a readiness because, not just because it might be nice, but because it's necessary for us human beings.

[26:14]

It's necessary for our human family. And if you feel you're ready for it because it would be nice for you, this also isn't a big enough vision, big enough idea. Now that's one, let's see, there's two ideas you can work on there. One is that enlightenment, if it has any meaning, happens at any moment. And second, it will happen only if really you're willing for it to happen through you for everyone. Und das zweite ist, es wird wirklich nur dann passieren, wenn ihr bereit seid, dass es passiert durch euch für andere.

[27:28]

So those two ideas are essential. Also diese beiden Vorstellungen sind hier wesentlich. And the third is that it's already happening. Und die dritte ist, dass es bereits passiert. It may not have happened to you, but in fact it's happening. You just don't, you're not noticing it. So you might work with a phrase like enlightenment already happening. In English, you could walk around saying to yourself, A-H-E, A-H-E. So he says, why are you saying A-H-E? And if it's a prickly, deluded person, you say, oh, it's A-G. Excuse me. No, no, you don't have to.

[28:32]

But it's, you know, already happening enlightenment. In other words, just some way to remind yourself, some verbal way to remind yourself. Now you're participating in what's arising. So there's completing what's arising. And there's also you yourself are arising and you yourself are choosing what arises. Many things are arising and we notice different ones. And we ourselves actually are this arising. So it's perfectly all right for you to bring the teaching of Buddhism instead of just the teaching of your culture into what causes things to arise.

[29:45]

As I every now and then point out, your attention is your most precious commodity. And our society sees it as a commodity. Everyone's trying to get your attention. TV, the newspapers, etc. And then they sell your attention to corporations. And the corporations try to supply you with a lot of interesting things. So many of the things that arise in your attention, I was just with these two cute little kids yesterday.

[30:47]

I walked with their mother, who's an old friend of mine. to pick up her kids at the kindergarten. And the kids are, these two kids are real smart. One of them is extremely smart. He started to read at three years and one month. Suddenly he was able to read everything. And they're not trying to teach him anything special. He's just real quick and intelligent. Sie versuchen ihm nichts Besonderes beizubringen. Er ist einfach nur schnell und intelligent. But what excites him? Ferraris. He can't go buy a bookstore without Ferraris and this and that and cars and wheels and etc.

[31:54]

Er kann nicht an einem Buchgeschäft oder an einem Zeitschriftengeschäft vorbeigehen, ohne diese Autos zu sehen und die Räder und I mean, Ferraris are kind of nice. I wouldn't mind if there was one outside the center here waiting for me. At least for the afternoon. But what's present to this little kid is these extremely interesting machines we've made. And somehow we have to bring our, repossess our attention. And notice how much our attention has been purchased and formed. So what arises, you know, like this already happening enlightenment?

[33:06]

And I actually think there's ways to bring into your child's consciousness. I mean, it's not so gross as saying, yes, Sam. Is there anybody named Sam in Germany? Maybe. You never know. You know, I'm picking Sam. Maybe it's short for Sam Sarah. The two deluded twins, Sam and Sarah. Okay, you know, you say to your kid, Sam, you know, there's Ferraris, but there's also already happening enlightenment. And the kid says, that's what you think. But there are ways, without being so obvious, to give your child this feeling of already happening enlightenment. Particularly if you yourself have this vision, this view of already happening enlightenment.

[34:28]

Arising in you. This greatly increases the likelihood it will be resonantly arising in your friends and your children and your old grandmama who's taking care of your baby. Your mother, huh? His grandmama. Yes. Just because they're older, they're not inaccessible. Just because your parents and grandparents are older doesn't mean they're inaccessible to realizing already happening enlightenment. Now this already happening enlightenment

[35:29]

is the meaning, really, of the title of this classical, the Genjo Koan. Now, if you have the faith the intent to recognize this already happening enlightenment. That can be the basis for the archaeology of this weekend. What's really going on with me? Yeah. Is there some fundamental point I can touch now in my own life? From the past. From the past. And as perhaps some pivot that we're turning our life on right now. Maybe slightly changing the direction of our life.

[36:49]

To have this state of mind, even for this little weekend, Is that what Dogen in the 13th century was trying to convey to us with this title, the Genjo Koan? Now, is there anything at this point anyone would like to bring up? Does what I've been saying make sense?

[37:57]

Yeah. What were you going to say? I'm carrying around the feeling with me of being at an edge, like touching something. But it just moves me to what amount of trust it requires. Trust that it's really something valuable I'm touching and not just brushing it aside and saying, well, let's go on with Ferraris or whatever. Deutsch? You're the translator. Yes, for me, I have the feeling that I am at a point where I am touching something, an experience that is not quite clear to me. It's not something I can really grasp.

