When I come into the room just now, I feel I'm walking in, which seems strange to say, walking in your wisdom. Yeah, it's almost like each of you was a, I don't know, corny, each of you was a kind of sphere of wisdom or light, and I was walking through it. And I know that for many of us, and even for old time Zen practitioners, koans can be pretty frustrating. But I think they're frustrating.

[01:09]

Yeah, they're frustrating, so let's not make excuses. But still, they're frustrating, I think, primarily at the level of our personality. In other words, we could say, because we're involved with myriad circumstances without wind breathing out. So we have habits developed from many years of breathing out into an involvement with myriad circumstances.

[02:11]

And within the container of those myriad circumstances, We've developed our habits and impatience or frustration or likes and dislikes and so forth. Yeah. Koans require you to meet them, enter them outside the container of your habits. Meet whom? The koan requires you to meet it or enter it outside the container of your head. It's like a different realm. Or It's very similar to the subtle realm you live in, which is outside the container of your habits.

[03:35]

In other words, our life, unless you're somebody who believes in fate and signs and all that stuff, Yeah, and even if you do, that still means that you think there's a wider container than the container of your habits. My life is guided or fated or, you know, something like that. One of the rules of being ordained is that monks give no meaning to signs.

[04:40]

You don't see significance in signs. There was a branch across the road, and it means, you know, black chemistry. It was a branch across the road. It was a windy day. Thank you. But even if you are not someone who is involved with omens and signs and a fated life, still much of the territory in which our life happens is outside of our consciousness and outside of our edited consciousness.

[05:42]

So in other words, if the idea is If you can learn to make sense, to find the sense in a koan, which is outside, as I'm putting it today, the container of your habits, Yeah, you may be able to see how your life itself functions outside the container of your habits.

[06:44]

When seemingly non-contextual things are in a larger context that we don't notice. So what I mean is, on the one hand I feel the frustration of Cohen's study, And at the same time, I feel the wisdom in each of you that already actually is able to understand the koan quite well. And somehow the schedule and sort of the Janushoff and the schedule of this seminar, etc.,

[07:45]

Is it sufficiently developed or formed? No, it's fast. Usually Germans longer than English. It's sufficiently formed that it that I feel your wisdom taking precedence over the container of your habits. So, in other words, the container of your habits that has been developed through your engagement in everyday circumstances. No, this doesn't mean your everyday habits are bad or something like that.

[08:58]

You're born into a certain sensory container. A certain culture, another container. And we have to learn to live in those containers. But that's not the mystic path. The mystic path means when you learn, discover how to live outside these containers. And you know when you're living within the containers. Yeah, it can be a great deal of fun, actually. But somehow it's not deeply satisfying.

[10:18]

You feel kind of half-used and sometimes misused. And you don't feel exactly complete. And this poor wayfarer, each of us is a poor wayfarer. With our lips moistened by the wine of the past. What's the wine that... The wine of the past. Wine for drinking. Wine for drinking. Unsere Lippen sind benetzt mit dem Wein des Pfades That's why we're here.

[11:32]

Why we find ourselves here. And this koan is asking us, now this koan, the inner order of this koan, the inner context of this koan, not the outer context which I've been talking about, is how, as a poor wayfarer, We pour in the sense that we're part of these containers. But a wayfarer because we taste the past of completeness. Or maybe completeness isn't right, a fullness which is never completed. A fullness which is never completed. A fullness which is never completed. The realization through the stream of our self.

[12:52]

Yeah. Okay, goodbye. No, I'm kidding. All right. But I take your frustration very seriously. That's why I'm giving so much time. Because I desperately, maybe not strong enough, desperately want this to work for you. It's the only way I can fulfill my vow to Suzuki Rishu. Das ist die einzige Art, wie ich mein Gelöbnis an Suzuki Roshi einlösen kann. Each of you is my vow to Suzuki Roshi. I'm sorry to put the burden on you. Also jeder von euch ist mein Gelöbnis zu Suzuki Roshi und es tut mir leid, dass ich euch jetzt so eine Last auflege. To do for everyone I meet who's willing what Suzuki Roshi did for me.

[13:56]

Or at least tried very hard to do for me. And to the extent that I have not fulfilled what he tried to do for me, I'm hoping you will. Okay, so now let's keep looking for how to look at a koan. Okay. It's all vertical and not horizontal. I mean, like, in every sentence, the words are vertical, not limited to the sentence, as well as horizontal within the sentence. They're both.

