On the one hand, you're working out how to present this in the best light the next day or something. But if it was just that, it would just be strategy. But you actually sort of believe your own lies. And you find yourself trying to convince yourself that this is what was your only motive. There's many versions of this. Where we're talking to ourselves, no one's listening, but... We're talking to ourselves as if the world was listening. We're basically not being exactly honest. And we don't sort of feel good. And our meditation stays kind of at some kind of thinking level. And you don't make much progress until you sort of say, well, I don't have to explain this to myself.

[01:26]

I don't have to explain it at all. This happened, or I did this. And you can let that just sit there. This is something that... You did, or happened. That's a kind of uncorrected mind. It takes a while, but eventually that kind of lack of a distinction between an outer dialogue and an inner dialogue continues, but eventually it subsides. And there's more clarity. In this seminar I haven't spoken about Sophia much. But she's not yet involved with compassion and wisdom.

[02:41]

So I haven't found an excuse to talk about it yet. But the Buddhist idea is that we're born wanting, thirsting for not less than everything. We have a hunger, a thirst for not less than everything. Sophia is a pretty good example of that. But she likes some things better than others. She especially likes her mother. The other day when we were visiting this Afghani woman who has a new little baby,

[03:43]

And this little baby, Constantine, is two weeks old, or something like that. And when Marie-Louise held Constantine, We saw a jealous fit. So jealousy appeared. Where did that come from? Jealousy appeared. How can you say it's wrong? She wants everything, but she wants some exclusive everything. Yeah. But at the same time, she herself doesn't like the feeling of jealousy. She's jealous, but she doesn't like, actually, she doesn't know it, but she doesn't like being jealous.

[04:51]

You can see her whole body is uncomfortable with the feeling. So in meditation we actually notice more and more subtly discomforts we have with conflicted emotions. With conflicted emotions, with conflicts. With ambivalence. I think probably it's one of the first things people bring to therapists, ambivalent about something, I'm conflicted about something.

[05:58]

Then you try to see what's under that. But you notice in meditation, Very clearly, that if you have aggressive emotions, or you're conflicted, your meditation is not very clear. What do you do about that? So, I don't know, meditation really gives you a very direct knowledge of this difference. So it's the beginning of, as Andreas said, this kind of measuring rod or something, you can see.

[07:05]

Andreas spoke of it. Andreas has mentioned it. Okay, so you notice it. What do you do about it? Ja, also du bemerkst es und was kannst du tun? Ja, and then there's this koan about, I brought up recently a number of times. Und dann gibt es diesen koan, den ich in letzter Zeit häufiger benutzt habe. The proverbial monk asks Dungshan. Also der sprichwörtliche Mönch fragt Dungshan. what do you do when it's hot or when it's cold? Now, this isn't just a simple question because he realizes that, the monk realizes that this wanting not less than everything,

[08:11]

Very quickly divides up into pleasant and unpleasant. And pleasant and unpleasant very quickly divide further into like and dislike. And neutral. And like and dislike and neutral very quickly divide up into greed, hate and delusion. So we have this stream of wanting not less than everything. Quickly becomes some kind of greed, hate and delusion. So how do you reverse this flow? As we've been speaking in a number of seminars recently, the way to reverse this flow is the four foundations of mindfulness.

[09:40]

Now, I'm not going to teach the four foundations of mindfulness. I think many of you will be glad to hear. But we're at a point in practice where this is something, whether I teach it now or not, you should know it. So when Dung Shan was asked this question, what did he say? He said, well, you know, why don't you go where there's no hot and no cold? Oh, yeah, where's that place? The commentary says you need the forge and bellows of transcendence. Now the image here is of a blacksmith.

[10:51]

This is a simple thing, you know. Where do you... Well, there's this other story, you know, Bo Jue, the famous, I think it was Bo Jue, the famous Chinese poet. Like to practice Buddhism and Zen off and on throughout most of his life. When he wrote many beautiful poems about temples and being in the mountains and hearing the temple bell and things. And I think it was Bojui who went to visit the Zen master. And they said, well, he's not here. And he said, well, where is he?

