Well, how was your discussion? Very, very good. Oh, good. So, somebody tell me something. Question? In our group we all agreed upon that we find the koan to be very encouraging and at the same time somehow comforting. Why? because it encourages us that we can do this as well. What was important to us was the location and the location where you plant the sanctuary through the blade of grass.

[01:23]

The sense of mind as a location you mean? Or the sense of just a spot? Not just spot, but also each situation that you find yourself in. Is a location, okay. Okay, good, okay. One... And one of us said that before coming here he was on vacation in the mountains and with the sentence Here. Here is a sanctuary.

[02:26]

This is a sanctuary. With this feeling he hiked through the mountains. And he found that in the mountains where nature is very beautiful, he found that this was very easy to feel. And then he tried the same thing in his everyday life. And particularly in difficult situations with his colleagues, for example. And he found that this really helps. And it impressed us all and somehow it also appealed to us and we all want to try this out as well. In the mountains or in your everyday life? I'll try to repeat the essence from our group.

[03:36]

The topic was that there's no... There is no excuse not to practice anymore. Because you can plant the blade of grass everywhere, anytime. You can go into a wild field and not choose. You can be a master in every place and find the source. You can't find an excuse because it's not important whether you're clever or not clever? Can I be your student? And then somebody said it's absolutely not realistic within practice to practice all the time.

[04:59]

Because sometimes I just hang out and watch TV and then I'm not practicing. I might be a TV Buddha but I'm really not practicing. But then we talked about that we do have the potential and we do have the possibility and that it's just good to know where you are. Then we also talked about the aspect of humility being in the Quran, in the sentence to see the entire world in one mode of dust. And we also asked the question what this phrase, you shouldn't shed earth on a guardian spirit, that phrase, what that might mean.

[06:05]

And for us, we took it as meaning, we took it as it's important to have respect and to be mindful and to treat things in an alert way. But then somebody mentioned that also real guardian spirits might be meant, that you just have guardian spirits that carry you along or that hold you somehow. And then somebody said that when he or she was a child, his or her guardian spirits were transparent sea horses. Thank you. Well, I never heard of that. I never even could have thought of it. Transparent seahorses. They're all around. Okay. Those were even the guardian spirits of two people independently from each other in the... Transparency.

[07:48]

Are you twins separated at birth? Or is there some children's story in Germany that... Really? Because we have a story in America, Water Babies. It's about a whole world underneath the water. It was written in the late 19th century. It's quite marvelous, but I don't think there's transparent seahorses. This is really too esoteric, so let's not let it out of this room. Then we did wonder whether in Buddhism there is a space for the existence of guardian spirits.

[08:51]

Or do they just exist in our experience? That is really a question we were pondering about. I was wondering, do they come from the Alaya Vijnana as a kind of image or as something mystic? What space do they have? Next. Okay, I'll come back to it. What else? That's all? So, who else? Yes, Ricard. For me the worldview is a core question. And in this koan I would say the traditional Western worldview is entirely turned around.

[10:32]

And if you can get to a point where you really manifest this worldview within yourself, then maybe that could be a state where a lot of experiences from the koan might arise from. And what I find difficult is when I exist, I say, now out there in the normal world, then there is this strong draw that you are being pulled back into the old world view. And the question for me is, how can I manifest such a worldview, such a different worldview, in the midst of a world where almost everybody around me has such an opposing or contrary worldview?

[12:16]

Yeah, okay, let me keep that in mind. Someone else? Altogether, the feeling in our group was that we were quite full of the call, the discussion, everything. There was also quite an amount of silence, full silence. And also the group here giving, it was expressed as an overwhelming feeling or a grieving support for later daily life, which we will be going back to. And also there were specific practices members of our group told us, for example, connecting with just breathing like breathing in sanctuary, breathing out built.

[13:24]

And breathing in that way was one. Someone told me about the breathing practice, that when you inhale, you inhale the feeling of holiness, and when you exhale, you exhale the feeling of being built. and also the blade of grass as a posture, where there also was some difficulty expressed of getting this uplifting, so to say. But this worked then when bowing took place. Then sort of this lifting up was easier now as a specific practice. And then also to get this feeling of Grashalm as a healing point.