[38:59]

And what I notice is how much trust it requires, how much trust in the sense that you don't just push it aside and say, yes, that's nothing special, it's kind of like a Yeah, I think that's just the case. That's a good way to, you've found for yourself, to have this sense of this edge, which has the feeling of uniqueness and potentiality in it. So the Genjo koan is sometimes called the koan of everyday life, etc. But that means just what Christina is doing.

[40:06]

How do you find the means to make your everyday, each day situation an edge or a corner? Because as I said last night, To really know impermanence means to know each moment as unique. And it requires a kind of energetic awareness. But it also gives you energy and awareness. So although it's kind of like, we kind of like, oh God, there's one more thing to do. Now I have to have an archaeological weekend. And you feel buried. But actually, you know, this kind of effort bears fruit in a new sense of vitality and connectedness to your own energy.

[41:35]

Okay, I think that... We should take a little break in a few minutes. But let me just introduce, now that we've spent the first 40 minutes on the title. Let me introduce the first line of the Genshokan. It says, as all things are Buddha Dharma, as all things are Buddha Dharma, there is delusion and enlightenment. There is practice and birth and death. There are Buddhas and sentient beings.

[42:54]

Now, what we've said so far about the title implies some of what this first line is. Before our break, let me just speak about the first phrase. As all things are Buddha Dharma. Now this most important fascicle of an influential fascicle of Dogen's Shoboken starts out with this phrase, as all things are Buddha Dharma. Okay. Now, when you look at a phrase like that, you have to look at what's underneath it. And many things are underneath it, but one of the main things that are underneath it is what other things he could have said.

[44:03]

He could have said, as there are all these things, what do we do? He could have stated, there's all these things. But he doesn't say that. He says, there are all these things and they are Buddha Dharma. So this is a, you know, it's like in the beginning was there the word, in the beginning was there the sound, as in Indian Hindu culture. Dogen says, in a sense, in the beginning there are things. and there is the teaching about things or he says there are things and there is the relationship of things and the relationship of things is inevitably teaching there are many things arising

[45:23]

And that arising is our relationships. And our relationship to those things is teaching. So, Dogen and Buddhists in general are not really very interested in what are the original things. Buddhism more assumes, there's all these things, yeah, so what? There's always been things. But that doesn't have much meaning unless you see how they relate. Because their reality is their relationships. Things only exist in relationships.

[46:48]

And what is those relationships? And whatever those relationships are, how do we participate in those relationships? The only thing that's significant are how we participate in these relationships. That's what it is to be a human being. If the only important thing is how we participate in these relationships, then among the various ways we could participate in these relationships, what is the most true to our essential human family? And that's called the Buddha Dharma. So you yourself on this weekend, the archaeological dig of this weekend, has the choice of what tools of excavation are you going to use?

[48:05]

What tools of noticing are you going to use? Now, you're a Buddhist when you say, yes, all these things are arising. I have to relate to them. And the way I'm going to relate to them is using Buddhist teaching. And I'm particularly going to use Buddhist teaching to the extent that I rediscover Buddhist teaching for myself. So you, at some point, make a decision. Yeah, there are many ways to... enter into, relate to all these, the relationships of all these things. And you know you can't figure it out all on your own Just like you couldn't create German all on your own You couldn't create English all on your own So

[49:13]

as a human being in a multi-generational culture, you choose a multi-generational teaching. And whether you choose it because you think it's the best, or whether you choose it because you just happen to choose it, It's not so important. What's important is that you choose some way to enter into these relationships of how things exist. That's what Dogen means. As all things are Buddha Dharma, If you choose this way to see the relationship of all things as Buddha Dharma, then there is delusion and enlightenment.

[50:38]

Then there is practice and there is birth and death. then there are sentient beings and there are Buddhas. If you can really accept there are sentient beings and Buddhas. That's like accepting that there is already happening enlightenment. But if you enter into how all things exist through the Buddha Dharma then there has to be Buddhas. So this is another big attitude you accept. You begin to live in this world as if there were Buddhas. As if there could be Buddhas.

[51:39]

That seems like a good place to have a break. Do you mind if we sit for a few minutes? Amen.

[54:36]

So why don't we come back in half an hour? Do we have anything prepared or it's just you go out to the corner? Okay. It looks like we need more than 30 minutes to go to a little someplace where you have to order something and everything.

