We can't grasp. We couldn't say what it is. The more we're part of this feeling, the more this teaching is becoming part of us. So our job as teachers Altogether creating the seminar is developing this non-graspable feeling that we share. And the meals are part of that. Where the group of you who sat up late last night is part of it. The time not in this part of the seminar is part of it.

[01:05]

So for me the whole configuration of the seminar is about developing this non-graspable feeling. Because the more we develop it and share it, the more the teaching will make sense. Because it's non-graspable feeling, not thinking. which is the main vehicle of understanding and the teaching. And that you discover in the second foundation of mindfulness. Okay. So, now, if I think... Christian, for translating.

[02:17]

And I put my hand on his shoulder. And that's either pleasurable or not pleasurable to him. That's a kind of articulation of feeling. Now, if I surprise him in some way and he doesn't like it, or he's like an Englishman, he doesn't like to be touched. When I, you know, coming from living in California for years and I first went to England, I'd meet an English guy and I'd give him a hug and he'd go, ooh. I'm not that kind. But we heard mostly in England, no. But I've actually had that said to me when I've given somebody a... Okay, so then pleasure and not pleasurable has turned into likes and dislikes.

[03:27]

So I've showed you before, but we have a relationship between pleasure, not pleasure, and neither. Like, dislike and neutral, boring. And greed, hate and delusion. And that's a kind of a spectrum. Starting from non-graspable feeling through the spectrum to, you know, strong emotions, ego and so forth. So in the second foundation of mindfulness, with breath mind, you're exploring this spectrum.

[04:29]

You're noticing when you like something or dislike. Ihr bemerkt, wenn ihr etwas mögt oder nicht mögt. You're noticing the mind that arises when you like things. Ihr bemerkt den Geist, der auftaucht, wenn ihr Dinge mögt. You notice when you just take pleasure in something. You know, I take pleasure in these flowers being here. I can just rest my mind on them. But if I switch from the pleasure of looking into, oh, I like this flower and I don't like that flower... I don't like that we cut flowers. Why didn't we use a nicer vase? A different kind of mind is present. You know, or I wish I had the money to buy

[05:44]

A crystal vase. A crystal vase no one else could afford. Then I'm into greed and desire. And the realm of likes and dislikes and greed and delusions are the realm of karma. Simple pleasure or displeasure doesn't produce karma. So in this foundation of mindfulness you're beginning to see how the differentiation of mind into pleasure and displeasure and likes and dislikes

[07:10]

shapes the mind, and then begins to add karma to the mind. So you begin to see, yes, I can actually reduce... the accumulation of karma or I can increase the accumulation of karma. And you can see how Feeling is present in all of this. Okay, so now we can go to the third foundation of mindfulness. That was fast. Yeah. And you can begin to see how in the third foundation of mindfulness is the study of mind within mind.

[08:40]

Yeah, and your study, you're observing mind and mood, let us say. Now, if you add to this mix, fear, attachment, hate, you begin to really shape these likes and dislikes. Now, I always say that emotion is rooted in caring.

[09:41]

You don't get angry unless you care. But that care is shaped by attachment. Or fear. Or competitiveness. You know, all kinds of things. So this third foundation of mindfulness is when you begin to observe how mind functions in this way. You see how the mind is colored by associations, attitudes like fear and so forth. Attitudes, fear, emotions. Hmm. So this third foundation of mindfulness is just, again, getting familiar with most of the territory we'd call psychology.

[11:10]

Your view of yourself, your personal history, and so forth. Now the more you can continue this observation with a feeling of breath-mind awareness, You're not only becoming familiar with yourself, but breath, mind, awareness, observing transforms what you experience. are noticing.

[12:19]

And one way that's very clear is sitting zazen. Because if your zazen has matured until you have a kind of still undisturbed, not much disturbed field of mind. which has a stillness or presence that holds in contrast to associative mind. So for most of us, our zazen is mostly in the third foundation of mindfulness. You are trying to bring a still mind or breath mind, discover that in your sitting.

[13:32]

while at the same time much of your life passes before you. And it's good at this time if you really do let much of your life pass before you. And my own feeling is it takes about two years of regular sitting before the largest quantity of your personal history is kind of reviewed. And for some reason, sitting Zazen, and developing a still mind, and opening the door to the night mind, the mind of non-dreaming deep sleep.

[15:05]

Yeah. Begins to call up our personal history and our personal psychology. It has some parallel to a psychoanalytic process. Which itself, like, basically, as I've often pointed out, Freud uses the fourth skanda so people free associate. So, there is a kind of similarity, an actual similarity to psychoanalytic process.