[14:59]

I just translated the gesture. No, well, I said, in a sentence, words are both. But in a koan, the verticality is emphasized, not the horizontality. So it says someplace in the koan, for instance, in the heroic March Sutra, Now here is a koan, again, here is a koan telling us not to read the scriptures, which is quoting the scriptures. This is not meant to be contradictory. What isn't contradictory? Es möchte nicht widersprüchlich sein. Aber was ist denn nicht widersprüchlich? If it's surprising that anything exists at all, then what's a contradiction?

[16:03]

Wenn es erstaunlich ist, dass überhaupt etwas existiert, was ist denn ein Widerspruch? Tigers are swimming in the fire. Tigers are swimming in the fire. I don't know why I get this turtle confused. There's a tiger in your tank. That was an advertisement back in the 60s. Anyway. So the Heroic March Sutra says... Now viewing the assembly of sages... Okay. Now, you may have noticed that the word hero or heroic appears quite a few times in the Koran. And it's clear that this Koran says to really do this, you have to be something of a hero or a shero.

[17:10]

So the word is vertical, not horizontal. It applies to the whole koan, not just to this name of the sutra. Or you may find, for instance, that it says when they're putting down Prajnatara, that dummy displaying wonders flipping a horse gourd. A squash. Yeah, it is a squash. I know, but... Oh, we think it is.

[18:29]

Yeah, I know. It's lots of squash. Anyway, and dipper, the word dipper pops out, and the word dipper refers often to the handle of the dipper hanging down so you can almost take the stars and heavens in your hands. So the words pop out of their context. Die Worte springen heraus aus ihrem Kontext, ihrem Umfeld. But if you read people are creative and inventive, they're inventive when things pop out of the context. Wenn ihr lest, Menschen sind kreativ und erfindungsreich, das ist, wenn die Worte oder die Dinge aus ihrem Kontext herausspringen.

[19:34]

They see relationships that just were right in front of them, but they didn't see before. So it says, making fun of Prajnathara. That dummy Prajnathara, it doesn't say dummy, but could have. That dummy Prajnathara displaying wonders, flipping a horse gourd dipper. This stupid Prajnatara causes miracles by throwing a horse-shaped pumpkin bear through the air. And that dummy, the emperor, taking it seriously and bowing to him, you know, can fool anybody.

[20:37]

And his brain has fallen to the ground. And his spine is supporting the heavens or the sky. But you may find, when you're practicing this, that your brain does feel like it's fallen to the ground. In the context of making fun of Prajna Tara, this is actually a very thorough compliment to Prajna Tara. So you've got to let the ingredients of the koan form their own patterns in the kitchen of your life and not through your habitual understanding. Can you say it again?

[21:56]

Fat chance. I can do it if you can't. Oh, well, thank you. Okay, go ahead. I can do it too, maybe. Okay, then do it. I'll go ahead. I'm inventing it. Okay. And the emperor bows to Peter. You flipped a gourd. Okay. So it's a kind of, you can get the habit of seeing things

[23:04]

each in a paratactic way, each thing independent of everything else. It's just a shift. I mean, at first it doesn't make sense, but once you get loose in your mind a little and happen, you can start noticing that way. That's a basic teaching or attitude assumed in reading any koan. Okay. Now, again, I often say to you, I don't know how I'm doing here, I have nothing to say today, son, just in the beginning.

[24:10]

Okay. Yeah, maybe I come back to that. Okay. So, let's look at the koan again. Schauen uns den Koan noch einmal an. This is an assembly of sages. Das ist eine Versammlung von Weisen. The Heroic Mark Sutra presents it as speaking to the assembly of sages, blah, blah, blah. But you looking at the koan is looking at Prajnatara, Maha, what the heck is that? Trama Prata or something like that. And the other guys. You'll never come across this. Just say maha, maha, maha. Yeah, all these mahas. So in this koan they're presenting the highest level of realization and teaching.

[25:38]

If they're going to present Prajnatara and Bodhidharma, this is as good as it gets. Avalokiteshvara and so on. Oh, we're really poor werefarers when it comes to these guys. So in this koan, it's got to present the teaching at that level. But it also, you know, for us poor werefarers, presents the basic teachings. And when you learn how to use koans, you have to learn how to use what parts you can make use of from the beginning. Okay. Now, also, zen koans, what's characteristic of zen koans... that they are not staged, or no, they're not stages.