[11:59]

And he's always out in the tree meditating. So he went back there and here's this guy sitting up in the tree like a bird, you know. Rather separate from the world and the monastery. Well, Bojui asked, what is the essence of Buddhism? Avoid evil and do good. Even a three-year-old knows that. An old man has a hard time practicing it. An old man has a hard time practicing it. So much for the wisdom of old age. So here it is. Where's this place where there's neither hot nor cold? Yeah, hot and cold is pleasant and unpleasant. So how do you get out of this world of likes and dislikes?

[13:25]

Let's not look at the history of our likes and dislikes, just look at the fact that we're in this process all the time. Well, it says the image again is the blacksmith. This is quite hard to pound metal into something else. So you need some kind of forge and bellows like a blacksmith of transcendence. How do you transcend? Now, let's not call it good and evil. You're really in trouble when you start calling it that. Let's call it delusion or likes and dislikes. And like and dislike is when we open our mind to likes and dislikes, all our karma pours in.

[14:28]

And it says you need the forge and bellows, no, the hammer and tongs of the adept. The tongs, how do you reach into the fire to get something? In your meditation, how do you actually get yourself free from this dialogue and likes and dislikes? What are your hammer and tongs? Okay. So, First of all, you really establish your experience, well, you establish the mindfulness of the body.

[15:39]

To give you a shortcut I suggested the other day, when you come into a room, for example, Thresholds are great to practice with. The original altar is probably the threshold. In English, the entrance. The entrance. So when you come into a room, come into a door, let your feeling go in first, not your thinking. Let your body go in first. Let your thinking come after.

[16:44]

Some kind of little practice like that is a way to enter this mindfulness of the body. And the more you can have this kind of feeling, you can find this place of, yeah, pleasant and unpleasant, and neither pleasant nor unpleasant. So the practice of equanimity is based on establishing this place of neither pleasant nor unpleasant. I can talk this. I can say this. But can any of us establish a place where there's neither pleasant nor unpleasant? Just to look, just to see, just to smell.

[18:07]

So it's a good practice with each thing you hear or look at, smell, you give it its own space, as I said the other day. There's a kind of honoring of each thing. And Japanese Buddhism influenced the language of the Japanese language. The Japanese Buddhism influenced the language. So you add that to words. Like you say, gohan, which means rice. But it actually means stop for a minute for the rice. Ja, aber eigentlich bedeutet es halt kurz inne für den Reis.

[19:11]

Or we say cha is the word for tea, but ocha, o means stop for a minute for the tea. Ja, also cha bedeutet tea, und ocha bedeutet halt kurz inne für den tea. So there's this sense of adding what your translator is honorifics, but it means to stop for a minute for these... For the microphone, for the bell. Find a pace where you give each thing its own space. With neither liking nor disliking. I mean, you have to kind of like really make this effort to do something like that on each moment.

[20:15]

From the point of view of Buddhism, the world is a notion. I like calling it a notion. Yeah, it's a thought, it's an idea. We relate to it as a thought or idea. What do you think the world is? It doesn't have to be different in different centuries. It's an idea. What do you think humanity is? Humanity is a developing idea. How do we relate to other people, etc. ? It's only real in the way we give meaning to the word.

[21:24]

So let's start by just trying to give each thing its own space. Or each moment. Or give each thing its own moment. Its own time. Yeah, I was getting this little poem. Each leaf falls in its own time. No, we're supposed to have to eat at 12.15? Oh, okay. Anyone hungry? Greed, hate and delusion? Likes and dislikes? So I'll stop at the moment. I'm not going to get in the way of anyone's stomach. If you give each thing its own time and space, own time, own space, and you'll find that if you give, if I give this its own time and space, I have one experience with that.

[22:54]

If I give You, your own time and space. I have a different experience than the bell. Whatever I give its own time and own space, I experience something. This is the practice of generosity and the practice of compassion. Now the practice of compassion as a path is rooted in such little details. recognizing that we're giving shape to the world all the time.

[24:05]

But what's our measuring stick? It's not completely arbitrary. The measuring stick is the difference between when we feel clear or complete Or when we feel conflicted or ambivalent. We can begin to observe our mind on everything. whether it's clear, precise or not. We can look at something that's very clear, almost shines.