[16:35]

And as you just become familiar with your personal history seeing it in the light of this still mind actually changes the way it's how it's karmically present in you. Okay, so now that's enough on this one. I think much of our zazen practice, you just have to do it. So you're just being open to what comes up, while at the same time you're trying to awaken this breath mind, this still breath mind awareness. You're trying to develop a posture that supports that.

[17:55]

Which is essentially, as I've been pointing out, actually a mental, a kind of mind posture. Which is essentially, as I've been pointing out, actually a mental, a kind of mind posture. Okay, so that's the third foundation of mindfulness. I mean, that's not the third foundation of mindfulness. That's a kind of general, a little bit of a picture of it. The fulfillment of the third foundation of mindfulness happens in you. and happens in you most fully, or really almost only, when you've developed this breath-mind awareness. Okay, now the fourth foundation of mindfulness.

[19:10]

This is to know we could define it as knowing phenomena in phenomena. But even the word phenomena in English means to know things as phenomena of the mind. So here you're observing your relationship to the objects of the world. And you're observing that all perception, all knowing, is happening actually within your own mind. within your own experience. So as I said earlier in the seminar, this also is to know the limits of knowing. So what you're immediately confronted with in this fourth foundation of mindfulness, now that through the first three foundations you're so familiar with

[20:39]

the quality and structure of mind, the contents of mind and the source of mind, you see that that's all you know of phenomena as well, the outside world, so-called outside world. You see that the so-called outside, that's all you know, mind is all you know of the so-called outside world. Okay, so that means you know the limits of knowing. Das bedeutet, dass ihr die Grenzen des Wissens kennt. Now, if we practiced the vijnanas... Wenn wir die vijnanas praktizieren würden... Basically, the vijnana practice is to practice each sense separately.

[21:48]

Die vijnana practice ist im Grunde jeden... and not notice how you put the five senses together. It's like a blind person trying to know everything through sound or proprioceptive feeling. You really try to practice with, experiment with knowing the slice of the world that hearing gives you, or the slice of the world that seeing gives you. Then you begin to sense what's in between the slices.

[22:57]

Then you put it back together, the senses. This is a typical Buddhist approach. Like we look at the exhale, the inhale. We look at the joining the breath to exhale and inhale. Then we look at the parts of the body. And here we're looking at each sense. Then we're trying to put them together in a way that... The unity is not dominated by the visual sense. The unison is not dominated by the visual sense. So here I'm talking about the fourth foundation of mindfulness as knowing the limits of knowing. and knowing how we know.

[24:03]

And so it's not that we don't know, but there's a presence of not knowing, or there's a presence of non-knowing. The presence, do you understand that not knowing is not the same as a presence of an awareness of not knowing? It's like when the kitchen isn't in the room. We feel the presence of the absence of the kitchen people. And that's close to emptiness.

[25:08]

So the presence of... The mystery of not knowing is also one way, an entry to emptiness. So we know non-knowing and we know how we know. This is the fundamental territory of Dharma practice. Of knowing how each thing appears. And now knowing that that's the root of all of our knowing.

[26:10]

So the fourth foundation of mindfulness is is about how we know and the limits of knowing. So that's also the beginning of our knowing. So typical of Buddhist teachings, the fourth step returns and informs the first step. Well, that seems to be enough, you know. I didn't really do justice to the last three, I'm sorry.

[27:14]

But it happens to be exactly one o'clock. So if I may indulge you a little, or myself, let's sit for a couple of minutes and be late for lunch. sit for a few more minutes and come to dinner late. So I hope I've left you with a feeling for the territory of the four foundations of mindfulness.

[29:12]

And an awareness that you're already practicing much of the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness. But I hope you also have understood the root of this practice. the foundation of this practice in the development of breath, mind, awareness and the understanding that if you develop breath, mind, awareness

[30:17]

And you bring it into your practice in this way of four foundations. And you bring breath-mind-awareness into your living practice. The four foundations, the territory of the four foundations of mindfulness will reveal itself to you. And it's a teaching we should turn or revolve in our practice on a regular basis. We're always doing it to some extent. Because it's just what practice is. but to do it consciously and in the order of the teaching.

[31:45]

You know, once or twice a year at least would be good. See where you're at in the practice once or twice a year. take a week or two and go through the four foundations as thoroughly as you can. In your sasin. In your four living postures. In your way of knowing. You'll find they continuously reveal themselves as teaching and reveal the existence you're constructing to yourself.

[32:52]

At least this is my experience. And I'm sure something similar can be your experience. I'm very grateful to have had this time to practice with you.

[34:28]

And I'm grateful to have a translator like Christian and Marie-Louise too to help.

[34:32]

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