[14:26]

That it was then difficult as a specific practice to get such a feeling of inner uprightness, inner uprightness into it. But that it became easier when you bowed down in front of the place. This inner uprightness. Yes, it was completely avoided, it was easily possible. an echo of this group as a physical location in the body and the zero point and the zero mind where Experiencing this as spatial and not temporal and but in between Moments after moments take place this Practice take place and and we're between the feeling of meeting a sanctuary is, that the feeling from the group leaves an echo, so to speak, but as a physical, like a locality, so to speak,

[15:37]

And that, so to speak, is taken, just like the zero point and also the zero spirit, which is experienced as spatial and not temporal, so to speak, and where also between these moments, so to speak, where zero comes again and again, where there is also this, that is the area, one cannot say, but that is where it is, and also one being in the mountains there was one event being reported that the person went through the mountain in mist it was misty and suddenly there was a deer standing right before her and this was What she reported like a bit feeling like, yeah, like something sanctuary.

[16:51]

And then there was also the experience, a mountain experience, a person who was in the mountains and it was very foggy. And then all of a sudden a deer appeared in front of her. And that was such a feeling of a sanctity that suddenly appeared. And also, honestly, coming back to older practices, refreshed, renewed with another thrust, and also the... We are giving us the way to approach a new koan. How do we go at it? And then also the coming back to older practices that are being renewed and refreshed, so to speak. or refreshed, and then also this practice, or as you told us, how we should approach a new choir.

[18:00]

That was mainly it. Oh, that's a lot, yeah. That was mainly what we talked about. In our group, where it's... Oh, I'll do it in German. Yes. Ich bin der Reporter von der zweiten englischsprachigen Gruppe mit Myogen. I'm the spokesperson of the second English-speaking group. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's good. Aber ich mache es in Deutsch. But I do it in German. All right. Ich kann nicht alles zusammenfassen. No problem. One person finds the case, two sentences from the case, very important. And she says they function within her. And they change how the mind usually functions.

[19:20]

And then people asked what that meant. And what I remembered is that it triggers a very new kind of activity. So I said that, so she is trying to check in with me. Okay. And what I meant was that... You were in the group? I was in that group, yeah. What I meant was that these two sentences from the case that I pointed out, that they leave a sense in me as if the skull is somehow empty or it's almost as if it is not existent, just the sense field.

[20:45]

There's just the world appearing in the sense field somehow. What are the lines? The lines are the Buddha pointing to the ground. That's the first sense, and then the planting of the grass. Plate of grass, okay. Plate of grass, yeah. And someone else found that in working with the Quran, in this group throughout the entire week, found pausing for the particular to be something that stayed that was what that person found to be illuminating and someone else was touched by the scene with

[21:52]

Ananda and the flower. And someone else was touched by the scene with Ananda and the lotus, the flower. And sees... So the essence of the Quran is for this person... You mean Maha Kashyap? Yes. The... The... The invitation to the... You see in this scene or in the essence of the Quran the invitation to the... in the awareness of the moment, every moment. And transmission? Yes, exactly. This person sees as the essence of the koan and through the scene in the koan the possibility of transmission in each moment.

[23:05]

And And to meet the teacher and the host was in each moment. I think that's it. Okay, thank you. Danke. Yes, Peter? I belong to the seahorse fraction. I belong to the seahorse fraction. Oh, you want to say? No, I want to ask. I will not repeat. For me, this koan breathes not only the spirit of humility, but above all of simplicity. For me, this koan breathes not only the mind of humility, but first of all, the mind of simplicity. And this movement to create a sanctuary with a blade of grass.

[24:15]

That actually means to reduce everything external to the very simplicity and that not only opens up an aesthetic of beauty but it creates the space to fill the simplicity with my own internal experiencing. Okay, thanks. Yes, Tara? On the one hand, it became clear to me very clearly how important this teaching is from face to face.

[25:25]

One thing that became very clear to me throughout the week is how important the face-to-face teaching is. And in my experience, everything that happened for me in my experience throughout the week happened somehow down here. and not appear on the level of my understanding. Yes, something is bothering me, and without me saying it, I just get an answer, through Rashi, through his closeness, or through the T-shoulder. But it's always like a kind of... When I'm concerned with something, then without me expressing it, I usually get an answer for what I'm concerned with from Yoroshi through the Teishos or through whatever.