[25:06]

Very precise. And we don't have likes and dislikes. That kind of feeling you can bring a sense of giving its own space or time. Or with a person, as Andrea said, you can bring this feeling of empathetic joy. Now it helps to do this practice of radiating the four Brahma-viharas. But the experience really comes into focus when you try it with another person. And so if I look at Gerald and I have the feeling while I'm talking to him, empathetic joy, I can actually feel a shift into enjoying his joy in life.

[26:23]

Yeah, or if I shift to feeling just friendliness, I immediately feel looking forward to doing something with it. And so forth. So that kind of effort, like opening doors, to think of it as deeds and attitudes and a path is the path of compassion. Well, that's enough for now.

[27:31]

You get nothing better to do than this practice, do you? You get nothing better to do than practice enlightenment. Thank you very much. I wanted to add something which you said earlier today. Yeah, you said the movie before your partly opened eyes. Yeah, even to see it as a movie is progress.

[28:38]

And to see it not as something you identify with. Like a movie, you may feel it, but you don't identify with it. So it's not so much... avoiding thinking, but not identifying with your thinking, not nourishing your thinking. But actually I also want to add that I don't think your eyes need to be opened. I know that's almost a universal instruction, but I think it's an instruction for beginning practice. Once your eyes being shut don't trigger sleep. and your eyes can be just loosely, lightly closed, and even a feeling of light coming through, then I don't think it makes much difference whether your eyes are slightly open or not.

[30:02]

And in fact there are certain structures of mind, modes of mind that are easier to study if your eyes are slightly closed. Now, does anybody have something you'd like to bring up? Yes. One conflict that I see for myself is that on the one hand, values can come to me from outside, for example from Buddhism or from Christianity, So one conflict that I see for myself is that values from outside, from Christianity or from Buddhism can come upon me.

[31:10]

For example, the four immeasurables. That sounds good, I can try to practice that. And on the other side I can just sit and practice zazen and then just wait for what comes out of me. And on the other side I can just sit in zazen and wait what comes up from inside. And so then I can't help getting in touch with my values, whether I want it or not.

[32:18]

The values which come out of me. Yeah, but you mean your values from your history, your tradition, your culture? Any values which might appear. Oh, yeah. But where do they come from? I don't know. Okay. I'm a bit suspicious about making it from the outside. I see. I like your suspicion. But at some point I think one comes to the conclusion that it's beneficial to make use of the teachings.

[33:36]

But you have to kind of test the teaching. Does it make sense? Does it deconstruct itself? Is there a kind of logic, inner logic to it that relates it to other teachings? And you try certain teachings out, see how they do. But you're practicing teachings whether you know it or not. It's impossible not to practice teachings.

[34:44]

You sit down in this posture, you're practicing a teaching. You bring attention to your breath, you're practicing a teaching. And over centuries, certain targets of your attention have been identified as being most fruitful. Your breath aspects of the body and so forth. And then you also find out that some teachings precede other teachings. And you can't practice one thing really until you've practiced a preceding teaching. And what I've been trying to do the last few seminars, since I won't be back till next February,

[35:46]

He's tried to bring the teachings I've tried to develop this year in Europe, start bringing them together. I tried to speak about this practice of compassion in a way that brings the teachings together from the last several months. At the same time I am trying to give these teachings and write that you can practice them or pick up the feeling of them without knowing the teaching in its more completely.

[36:54]

But if you do know the teaching more completely, like poor Andreas has been at every seminar this year, except Austria. And the Austrians are complaining actually. Andreas was at every seminar this year, except in Austria, and they have already complained. But we're pinning a medal on him later. They'll have a ceremony tomorrow. Yeah, merit. No, merit. Merit. Lots of merit. Okay. But, you know, if you want it too much, it disappears. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah. So Andreas or Andrea and others who have been to a number of seminars will feel differently what I'm talking about than somebody who's new in the situation.