[57:31]

It's too late, I guess, on Saturday to get something for here, juice or apple juice or something. No, I don't think so. We can get something. Okay. It might be easier for some people than they can just stay here and have a glass of juice or something. Now I've just been trying to present Dogen's teaching and understanding as simply as I can. But I'd like to ask again, is there anything you'd like to bring up at this point? Yes?

[58:39]

I have a question relating back to what you mentioned yesterday evening. You mentioned that usually we locate our continuity in the self and not in breathing also. And I wonder whether Do you have a thought if this thinking necessarily reconfirms these attitudes to locate, to have the location in the south? You mean does thinking, having any thinking, tend to reinforce the self.

[59:53]

Yeah. No. In other words, I mean, we are thinking beings. And we will always be thinking beings. There wouldn't be Buddha's teaching or Dogen's teaching unless he did some thinking. It's a question of whether we believe our thinking represents the world And whether we identify with a narrative self within thinking. Does that make sense? I do not understand what's right now.

[60:59]

Yeah. Well, I like your honesty. In other words, there's some kind of mentation, mental activity. I can look at this stuff out there and I don't have to think window. It's just, you know, I see it. But it does take shape and it takes shape in what we would have to call present memory. In other words, in actual fact, from both the dharmic point of view and point of view of contemporary physics, There's a continual flashing. That's all that's here.

[62:02]

Sukhriyashi said, reality is a flashing in utter darkness. You can't say at this moment when the future begins and the past ends. You can't say how long the present is. If you analyze it, it's like 12 o'clock. There's no 12 o'clock. There's a minute to twelve and so forth. Half a minute to twelve. A fraction of a second before twelve. And then suddenly there's a fraction of a second after twelve.

[63:04]

And there was no twelve. So the present is something that's approached and passed. So technically the present doesn't have duration. But we experience duration. I experience that there's an in-placeness here that lasts for a little while. And this is the main work of my senses and mind. To create a sense of duration. Okay. So this is again what Dogen would mean. He would say, as all things are Buddha Dharma, or Genjo again, the arising and completing.

[64:11]

Things arise and they're completed. It's funny, Buddhism is a kind of physics. Particularly Zen, because it wants to give you the power to realize for yourself uniquely. We don't want to tell you where you're going. Okay. So this, each, the world is appearing or arising. And that arising is the present moment.

[65:16]

Each thing and all things together. Okay. And there's an experience of duration. Right? that experience of duration can be altered. We can widen it or shorten it and we can kind of increase its depth and we can affect how it is located in us. And the Dharma is noticing this and taking responsibility for it. Dogen speaks about the stage of the present moment.

[66:17]

Now this is the language, you know, just as we're trying to create some language in German and English, Yeah, I'm doing the English work. Christina's doing the German work. And you're trying to keep these two works straight. So he created for himself terms that aren't part of, you know, Japanese. The stage of the present moment, which includes all of time. Because this present moment is not only without duration, It includes past, present and future, even though it's without duration. What happens when you get to this point?

[67:20]

You know that Buddhism begins where the mind boggles. Boggles means you can't figure it out. In other words, if you look at it this way, you realize what's happening here is essentially mysterious. And what we should understand is that our senses and thinking do an extraordinary job of letting us live in this mystery. That's true. That's wisdom. But when you think your mentation and senses represent what's going on here accurately, that's delusion.

[68:32]

Okay. So it's a wonderful... Functioning, but it's not the whole story. Okay, now in the stage of the present moment, this duration of the present moment, what's it manufactured from? What are its constituents? And this is also what Dogen means by to study the self. To study the constituents of this moment. The basic teaching of Buddhism is one of the constituents we don't need is self. Okay. But there have to be some constituents. And the duration is supplied by our memory.

[69:34]

Without some kind of present memory, there'd be no information to describe the duration. Okay, so if I look out again the window at this building and so forth, I can look at it without thinking window. But in fact, the word window may come up. Because this whole duration is established in my present memory, this little memory.

[70:37]

So, I can call it a window or not call it a window. It's irrelevant. Well, it's not irrelevant. It's relevant in the sense that it changes the particular mind that is the stage of the duration. But it's rather irrelevant in relationship to the self. Well, not completely, but... Now, this may be your point route. In other words, again, if I look out there, and what I see there, I see, I know I'm seeing my own mind seeing, and I know the ingredients are from my present memory,

[71:44]

But I don't have to identify with it as real. And I don't have to identify with it as confirming the self. So I can think window without confirming the self. Now the problem is that when I just look at it and don't think window There's less structure for the self to be present in if I don't think thoughts. If I think thoughts, like window, curtains, people behind the window, that is the habitual home of the self.