[26:49]

And my experience is that all these things happen on such a very different level. For me, what I want to take home as a practice, I am always dealing with this spatial anchoring, because this whole week this spatial being or experience has taken me in and also fills me up and fascinates me. And what I take home with me is I'm very fascinated and also engaged with the sense of spaciousness and spatializing. And the question for me and what I want to take home with me is the sense of anchoring oneself in a spatial way, in this spacious sense.

[28:03]

Because that was very present for me throughout the week and I'm still not very clear about how to integrate that into my everyday life. Okay, good, thanks. You want to footnote? No footnote. Okay, go ahead. I feel the difficulty between, I think it is the situation of our group made it clear for me and I just thought I tell you this. The koan contains so much familiar things, so many familiar things, that maybe it sounds funny to emphasize them again and to say, oh, zazen is fantastic and all this. Okay. I don't mind hearing it.

[29:05]

But it is so... There are so many ideas that maybe we think we know them. And then to talk about them differently and to see it fresh and... So it is difficult to maybe to talk about. And I feel that we were not really so successful in that communication. Because it was too familiar? I don't know. For me, the koan works, but for others it is maybe very familiar. And I think maybe I'm a beginner or maybe it is different.

[30:11]

And I feel a bit ridiculous when I say it works for me so intense. Yeah, I think it is different. Yes, German, please. I simply feel that the choir contains a lot of familiar things for us and I have the impression that it is difficult to talk about it when you are so familiar with the practice or have been practicing for so long that maybe some things no longer touch you so much or that you no longer appreciate it so much or talk about it. And for me, the single sentence works very well. And I just had the feeling that it's a bit ridiculous when I tell what it looks like to me. How does it affect me?

[31:14]

I also noticed in the group that the conversation was difficult. What do we take home? What do we take out of it? The question was not satisfied with me. What's an example of it being so familiar? For me, the sentence, everywhere life is sufficient in its way, it really takes me. But the sentence, just now is enough, is very popular.

[32:22]

So I think here are many, many... Are you imagining that some people are cleverer than you are? We've been practicing longer and just now is enough. It's just everyday stuff. Maybe they are through it. So one says, don't think that way. Just now is enough is never new to me or old to me. Yeah, I don't know. I don't find the koan familiar at all, and I have, you know, I'm somewhat familiar with it in an obvious sense. So, I mean, if you like the koan, if it works for you, that's great. You don't have to compare it to anything. If you like the koan and if it works for you, then that's great.

[33:33]

You don't have to compare it to anything else. Yes? It's a pity to bring that in. It hasn't been addressed yet. For me, it was a very close connection between the last koan and the I have the wish to also bring this one aspect in that hasn't been mentioned so far, which is that for me there is a very strong connection between the last koan and this one. In the last koan, I experienced so much embodiment, other forms or deeper forms of embodiment, With the phrase from the last koan, the turtle heading for the fire, I've experienced so many new layers of embodiment and also to embody encouragement.

[34:36]

The body can also be my zero mind and then this space can be in all directions. And in that koan also the sense was that my body can be my zero mind and then space somehow adds to that in all directions. And for me, it's also interesting to see this connection. It's like the connection between the two koans. Good, yeah. Okay. I'd like to relate four lines from the verse to the three words of Nagarjuna that you taught.

[35:57]

And I run the risk that this sounds very technical, but in the Teisho this also resonated with experiences in everyday life in relation to incurable mental settings or incurable... And I'm running the risk that this may sound a little technical, but in the teshu this also resonated with unhealthy states of mind or unhealthy views. And in a situation in which I have emotional reactions from defense or attachment, this sentence helps me that the... And in a situation where I react with rejection or attachment, this phrase or this image of the 16-foot tall golden body leading me into the dust helps.

[37:22]

And that also reminds me of what you taught during the last session when you talked about acceptance and absorption and awareness. At that moment I can take what arises, let's say it's anger, I can just put it to the side, I don't have to repress it or cut it off or something, I can just put it to the side. And that is also something that I heard in a very new way for the first time when you talked about the three worlds that this belongs to, the world of desire. Du hast dann auch gesagt, dass der Formbereich nicht zum ersten Skanda gehört.