[38:16]

But I'm still trying to also speak about it so that you don't have to have so much background. But it's an important step when you come to trusting the practice itself and trusting the teachings. But first you do have to trust yourself. And that does mean, I think more fundamentally, to just observe what comes up. Now, I don't think they come up from nowhere. Usually it's our culture, our habits, our life history, and so forth. And then a whole stage of things comes up of sort of experiences we've forgotten or never noticed, never even knew well enough to forget.

[39:29]

And then you begin to have, I think, some kind of original or creative experiences. And that actually can be rather scary. And it's one of the five fears is to fear unusual states of mind. Like you might be going crazy or something. Or you worry, has anybody else ever had this experience? And you have to get past the point where you worry about whether anybody else has ever had this experience before.

[40:48]

And this is also the fear of death. Because death is often a new experience. However, Zazen is a good practice for the experience of dying. But I think first of all is to trust and observe what comes up. And at some point you start bringing teachings in. But even so, I would say, if you do bring a teaching in intentionally, consciously, you do it maybe at the first few minutes of five minutes or ten minutes of zazen.

[41:56]

Or you wait until it just appears of itself and then you... Intentionally give it some attention for a short time. But I still think it's best to have 90% or almost 90% of your meditation uncorrected, just open to whatever happens. Someone else want to bring something up? Yeah. Yes, what do you think about when the pain arising in meditation blocks any insight? You mean just sitting one period or are you talking about a session? Let's say half a session, a longer period.

[43:14]

Yeah. Well, if it is in just short sittings, then you have to really learn to sit so you can be relatively comfortable for at least a 30-minute to 40-minute period. But after you have gotten to... where you're fairly comfortable sitting 40-minute periods, say. Then in a sashin, the pain is actually a good part of the sashin, a beneficial part. But why don't we wait till you come to a sashin, and then we'll discuss pain in more detail.

[44:16]

We're having a little comfortable seminar here. We don't want to talk about pain. Even though it has something to do with compassion. Auch wenn das mit Mitgefühl was zu tun hat. And I, from my own experience, the pain of sashin... Und aus meiner eigenen Erfahrung, die Schmerzen von einer sashin... And the ability to maintain equanimity within it... Und die Fähigkeit, Gleichmut darin zu bewahren... It's one of the best... best... basis for compassion. For being able to feel others' pain without a problem in yourself.

[45:40]

You can't feel another person's pain exactly. Maybe in extreme situations like stigmata you can. But we can definitely know how another person feels. We can know what it's like to be there. And we can know what it's like to maintain equanimity in the midst of it. And if you can feel this equanimity yourself, then a person who you're with who's suffering can feel, will feel better. I remember Sukhirashi, shortly before he died, he had cancer. He went through certain treatments, by the way, because the doctor really wanted to give it to him.

[47:04]

He felt the cancer is here, I'll treat it like a friend and just accept it. But the doctor really wanted to treat him, so finally he said, oh, okay, a lot of compassion for the doctor, really. But then, near the end, he said to me, I was sitting with him once, and he said to me, you know, if I could see, he said, I feel like someone's tortured. But we both knew exactly, I think, exactly what it's like to sit in the midst of that, to be in the midst of that feeling. And we kind of strangely enjoyed the mutual feeling we knew what it was like to be in the midst of that.

[48:13]

And I think he took a certain joy in knowing, because of him I knew how to go through that. And I also knew, you know, on the one hand part of compassion is to be willing to switch places with the other person. And though, you know, I would certainly have been willing to switch places with him. But since it was impossible, that feeling takes another form. A feeling of being willing to go through that in the future if I have to. I think, I don't know, excuse me, I think of my little daughter, not the present one, my daughter who's now 39.

[49:35]

And when she was about three or so, I took her, I was walking with her North Beach in San Francisco. And there was this big kind of machine that turned you upside down and threw you around and everything. There was some kind of carnival set up in North Beach. And she looked at it and said, what's that? And I said, oh, it's a carnival. She'd never seen one before. She wanted to go on this thing which spun upside down. It was like a Ferris wheel. She said, I want to go on that. I said, that's not for little kids. She said, if people can do it, I can do it.

[51:05]

So I went on it, my glasses flew out, my money was all over, but she was... And if people can die, each of us can do it. And if people can die, everyone of us can. Yeah. When we practice equanimity, that may seem sometimes to other people, when we are like that, that we are some kind of animal. Certain kind of? Being not so alive. Oh, yeah, yeah. Being too cool. Mm-hmm.