[73:00]

Not only behind the curtains, but also in the structures of language. So there's a big tendency for then the self to appear. And I think if that's what you're pointing out, that's quite right. But the self doesn't have to appear. Okay. So what I would like to do a little later on is speak about, which I have spoken about once or twice this spring, this year in Europe, what is our potential relationship to thinking and what are the Zen traditions of how we relate to thinking because that's central to what Dogen is talking about I'll come back to that But the main points are whether we identify and whether we take it as reality.

[74:22]

Okay, yes? If the self is not alive, who or what has the experience? Because it's not exchangeable, my experience with that of another. Another person? Yeah. Yeah. In Deutsch? Of course, that's a fundamental question. So let me restate it, see if I get what you mean, is if the self does not arise, What or who experiences being alive or the non-arising? What or who experiences being alive or experiences the non-arising of self?

[75:45]

Is that a fair representation of your question? I don't know. That's one answer. I think probably a useful answer is experience experiences the non-arising. Sorry. A useful answer is experience experiences the non-arising. Aha, I think a useful answer is experience experiences the non-arising. Okay. Now, what I mean by that is Let's take the simple statement, it rains. This is in our language because our language is essentially theological.

[76:51]

It assumes there's always a doer. But as I used to teasingly say to my daughters when they told me it was raining, I'd say, would you please go outside and find me the it? Because there's no it that rains. There's just raining, raining. So if we had a language which was a Dharma language, we'd say rain rains, we wouldn't say it rains. In that sense I can say experience experiences. Now, is that an accurate explanation? I would say it's not too bad. But Its main point is that it might be useful in working with your own doubts, observations and so forth.

[78:08]

Because as I said this weekend in Linz, or this last week in Linz, Buddhism is not the Zen especially is not an experience of how things exist. It's not a teaching about how things exist. It's a teaching about how you open yourself to how things exist. So it's basically pedagogy. In other words, I guess that's enough to say. So it's a teaching to take away teaching. To expose you. We say, there's phrases in Zen like exposed in the golden wind.

[79:09]

Mm-hmm. Now, I can give you other explanations, but I think I should leave going into any detail for a little later. But if I do go into detail, what I'll need to speak about is the difference between the witness, the witness's relationship to the sense of location, and the witness's and the sense of location's relationship to the sense of identity. And all of that to whether you think it's happening out here?

[80:16]

or whether you think it's a reflection in the mind or the mirror, or whether you think it's the glass of the mirror, or whether you think it's the aluminum oxide or silvering behind the mirror that gives us the sensation of reflection. And then whether this witness is, how this witness changes. In other words, that's another level of analysis, but that takes a little time. But it's useful to do. because it makes us able to practice with more precision and a more accurate sense of how things appear. Yes? Are you just moving around? Pure awareness is just another way of calling that mirror.

[81:43]

Is that another aspect in your... In German? What do you mean by pure awareness? Yeah, a state of experiencing the presence of the Earth, goodness or pure awareness. Hmm? Er hat gefragt, was ich damit meine und ich habe gesagt, das Erleben der Präsenz oder der Gegenwart aus dem Blickwinkel eines Beobachters. Or maybe they are the same thing, awareness and presence.

[83:06]

Yeah. You want to say what he said? Well, I'm thinking about how to enter into this without going into what we did at Linz. I think maybe, let me just say, the important thing here is for Zen, whether it's a generated mind or a given mind, A given mind is one we're born with. Now Zen Buddhism particularly presumes an original mind that we're born with. That any moment you can be confronted with this original mind that we could say is a little like the page under the print.

[84:19]

And if you practice... Now, the page under the print is not very important to you when you're concentrating on the text. And the text mostly fills the page. And a few of us go to our desk and pull out a blank piece of paper and study it. It's really not very interesting. Okay. But when you practice meditation, or various kinds of mindfulness or experiences of what might help in a concentrated state of mind. You notice that the text is only a small part of the piece of paper. And that the text and that this blank piece of paper is actually quite bright and fluctuating. and it has certain qualities it's in contrast to thinking and it tends to have an integrity or wholeness so it purifies your thinking

[85:43]

It begins to change the sentences in the text on the piece of paper. So it's not just an inert piece of paper under the text. It does things. It begins to change the text. Some diluted sentences completely disappear, pull down into the text. and the grammar of other sentences are corrected so in that sense it has a purifying function it's not just a pure mind it's a purifying mind now to some extent this is a given mind But as soon as it starts to function, it develops. So now you have a generated purifying mind that you're generating.

[87:00]

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