Where we identify ourselves and so forth. Now, if I just feel you, there's few thoughts of self as well. Now, one of the statements in Buddhism is an absence of self is when thoughts don't return to self. What would be a phenomenological description of the absence of self? When you actually don't think about self much.

[01:03]

It's called the non-returning of thoughts to self. Now, when I just feel you, I have a mind which doesn't accept thoughts of self. Wenn ich dich nur fühle, habe ich einen Geist, der Gedanken an das Selbst nicht zulässt. And if I notice that you're younger than I am, also there's no really sense of self in that. I can feel a difference in my mind, but still nourished in the immediate present. I can feel a difference in my mind but it's still nourished through the immediate present as soon as I know your birthday or I think about your birthday a consciousness starts happening

[02:08]

and consciousness creates a territory for self-referencing thoughts. And consciousness creates an area for self-reliant thoughts. You will notice, as soon as you are in what we call borrowed consciousness, It's also the territory of self-referential thinking, of comparisons of gain and loss, good and bad, and so forth. Okay, so now what I'm trying to say is we can have an experience of mind

[03:31]

Like we can have an experience of moods, something like that. And we can decide to stay in immediate consciousness and what I'm calling inferential consciousness. And there's a kind of joy in it. In Thailand, you'll notice, if you've ever been there, that everyone smiles. That's clearly a Buddhist practice. The society has just adopted it. And it's the practice of the outer and inner smile. And if you have the feeling of an inner smile, this is your taxi.

[04:54]

Okay, bye-bye. Thanks for coming so far. When I lived in San Francisco, the taxi drivers knew our building as the Woodpecker Building. Because they didn't know what happened in here, but when they drove by often, they could hear bop, [...] bop. So among themselves they call it the woodpecker building. Oh, okay. Thanks for being here. Thank everybody and say goodbye. Have a good trip. Tschüss. Ja.

[05:56]

Okay. And if you practice an inner smile, you'll find it changes your state of mind. Just like if you reach out and shake someone's hand, something happens, you feel different. Well, there's a Clear body and mind interpenetrate. All right. So back to the paramitas. Do we need another break or should I... Do I need a break or should I continue? Otherwise, if I need a break... The first parameter is generosity.

[07:04]

The paramitas are a spiritual, we could call, for lack of a better word, a spiritual exercise. It's a kind of winnowing. Winnowing means to sift, like in wheat, to sift the chaff from the grain. Do you know the word for winnowing? No, we don't have that. We have separation of the wheat and that thing, you know. Well, yeah, that's called... In English that's called sift. You could say sifting, but it's called... Winnowing means... Winnowing is done by the wind.

[08:23]

Yeah. We don't have a word. We explain what we're doing. Oh, that's very smart of you. Wir haben kein Verb, wir erklären bloß, was wir da machen. Winnowing means to let the wind blow through it. Also das heißt, den Wind da durchblasen lassen. So winnowing, I mean, the parameters are a kind of winnowing of the self. Also die Parameters sind ein... your mind, your consciousness, structures of your mind, have been created by others, your parents, language, playing with other kids, going to school, working at a job.

[09:38]

So the paramitas are a continuation of this shaping, developing the mind through others. And so, and you can think of them each one, the first three especially, as a posture. And so the first posture is a posture of generosity. Which means to, practically speaking, give things away. Being willing to give people what they want. As Sukershi used to say sometimes, think of me as a taxi driver.

[10:45]

I'll take you anywhere you want to go. Even if it's not a Buddhist place, we'll go there. So you have this feeling you'll do whatever is possible for the person in front of you. Now as I've been saying recently, the fundamental act of compassion is bowing, I think. Just to be there with another person. And it's not like in a monastery where you can stop, stand, bring your hands up and bow. You can do a kind of inner bow, like an inner smile.

[11:55]

And feel you're also giving this mind away. Now, as I said the other day, let's ask, what mind doesn't suffer? That would be a great mind to give away. The most fundamental thing you can give away is your presence, your state of mind. You don't want to give a mind away that's all full of your ancient karma.