[38:42]

And you also talked about how the form realm or world does not belong to the first Skanda. Und da gab es sowas wie so ein Aha, wo ich dachte, aber von der Praxis her gehört es zu dem zweiten Skanda. And there was this moment of Aha, where I thought in terms of practice it belongs to the second Skanda. Where I react with rejection or attachment when something is pleasant. And then I remembered that what you also mentioned then is that neutral is the third thing that is traditionally also taught. And today you said something that I already heard back then in what you said, that this neither is somehow the key, this neither nor, that it's in between.

[39:54]

And that is somehow from, that is no longer technically to be described, that this NESA, the And I can't describe it technically, but there is the sense that this neither opens up the formless realm because it's an equanimity. And that is the sentence to be a master in the dust. The formless is far away. It will probably open a completely different space that I cannot grasp or experience, but it is like the threshold into this equanimity. And this formlessness that is probably a very different territory as well that I don't experience, but this equanimity still is something like the threshold to this formless world.

[41:25]

And these four lines from the verse have called forth a lot of what I've intimated and guessed or remembered. Well, now, that's great. Now, see if you can, this territory you've laid out for us, see if you can actualize it in your practice. Each part and it as a whole piece. So in that sense, conceptual understanding or exploration can lead our practice.

[42:30]

And can be tested by our practice. You have a question now? Yes, whether it is also possible that an experience that lasts only fractions of a long time, but takes place in sequences, is not so tangible or explainable, but without holding it down. The question is whether an experience that has only a duration of fractions, but still runs in a sequence, whether it's possible to fathom it without holding onto it or attaching onto it. Yes. Yes.

[43:31]

So that it works in both directions, that on the one hand I can explore my practice through it, but on the other hand also explain what has been experienced through that. Yeah, you don't want to tie your experience to the explanation, that's all. But the fraction of a second is in terms of our deeper life a long time and can transform everything. Dorothea? I wanted to say that sometimes I feel similar how Tara explained before that I find it difficult to take an experience home. And this phrase immediately appealed to me to be the master in every place, know in every place and meet the source in everything.

[45:17]

And I think you have to be a master to attain that or to do that. if you intend it it will start to happen and then someone might call you a master but the point is to intend it yes yeah You're in one of your famous seats. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't get, well not get, I wasn't, du warst nicht hier, deshalb, okay.

[46:24]

I wasn't here a lot for the teishos and for the discussions to the koan, about the koan. Ich nehme aber dieses Bild mit aus dem koan, mit dem Grashalm, den man so reinsteckt. But I do take this image from the koan with the blade of grass that you plant. When I read this for the first time, I had a childhood memory which reminded me that it's true, that it's really not possible to repair it. And this one-sidedness that I find in every moment of my everyday life, I don't have to be particularly clever, how can I find it? And this one pointedness that I can find in every single moment of my everyday life without having to be very clever.

[47:38]

And the sense that life is sufficient in its own way. And to practice that and to become a master at that, for that it's sufficient. I can wash my cup or I can clean my cup or I can cook something. There are all these many moments where I can plant this blade of grass. I hope the soup tastes good. What I noticed in our group is that everyone has reported that something that they already know has shown itself in a totally new quality through this work with the choir. And what struck me was that many people out of the group talked about that this koan led them to understand something that they already knew in a very new light, in a very new way.

[48:59]

I also have some experience with the sentence, mind and mind, which I studied at home about Sejin this week. And I experienced something similar with this phrase, mind and mind, that I studied throughout the Sesshin and at home. Verorten. Verorten und versorgen. Das war wirklich so, ich muss da keinen Bezugspunkt... And really for the first time it was possible for me to relax my shoulders because I could take care of mind through mind.

[50:02]

I could settle it on the mind. It was a still point. Now, how is it for you not to be here much, but is it confusing to come into part of it, or is it okay? I don't want to miss it. It's very inspiring. Even though you miss the day shows and things like that? That's good, that's good. Because you feel also the process and you do it at home somewhat in the days you are not here. Strange, yeah? I understand that. Dorothea, what do you think about being here part-time? Right now, this afternoon, I don't have the feeling of having been gone. Oh, good. I think a few things I just did not get, well not in the sense of understanding, I just didn't get them.