[52:11]

I was thinking about that mostly in our society being alive is connected with being emotional. One side or another. And how would you define being enlightened? What is this? And this being as a community? If you meditate longer and always practice this equality, it can happen that it looks like you are cool outwardly, or a little bit lifeless. Well, for me the feeling of being alive is the feeling of feeling the world. And that's quite independent of whether I look emotional or not.

[53:39]

But I remember when I was first kind of was established in practice. I remember a friend of mine complained to me I never got mad. He didn't feel he could have a real conversation with me because he wanted me to get mad about things. But I didn't know nobody says that to me anymore. So I think I must... At some point you kind of develop a feeling that reflects the situation and you don't feel out of the situation.

[54:40]

Okay, so let me... Maybe unless someone else has something you want to bring up, I will try to say a little something about the subject we're talking about. Yes. I would like to say something about compassion and pity. When we went for a walk, we passed the Christ on the cross. And it was an unusual cross because all the instruments of torture were also in the picture, the sword and hammer and so on.

[55:57]

So I've thought about what you said about how it is when you identify with the suffering of Christ. And it's helpful to me if I don't refer compassion to Christ, but first to myself. What I would like to say is that I have had the experience that in the last few years, when I was very ill, I want to say that when other people brought pity towards me in the last

[57:27]

four years during the illness of my husband who died six weeks ago. It was a very complex and complicated feeling. That I especially observed it in relation to my husband, the sick, who with visits And especially for my husband, he felt he was unhappy when friends or people came who visited him and they were pitiful. He was irritated by that and he would have much more liked if they would have come with their aliveness.

[58:47]

And when I was here last February in great fear, And when I said to you that I had the feeling of also dying because I could not imagine living without him, you spoke to me, he probably will see you alive. He probably will see you alive. He will see you alive and not... There was a big help. So at that time I didn't have the words right, but now I make a distinction between these terms.

[59:51]

Yes. Thank you. Yeah, I think people don't know what to do, they... Yeah, I think people don't know what to do, they... But that's exactly why I'm saying that, because I know how it feels to be helpless, but actually I just want to encourage people just to go and go alive.

[60:57]

Not to identify with the patient. Not, yeah. I think that you have pity when you can't identify with the patient. When you can identify with the patient and say, oh, that could be me, then you have compassion. I remember the story of Issan when he was dying, Tommy Dorsey, my disciple. He died of AIDS. And at some point, just shortly before he died, there were a whole lot of people surrounding his bed. And he opened his eyes and looked around and said, What's going on?

[61:59]

Is someone dying around here? Why are they coming? What's wrong? So traditionally it's the... to look at the development of compassion as a path. in Mahayana is the most fundamental way to bring the teachings together.

[63:00]

And first you establish mental stabilization. And that means a mind that you can rest on anything and stays there. And a mind that you feel... you feel your state of mind all the time, not your moods. Under your moods you feel the clarity of mind. And to practice, to realize that, you have to accept yourself. And that itself is a fairly big time practice. Und das ist schon eine ganz schön große Praxis.

[64:17]

And then you have to start trusting yourself. Und dann ist es nötig, dass du dir vertraust. And that's actually different than accepting yourself. Und das ist nochmal was anderes als dich zu akzeptieren. It takes time to start trusting this existence, whatever it is. Es braucht Zeit, dieser Existenz zu vertrauen, was immer sie ist. This existence in this situation at this time, etc. And trust the history you have up till now. And the third, you have to begin to feel at ease. Just at ease with yourself. And let your body start to really relax. And that actually means you get free of the mental sheath of the thought body.

[65:23]

Sheath, like a sheath of a knife? It's called a mental sheath or thought sheath because it encases the body. And then the second is to practice equanimity. Cultivate equanimity. And that means to find yourself, like I said, in a place where there's neither like nor dislike.