[12:57]

Born of greed, hate and delusion. From beginningless time. We can also ask, what mind can we share? If we're approaching the mind of Buddha, what mind can we share with Buddha? Of course we don't share the Buddha's memories. His family. The path through the village. So we don't share his memories. So what mind do we share? I give you one to sit around and tell stories about when I was in the Merchant Marine.

[14:30]

I can share some memories with you. Sea stories. It might be fun, actually. It's not going to tell you anything about Buddhism or my practice or anything. So what mind can I share? So when I'm here practicing generosity, I'm trying to practice being generous with the mind that's shareable. or the mind that doesn't suffer. So perhaps I'm trying to get the chaff, the karma, out of the mind that I'm sharing.

[15:38]

I can feel the mind of immediacy, of immediate consciousness. I can feel the mind of inferential consciousness. And I'm happy to share them. I can feel the mind of borrowed consciousness. Of comparisons of like and dislike. But I don't want to share that. I don't think you want to share it either. Yeah. I wake up in the night wounded, feeling all the letters I didn't write and these people I'm supposed to do. You don't want to share that mind. So I try to generate a mind that's shareable. This is a little different than moods or emotions or consciousness.

[17:17]

Now, we do have a big distinction between public mind and private mind. And you all recognize that that's a Western distinction, it's a cultural distinction. The whole world is trying to develop it right now. You know the main reason they're trying to develop it? Because the tourist industry depends on it. A hotel lobby is public space. When I first moved to Japan there was virtually no so-called public space. And when I moved to Japan at the beginning, there was really almost nothing that could be called public space.

[18:28]

Everything was initiatory space. You had to be initiated to enter restaurants and bars. If you weren't known by them, they didn't want you in the bar. Space, if I make a little pun, space was defined by rights, R-I-T-E-S. Also, der Raum wurde definiert durch Riten. Not by rights, R-I-G-H-T-S. Nicht durch Rechte. You had no right to be in particular restaurants unless you were known. Everything was a kind of club. You owned and were responsible for out to the middle of your street.

[19:34]

And the neighbor was responsible out to the middle of the street. And there had to be signs in the Tokyo airport. Please don't wear your underwear in the Tokyo airport. Westerners don't understand this. Because in Japanese villages, everybody's out in their underwear. You have your underwear in the house, why not have your underwear in the street? You didn't dress differently for public spaces. This idea of public space, which is essential to the conception of modern society, doesn't exist in most traditional societies.

[20:36]

Okay, but we don't have a public mind, really. We have public behavior. Our minds remain all kind of even public. It's just our dresses. Buddhism is about exploring the mind you have with others. Not the behavior you have with others.

[21:40]

And the paramitas are about exploring the mind you can share with others. And it starts out with the practice of sharing. Generosity is sharing. And what mind can you share? How can you generate a shareable mind? A not-so-karmic mind. You can say a dharmic mind. And let's just keep it simple. A mind of immediacy. Yeah, something like that. Okay. The second parameter is discipline. Discipline really means the skills to learn something and in particular to learn from another person.

[22:49]

So for a Buddhist, every encounter with another person is an opportunity to have the inner bow, To take this wide feeling of mind, bring it together in your hands, bring it up, and give it, disappear into it, giving it to the other person. A real vow between two practitioners, both disappear. It's a little dharma practice, a dharma bow.

[24:00]

The practice of dharma is to let things appear and let them disappear. So two people appear together, disappear together, reappear, and go on. Now this isn't morality. It's just shaping, developing a wisdom mind. It's deeply satisfying. And the more you come into a mind that's content-free, the more you come into come into, yeah.

[25:05]

Content free or heading toward content free. Joy or bliss appears. For some reason, The field of mind itself is blissful. You may begin to touch that or rub that in your meditation. your breath begins to, for some reason you're sitting and your breath begins to just feel blissful, touching your body.