[51:19]

And this morning during study period I looked at host and guest. And then I heard that that was a big topic throughout the week. So, of course, these things I did miss, but at the moment I don't have the feeling of having been gone. Because for Sashins we don't let people attend, only part of it. What we have here is a special pedagogical dispensation. Dispensation? An exception, a teacher's exception. Okay. So those of you who don't have vacation because of school and everything, you're teaching, you're letting come part-time, but if it works for you, I guess it's good.

[52:31]

Now does somebody who hasn't said anything the whole seminar just dying to say something? Or living to say something? Oh, hi, yes, I've been waiting for you. Well, I think I talked, but... Yeah, I remember once. An image which was very helpful, you mentioned, was for me, was weaving the basket. Yeah. And in my experience, the basket was weaving itself, and it's just some points which came up out of maybe sometimes dreams, a dream or a word or something, and this basket was then suspicious that it could hold something, and something very special.

[53:42]

And I experienced it quite often. This was a sanctuary. Oh, good. Deutsch, bitte. The image of a body that is being lived was very helpful and it has been very consistent for me. There are some points or some words or pictures or through a dream, points have arisen and the body has lived itself. Okay. Anyone else want to say something? Yes. I think I haven't said anything in this whole seminar. I think I haven't spoken at all during this part of the discussion, throughout the entire seminar.

[54:56]

But I did receive a lot of impressions and feelings, sensations. And I would like to add to what Katrin said, because I was in Katrin's group. I think Katrin really summarized that very well. And one sense that I had during our small group discussions was that I felt like we created a mutual mind in the sense of the koan also. I had this feeling of a oneness.

[55:57]

Okay, thank you. Would someone show me the reference to the guardian spirits? I have to find out where it is. He pointed to the ground and said, this spot is good to build a sanctuary.

[57:17]

You shouldn't move earth on the head of the guardian spirit. Now, why does somebody... I'm not asking anyone to answer the question. Why do we ask if the guardian spirit is real and not Dipankara Buddha or Indra? We have sort of selective belief. Yeah. And so do we want to let something in the door that, you know, that... Is it we're trying to let God in the door here or something like that? Yeah. But it is the case that, and particularly Dogen's disciples, Ejo and Tetsugikai and...

[58:27]

Khezan were quite involved in, you know, guardian spirit type stuff. In ways that Dogen would not have been at all. So, That makes it interesting. What is a disciple then? How rigorous is the transmission process? How rigorous, how strict, thorough, strict and thorough? But this isn't like a teddy bear.

[59:34]

Or a guardian angel. Or a blankie. A blankie is a blanket that you carry around. I have my blankie. This is my blankie. It's Buddha's blankie. Kuscheldecke. Whoa, I like that. Kuscheldecke. Is that sort of the first step towards Schatzkiste? Okay. You wrap your kuscheldecke around the Schatzkiste. I'm getting into the center of German I'm getting into the center of German you also have to well let me say again that for instance it's very very common in Japan to have

[60:55]

where we have the, what I call the Sangha altar. And do you all feel okay about the stone figures there? Yeah. And one of the important things, you know, actually, if you're really into the, you know, a certain kind of subtlety about these things, is that the, Now our altar comprises a stone figure and in the center a wooden figure and on the far left or right is the metal figure. You have the presence of metal, wood and stone in the Zendo and you can feel that if that's something that's subtly that interests you or you experience.

[62:10]

So it's like enshrining the elements. Enshrining? To put in a shrine. To put in an art. So it's like enshrining the elements. And very commonly in Buddhist temples in Japan, and particularly in the countryside, the right-hand side where the, what I call the Sangha altar is, is a fox shrine. That would be like having a coyote in America or something. And then they have little statues of a fox.

[63:13]

Usually they're not so big. It's kind of funny looking when it knows. And it's, yeah, the local indigenous kind of sense of magic. Yeah, and the foxes represent mischievousness and that, you know, etc. Yeah. But the sense of a guardian spirit in Japan, which I know, and I'm sure it's the same in Korea and China and Vietnam, which I know enough about that to say I'm pretty sure it's the same.