[66:28]

Neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Now, one way to practice that is actually to wish that for others. Now, this whole business of wishing and wanting something for others is a very powerful way to weave yourself together with others. And to wish for others is a very deep way to wish it for yourself. So in these first few minutes of zazen, if you want to practice the cultivation of equanimity. Wait until it comes up. You say to yourself, I wish that all beings can abide in a mind free of greed, hate and delusions.

[67:32]

Free of pleasant and unpleasant. Of likes and dislikes. And feel equally about each thing. That's a fundamental vow that's part of the cultivation of equanimity and the development of compassion. And of course to wish it for others has to be to wish it for yourself. It's in effect a deep way to wish it for yourself. And it gives it more power as your own vow when you vow or wish it for others.

[68:58]

And partly it's because if you wish it for others, you better do it yourself. Now, when you give each thing its own time, and I would at first divide them into giving own time and giving own space, So you really get to know that each thing has its own time. Its own past, present and future.

[70:01]

And its own ripening. So you practice for a while giving each thing its own time. Whatever happens, you happen to look at or hear or smell or whatever. Or whatever comes up in zazen. If something comes up in zazen, you don't say, oh, this is an uninteresting state of mind. I think I'd rather have another one. You take it like a detail of a dream. And in a dream, the dream tends to push ahead without your being able to participate in it. I mean, you participate in it, but you It has its own momentum.

[71:16]

You can kind of slow down this momentum in similar modes of mind in zazen. In tiny little details you can kind of give Its own time, too. Independent of what came before and after. And sometimes it opens up like a little opening into a landscape. And there can be a detailed way in the distance you can bring forward and so forth. So this giving each thing its own time and own space also can occur not in just perceptions, but also in what appears from the mind sense.

[72:33]

When you develop this practice of giving each thing its own space, And on time. We could say it's like giving without content. Because you yourself are here in a, let's say, in a equanimous mind. So you're free of likes and dislikes and so forth. So you can freely give each thing its own space and time. Now, this is a kind of warm-up for the practice of compassion.

[73:54]

And it is the practice of compassion. It's the same mental gesture. To give each thing its own, to give without content. Okay. I think you can imagine doing that. I think you can do it probably already yourself. Occasionally. Occasionally gives you the acupuncture feel of it. And then you can begin to make it your continuum.

[74:56]

You develop the ritual or habit of giving each thing its own space and time. Its own space, its own time. And giving without content. Now, giving without content is very close to emptiness. And what's the difference in calling it emptiness? So I just, if I give each thing its own space and time, but if I recognize also that giving without content is actually a is to start your initial mind, your opening mind, as empty.

[76:15]

Your initial mind, your opening mind, is empty if it has no content. Now, the words lead us to this point. No, I chose the words, giving without content. So I could use words to link this experience with emptiness. If you then begin to see giving without content must be something close to emptiness. No, we're not talking about some philosophical reality of emptiness here as some kind of entity of emptiness.

[77:18]

There aren't such things. We're talking about form is exactly emptiness. And it has no meaning unless it's our experience. And don't forget this pulse of polarities of compassion and wisdom. of Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara, is also form and emptiness. So there's this inner logic to the teaching. Okay, so this giving without content is a form of emptiness. An experience of emptiness.

[78:20]

You get in the habit of doing that, of giving without content. Giving each thing its own space and time. In a way now we're practicing generosity. And we're already into the six paramitas. And we can see why the six or ten paramitas is always the kind of advanced practice of the bodhisattva. Until you see it dynamic, it sounds like some sort of mushy morality. So, before you know the dynamics, it seems to come from a kitschy morality.

[79:22]

Kitschy morality. So, don't ever tell anybody I said that. Yeah. Or it doesn't seem like its morality is a good thing to do, but it doesn't seem like how can this be fundamental to the practice of bodhisattva. I mean, this is generosity is, you know, not exactly every three-year-old knows, but every six-year-old knows. So now let's call this, when you keep doing this, you develop a continuum, a mental continuum, of giving without content, which is to give each thing back to itself.

[80:25]

And then have the patience and energy to wait for that. And that's also, as most of you know, the parameters. Okay, now let's start understanding this is also... a continuum of emptiness. Now, what does calling this not just without content, but calling it emptiness mean? Now, a mental continuum of emptiness, or a mind-body continuum of emptiness, is first of all rooted in a continuum of impermanence, of continuous acknowledgement of impermanence.