[27:02]

Almost all Buddhist teachings are you do this, and then you do that, and then that leads to this, and so forth. And there's teachings of various levels and finally secret teachings and blah, blah, blah. We're very lucky because Zen says, let's mix it all up. Just aim for the highest and start with the lowest. That's exactly what Zen is all about. Okay. So, every koan assumes that the highest teaching is realized through the most... the highest realization is realized through the most basic teachings and practices. So, we can see the highest teachings in this koan?

[28:08]

Teaching or realization. And we can see the basic teachings, count your breath, follow your breath, etc. Notice how percept and mind function together and so forth. Okay. And then, or in addition, we can look at it from the Zen point of view. The Zen point of view is how do we enter a teaching in a very basic way that is the path, the mystic path. That's the Zen path.

[29:30]

The mystic path. Okay, now, so what the basic thrust or placement or position of this koan is? Every koan has a sort of basic position it takes, perspective it takes. Okay, the perspective of this koan is that the most fundamental teaching of our lineage... Prajnatara, Bodhidharma, etc., who introduced Zen practice to actual, physical, daily, mental Zen practice to China.

[30:34]

The path to their realization is through breathing. And in particular, it's through breathing viewed as the source of Scripture. The territory and proof of Scripture. How you check up on Scripture. And also a practice parallel to Scripture. And it's parallel in that you practice it knowing it's parallel to scripture.

[31:37]

So, we have the sages, we have the basic teachings, we have the Zen approach, We have the thrust or perspective of this particular koan. Which is this cohabitation of breath and scripture. And then we have the instructions. And the instructions are How really now? We're at the nub, the nexus. The knack point. Yeah, you should have known that.

[32:38]

Which is, how do we practice breathing so it somehow teaches us the way scripture does? Okay. Now when you read a sutra, we can think of each word as a window. It's a window in which you see associations, You know, ideas, percepts. Each word is a little window placed by whoever wrote the text. Now, if it's not a window, it's a painting. And if it's a painting, then you're just seeing the container of your involvement in myriad-centric plans.

[34:00]

You're just seeing the painting you've painted over the glass. Or you're seeing the painting the writer painted on the glass when he had the chance to show you a window and he shows you a painting instead. And one reason scriptures and sutras are often anonymous is because you see through the window of each word beyond who ever wrote it into the mystic path or another world or a wider world. Okay, so now the koan continues to instruct you. Yeah, how are we going to see each breath as a window? How can we see every breath as a window?

[35:18]

Just try that. Try that. That's great. Well, the first instruction is see your inhale as mind and body. The first instruction is see your inhale as body and mind. I mean it says see it as not mind and body but of course the instruction really is see it as mind and body. Because you can't see it as not mind and body until you start seeing it as mind and body. So notice on each inhale the world reappears on each inhale The world appears. What appears? Thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations. You look at it as if it were seen in a window.

[36:20]

Du schaust es an, als ob du es durch ein Fenster sehen würdest. And then you see if you can kind of let something else appear in the window. Und dann schaut ihr, ob ihr nicht etwas anderes in dem Fenster auftauchen seht. And then you practice with the exhale. Und dann praktiziert ihr mit dem Ausatmen. On the exhale you see myriad circumstances. And this koan is also teaching you the basic Manjushri Avalokiteshvara practice of drawing the world in on inhales and folding the world out on exhales. So you're discovering and learning a lot just on this doing your inhales and exhales the way suggested. And then you begin to wonder, does the window of the exhale, now that I'm emphasizing that, and if you don't bring attention to each breath, they're not windows, they're only paintings.

[37:56]

Old paintings. So you bring attention to the window of the exhale. And you see myriad circumstances in which you can get engaged or maybe not get engaged. And when you let this happen spontaneously, as it says later in the koan, when the door moves spontaneously without being pushed, And the hinge turns freely in emptiness because the hole is like emptiness and the door turns freely in that hinge. And then, it says, Chen Dang sorts out the sand.

[39:41]

Separates out the sand. Chooses the gold. Something like discovers the marks and measures the ounces. This is instruction about how to let the window of each breath not be a painting. Don't you think that's enough for this afternoon? I mean this morning. Or for this afternoon too, I mean. Oh. Thanks a lot.

[40:29]

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