[64:21]

And the sense of what, excuse me? Something like a guardian spirit. Is not at all a sense of another realm, you know, like where gods exist? Das ist überhaupt gar nicht so ein Gefühl von einem anderen Bereich, zum Beispiel im Sinne eines Bereiches oder eines Gefildes, in dem Gott existiert. And in fact there's a place called Amahashinodate. For many years I had a little abandoned house on the beach that I fixed up. And there, there's... I'm always surprised I've done so many funny things.

[65:25]

How did I live this long? Yeah, it's beginning to seem like it's a funny thing. Anyway... It's another world. Anyway, there's a long strip of land called Amanohashidate, which means the bridge of the gods. Amanohashidate. Amanohashidate. Yeah, but now I forgot. It's like a bridge. It's called the Bridge of the Gods. And it's where the gods enter into the world of humans. And the way you see it as the Bridge of the Gods...

[66:28]

You stand with it to your back. It's a long strip of land. And then you bend down and look at it through between your legs. And then it looks like another sort of otherworldly strip of land appearing out of nowhere. And if you're in that area, you can buy lots of postcards with people sitting between their legs. And it's a very strange common and strong sense that the world of other dimensions is here. It's not somewhere else. Nobody thinks it's in the sky or something. Yeah, I mean, and the whole Pure Land Buddhism is, Pure Land is here.

[67:39]

It's in the midst of this, if you look at it differently. Okay. So, all right. So then there's a sense that each place has a certain kind of integrity. Now I have a wonderful book about the Chinese landscape of which for example it's filled with anecdotes, episodes, writings where somebody might describe in detail the garden up here where the pond is, for instance. And so, in other words, some, often they're poets, the ones that are collected,

[68:42]

Or you might, such a person might hike in the Swiss Alps here. And they stray off the path. straight up and wander off the path. You always look like when you come to a word that you don't know, you look like something terrible is happening. It feels like something terrible has happened. Really? Think of me. Think of the words I'm confronted with all the time that I don't know. Yeah, but you don't have to say them. Well... I live in a... Yeah. Anyway, so... And you find a really beautiful place. And then you sit down and you write, well, the rock was... the rock's there, etc.

[70:02]

And this is like that, etc. And in the description of the place, you create the feeling, the special feeling that place had. So it becomes a kind of nature shrine. And then people, tourists later, you read this poem, they go, like, people want to go to the cafe where Pessoa had coffee in Lisbon. Now this is all related to a sense that a certain configuration of nature, tree, rock, water, etc., can have a magical influence on you. And to disturb that is to disturb the spirit that holds it together.

[71:04]

So there's a wonderful shrine in Kyoto. The Kamigawa Jinja. I'm not saying it quite right. Kamigawa Jinja, maybe. Kamigawa Jinja. Good. And it is basically a wooden platform, part of Shinto practice. where the god of Kyoto comes to present him or himself. But what is the god of Kyoto? The watershed. so the watershed which made them because of that watershed they built Kyoto Kyoto depends on the watershed to respect the watershed you make a platform where nothing's on it except sometimes a mirror so that the watershed protector can be protected

[72:52]

Can you repeat that, please? No. Yes. So the watershed, it's a kind of way to pay respect to the watershed. And if we disturb the watershed, we're going to destroy Kyoto. So it's a way of thinking that's very close to our so-called deep ecologies. Okay, so now I can say in this koan this isn't really about anything except that that if we build a sanctuary we have to respect the way it is if you disturb it, you disturb the guardian spirit. So whenever you build a house, you have a Buddhist priest or someone come and say, okay, we're going to disturb the guardian spirit, but we're going to do it for good cause and everything's okay.

[74:03]

So it's really no real relationship to our sense of spirits or gods. But it could be. This is very rarefied Buddhism in the koans. If you go to more popular Buddhism, it's all mixed up with all kinds of stuff. Okay. Felix? Fritz. I always call you... I go back and forth between Fritz and Felix. You're not the cat, I know. I was thinking that I should talk about my principle at that point.