[81:39]

Now that's rooted in to know you're definitely going to die. No, you all know that. But maybe you really don't know. As I say, you still suspect there may be an exception made in your case. So the stages, as I've often said, are to know you're definitely going to die. And then to be willing to die. And as both Jesus and Buddha were persons willing to die. And then to be ready to die. Clear up your karma in such a way that you feel ready to die at any moment.

[83:05]

But here we're back at the beginning of that practice. Just to know you're definitely going to die. At an indefinite time. And that indefinite time then could be any moment. So the recognition that I'm definitely going to die at an indefinite time, that feeling needs to be there. before you can really see the impermanence of everything. As long as you secretly think you're more or less permanent, you're going to think other things are more or less permanent.

[84:10]

And then you're going to be really sort of attached to things, because your own permanence needs attachment to things, because if they're permanent, you might be too. So the practice of generosity really means to thoroughly know the impermanence of everything. So you're no longer possessive of anything. You use it as long as it's useful. Du nutzt es, solange es nützlich ist. I've been learning that from baby clothes. Baby clothes, they go from baby to baby.

[85:17]

They have a whole bunch of baby clothes and just a few weeks later they don't fit anymore. They give them to another baby and then they don't fit that baby pretty soon and they give them to another baby. We've got quite a chain of baby clothes going around in here. And luckily, part of the circle includes Beate Stolte's store, so we have a source of new baby clothes every now and then. But all of life is like that. We're just circulating baby clothes. If you're part of a Buddhist lineage, you circulate your robes. I have robes that go back several generations. Okay. Okay, the more you acknowledge, feel as the impermanence of everything, technically we say you know each thing is without inherent existence.

[86:49]

which means in a certain way things are appearing at this moment. So I give without content. I give each thing its own space and own time. But now I also am acknowledging its impermanence. And it appears just now And if I notice the object's impermanence, I have to notice my own impermanence. So my own impermanence is also the giving without content. So I'm in a way giving emptiness to emptiness. The more I feel my own impermanence and emptiness, my own moment-by-moment appearance, which is through practice, you don't notice your continuity so much as you notice, yeah, there is continuity.

[88:29]

But you don't notice it so much. You keep noticing the freshness of each moment. This time and this time and this time. Each unique and non-repeatable. Which is also a way of saying empty. So here you're practicing the generosity of giving emptiness to emptiness. Well, that's also compassion. So it's not just suffering with others, it's emptiness, emptying with others or something like that.

[89:38]

Now that feeling of emptiness is at the root of the Buddhist idea of compassion. Because you know then that each person is just appearing in this fragile way for this moment. And they're integrating or disintegrating at this moment. There's a kind of edge here. And you know that subject and object don't exist. Each is empty. But the relationship kind of exists for a moment. So you really come into another kind of compassion. the momentariness of each of us and each of us shares this same momentariness.

[90:41]

So we're not just feeling with others, we're creating with each other. Creating this time and space at this moment. And this is also now called, as well as a continuum of emptiness and impermanence, And it's called a non-dual continuum. Because subject and object are being mutually created. And there's a strange joy in that. And it's technically called the continuum of the very joyful.

[92:03]

And when you experience that, it's thought that at that point, technically, you're really a bodhisattva. then you can really form the desire to realize enlightenment for the sake of others. And realize you realize it with and through others. And that becomes our compassion. So that Buddhist understanding of compassion as a path and a continuum is rooted in emptiness, which is wisdom. The knowing of impermanence and emptiness is what's called wisdom in Buddhism.

[93:22]

It's wisdom which is not related to being old or young. Now, To establish yourself in this continuum is, yeah, it takes a little practice. But I think you know it's possible. If you can feel it, you know, just for a moment, feel it. That seed will mature in you. Mm-hmm. So maybe now it's good to have a break. So let's have a moment of sitting.

[94:23]

So again, after the break, I'd like you to have some discussion in smaller groups so each of you can be heard. Of course, discuss whatever you'd like. But you might look at the sense of establishing a continuum.

[96:12]

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