[26:11]

It means that your breath is just at that point where mind itself appears, not the contents of consciousness. Please again. It means that you're at that point that you can feel in your breath where the blissful field of mind starts to appear and not the karmically cathected contents of consciousness. I like the karmically cathected content of consciousness. Cathected means emotionally charged.

[27:15]

Karmically charged. So each person has this opportunity to generate a shareable mind. and let go of comparative thinking, etc., in your initial contact with the person, and not only be willing to share, but be willing to receive from the other person.

[28:25]

So you feel a kind of vulnerability and openness with another person. You don't know quite what will happen. And then you feel the third paramita, patience. And then you feel the third parameter, patience. You are willing to be in this precious, momentary, absolutely unique, unpredictable situation. Life becomes much more vivid. Each occasion is an occasion

[29:32]

There's no generalization. Oh, that's just another person I'm walking by. Yeah, no, we have such a habit of that, no matter how much you practice, you're still going to say, oh, that's just another person. But if you practice the parameters, after a while, each person is a unique event. And now we know that our mind is located outside us as well as in us. And we can feel our own mind being affected by this person. And we can just stay in that place.

[30:46]

Now, one of the aspects of Buddha mind is an imperturbability or something close to that. And if you want to make offerings to the Buddha, That's one koan says, it's not about a lot of incense. What you want to offer to the Buddha is your own imperturbable mind. And one of the vows of Samantabhadra is to offer imperturbable mind to each person you meet.

[32:14]

And that's within the teaching of the third parameter of patience. So now we have some questions coming out of this seminar. What is a mind that doesn't suffer? What is a mind that's shareable? What is a mind that's imperturbable? What is a mind that's generous? What is a mind that openly receives from others? What is a mind that rests in patience? The next parameter is effort, energy. This practice needs energy, needs intention, but it also produces energy and intention.

[33:34]

And next is Paramita's meditation. And meditation means samadhi. No, meditation means samadhi, mindfulness. And this practice is rooted in meditation. But it's the practice of generosity, discipline, patience, and effort, intention. that you do with each person. Again, as we learn the mind through each person, We developed our mind through playing with other children and so forth.

[34:59]

The paramitas are a practice to develop a mind of wisdom. So all of these six parameters are woven together, but when you think of them as a sequence, it's the practice of generosity, discipline, patience. generosity, discipline, patience, energy, effort, brought into your meditation, with your stomach relaxed, that produces the mind of wisdom.

[36:04]

So the practice of the paramitas itself is meant to produce a mind of wisdom. And each encounter with another person is the way you practice and develop this mind of wisdom. the possibility to develop this spirit of wisdom. Maybe that's enough. Oh, we've got 15 minutes to waste. Anybody got some sea stories? So let's sit for a little bit. Taken together, the six parameters are the practice of wisdom.

[39:31]

Excuse me. Taken together, the six parameters are the practice of compassion. The six parameters are the quintessential bodhisattva practice. through compassion to develop the mind of wisdom and through the realization of wisdom to be able to unreservedly, without interruption, practice compassion. Continuously. What mind do you feel just now?

[41:11]

Or moods or thoughts? What is the background of your moods or thoughts? What is mind? Was ist Geist? What mind does not fall into any category? Welcher Geist fällt in keine Kategorie? When Dungschan was asked this Als Dungschan dieses gefragt wurde He answered I'm always close to this Hat er geantwortet Ich bin diesem immer nahe

[42:13]

This is his practice. In each situation, I'm always close to this. What is the mind that's always close? What is the mind that's always this? What is the mind? What is the mind that does not fall into any category? What is the mind of generosity and compassion?

[43:30]

Let's always, let's all of us always be close to this. What mind do we share just now? What mind doesn't suffer? Just now. Thank you for joining me for this seminar.

[45:42]

And joining all of us here at Johanneshof for this seminar. And joining each other to be in this seminar. Thank you for translating. You're welcome.

[45:56]

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