[75:10]

What is... Gajan spirit sentence made to me very impressively. I was sitting in Sindhu, and all of a sudden I had this brilliant, you know, hieronymus bush painting in the glaciers. So all over there were these creatures, millions of them. They were floating above and up and down in an unimaginable form and variety. That was quite shocking. So I thought, I've never been into such things. That was completely new to me. And it grew more intense by every second. And it looked like the whole planet was filled with it.

[76:12]

So I said, now what to do? And I was at a loss. All of a sudden, now comes the dhāti and I remembered we were thankful for the Dalai Lama. And I was thinking, this could be, if this could please give me, give me room to move, if they're coming in more closer and closer, something will happen. So I put down my hand on the floor I could expect to die there. And then we're gone. Good. And that was the experience of this. I've had experiences like that. But I take a very long time before I touch the floor. I remember you saying, this is a sign-path parallel. Yeah, it is, yeah. That was my connection.

[77:15]

I understand, yeah. Just right. And this is quite... Okay. You're welcome. I didn't do anything. Okay. Could you stop there for a moment? Oh, you didn't translate. Do you want to say it in Deutsch? Yes? Actually, I didn't want to talk about it. I just have my... The theme of the garden spirit was mentioned in the choir. What this sentence in the choir meant to me, I wrote it down in the center. And suddenly, this famous bush was present. I don't think it's very as soon as Friday as the water looks like land creatures in the morning.

[78:26]

Have you all seen the extraordinary paintings at the Eisenheim? How do you pronounce it? altar right across the border in France? Yeah, in Colmar. Have you all seen those? They're fantastic. They're worth several trips. Cool. you know I'm interested you know I don't

[79:31]

It doesn't work for me to ask, but I'm interested in the process of these winter branches seminars. Somehow the schedule has fallen into the pattern it has. And it seems to work okay. And I think that for me the lectures develop as we go along. I don't know exactly how, but they do. And I feel for the most part that usually they stay in contact with the process. Actually in the last Sashin that you referred to, I felt the lectures didn't stay in touch as well as I like with the process of the Sashin.

[81:04]

And then I don't feel so good afterwards. I feel very deeply ashamed of myself. I live through it and I recover. But as much as possible, I want my lectures to be the process, be inseparable from the process of the seminary. But I mean, I'm sure, of course, for some people, some lectures stand out more than others, or some phrases, etc. And I'm not asking you to say anything to me about it. But I would like you to study the process of the seminar.

[82:17]

How it works for you and how it seems to work in general. And of course it can be discussed among you or in the practice council or something like that. But I think if you do study the process of the seminar on your own, how it worked for you, be aware of it. I'll feel that in the next winter branches. And we may be able to refine, develop the process of these winter branches. We attempt to develop our practice as a lay sangha, primarily a lay sangha.

[83:25]

Where in some ways, as Sukershi would say, we're monks disguised as laymen or laymen disguised as monks. Now somebody... I said to somebody, I'll keep in mind... Who was it? What was it? Oh, yeah. The worldview. The worldview, you know. I think your question comes up partly because I spoke, as I always speak about it, And I spoke about it very particularly in this image of the butterfly, etc., today.

[84:37]

And I think that the basic idea is the more you can develop a no-position mind, it calls forth and challenges our worldviews. And Buddhist worldviews, too. Yeah. And so that's the first step, to feel when your own worldviews and the worldviews of Buddhism are in some conflict or rub against each other or don't quite fit.

[85:48]

And then, the koans are in a way to try to create phrases or images that reflect Buddhist worldviews or wisdom worldviews that you, through the phrase, the kind of acupuncture, you bring it into your daily life. So then the process is, can you hold the acupuncture-like phrase With enough attention and gentle pressure.

[86:51]

Like somebody putting a needle in your ear or something like that. Yeah. That... that, again to quote Mencius, the flow of the water fills all the hollows. So the more fully you can bring a phrase into the activity, mental and physical activity of your life, And just hold it there like a guardian spirit. Background mind presence. From that, without you doing anything but holding it against or within your activity, Things unfold.

[88:08]

And you're practicing in the best way we can the first of the eightfold path. Or the first three of the eightfold path. Okay, let me ring a bell. This is the end, so if we can be late, we're already late.

[88:39]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_76.81