Okay, we have this system of the eight vijnanas. And I think I ought to maybe concentrate today on speaking about that. And I think today I ought to concentrate on speaking about that. Because it's central to not only Zen practice, but the pedagogy of Zen. Now, the practice of Buddhism is developed partly because people are, yeah, curious. How do we exist? What's the world, etc. ? Now, if you are asking that question without any given answers, no book of revelation or no outside source that can tell you an answer,

[01:02]

Then the question remains an open question. And remains in our practice for each of us an open question. And Buddhism developed through this openness of mind. Now, it developed again, as I said, out of a kind of curiosity. What is this world? When I studied anthropology in the university, you know, the anthropologists say religion starts with a feeling of awe. And I thought this was kind of a joke.

[02:26]

That they didn't have any idea how it started. Okay, but now I feel, yeah, maybe that's right. Because this sense of awe is also, what is it? So that's part of the process behind, I think, the eight visionaries. But then we're also asking, is it possible to be free of mental suffering? And what is enlightenment? And I leave you to explore the difference, if any, between freedom from mental suffering and enlightenment.

[03:47]

These are two different, somewhat or rather different kind of goals. goals in Buddhist practice. Some schools emphasize one more than the other. But it's not so important right now which, what schools emphasize which, etc., But rather, do you have either goal in your own practice? Yeah, and which do you sort of feel? I mean, realistically, magically, whatever. Welches spürst du realistisch und magisch?

[04:59]

Egal, ganz gleich. If you look at your own experience, what seems possible? Wenn du deine eigene Erfahrung anschaust, welches scheint denn da möglich? Now, this kind of question too is behind the development of the eight Vijnanas. Auch diese Frage steht hinter der Entwicklung der acht Vijnanas. Okay. And this also is, behind the eight Vishnianas, is then a dialogue, a kind of dialogue with the Buddha, the historical Buddha. Was there such a person who was free of mental suffering and enlightened? And if such a person existed, it must be possible for another such person to exist. Because this isn't a person sent to us by God or something.

[06:04]

This is just a person. If it's a historical person, and it was possible for him, it must be possible for us. Why not? and for him it was possible, then it must also be possible for me. Why not? You have to strip away some of the mythology and stuff, but something, some sort of person, otherwise the teaching of Buddhism wouldn't exist. Then you have to strip away some of the legends, but... It must have been possible... If you take away some of the legends, mythology...

[07:06]

Still, Buddhism exists. And it had a beginning. And so some such person must exist, must have existed. So this is the thinking you yourself have to do, too. You know, Buddhism is some big old thing, cultural thing, I don't know. If you're doing it, are you doing something that you actually think is possible? And possible in the context created by the teaching. Again, you have to come to a personal decision about this. And if it is possible, how important is it in relation to your other things?

[08:14]

Is it like, you know, I enjoy movies and I go to the movies now and then. So I enjoy practice, I'll do it now and then. No, that's good. Maybe that's not so bad. But if this really is about eliminating suffering and enlightenment and if it's actually possible for relatively ordinary human beings Yeah, it would make a difference in our world if this was well understood. And it's not going to be well understood unless someone realizes it.

[09:14]

I think this should be our question and your question and my question. But it's also the kind of question which motivated those who developed the Abhidharma and wrote the Lankavatara Sutra. But this is also the motivation of those who have developed the Abhidharma and those who have written the Lankavatara Sutra. Which is dated long after the Buddha died. So what is it about this human being? called the Buddha. Yeah, there's the 32 marks of a Buddha. Yeah, at least one of them is a male mark, but it doesn't mean females can't also be a Buddha.

[10:22]

And they say sometimes that he had webs between his fingers. Someone told me, if you tape over these webs, you can't swim very well. They actually make a difference. And it's taken by some people to mean that we really developed as some sort of closely related to the water creature. Anyway, this is a person, ordinary person. Presumably he had hands and ten toes and ten fingers and so forth.

[11:37]

And elbows and so forth. So what makes the difference? You also have ten fingers and I don't know, you might have... niece who has an extra toe, but still, I don't think it would make too much difference. So, where is the difference, if there's a difference? It must be in the mind. Now, Now the mind that we're speaking about, though, is a mind located in the body. Not located in the body as something separate from the body, but inseparable from the body. And inseparable from phenomena. Now remember, if the basic conception of the mind is inseparable from the body and inseparable from phenomena, if all of this is interdependent and interpenetrating,

[13:06]

And these are the basic teachings of Buddhism. If we are inseparable from phenomena, eating, breathing, etc., remember that in relationship to what is the life of Vijnana. then erinnere das und frage, was ist das? Erinnere das in Bezug zum Alaya Vishnayana und frage dich, was es ist. Denn das Alaya Vishnayana ist das, mit dem wir Phänomene innerhalb unserer eigenen Erfahrung kennen. Okay, so there's no... dead body that sings, dances or thinks so what makes us alive that we can sing, dance and think

[14:20]

Was macht uns lebendig, sodass wir singen, tanzen und denken können? It's called the mind, which is inseparable from the body and phenomena. Das nennt man den Geist, der untrennbar von Körper und untrennbar von Phänomenen ist. Okay. Given that position... Also von dieser Position ausgehend... What is this mind? Was ist dieser Geist? So that's the starting point and the... basis for the development of the eight vijnanas. What is this mind that might be Buddha's mind, might be free of suffering, might be enlightened? So the question, what is Buddha, or who is Buddha, was brought forward from 2500 or so more years ago, was brought forward in time, In those days, 500 years forward, it's located here in our activity and mind.

[15:47]

So to study the Buddha and to study Buddhism is to study the mind. Now, the eight vijnanas lend themselves, if you want to interpret them thus, to some essence of mind that is separate from, somehow sort of separate from the body. But I think that, strictly speaking, the jnanas do not accurately lend themselves to that interpretation.

[16:47]

Okay, so now you've got this sort of big picture. So let's go to the very famous teaching of Matsu. He said, this very mind is Buddha. Genau dieser Geist, hat er gesagt, ist Buddha. He also said this very mind is not Buddha. Er hat aber auch gesagt, genau dieser Geist ist nicht Buddha. Okay. So, now that you've studied the Vijñanas and you've studied the five dharmas, nun, nachdem ihr die Vijñanas und die fünf dharmas studiert habt, and you understand the application of an intent of an intention through a phrase in practice.

[18:07]

You can imagine maybe that in Zen pedagogy, this phrase, behind it is the entire eight vijnanas. This phrase, this very mind is Buddha. No, a phrase like that has behind it the eight Vijnanas. As I said the other day, they're always appearing present. As behind it is a particular understanding. Okay, so what happens when you say this very mind is Buddha? Okay, you're saying this very mind is Buddha. At the moment of every Sensorial contact with the world.

[19:20]

Or the six source contacts with the world. Each of the five physical vijnanas and mano vijnanas. At the initial point of contact, you say, this very mind is Buddha. Now, you could use Hakuin's Mu. Which is to put no and emptiness at each point of contact. This is the most classic practice of Japanese Rinzai Zen.

[20:21]

And it works, but I don't think it works as well for Westerners as this very mind is Buddha. Okay, so on each moment of contact, source contact, you act on that contact. With this very mind is Buddha. Now, at first it's stretched out in those words, but after a while it's just a feeling as exactly the same size as the moment of contact. Okay, so now, again, knowing the five dharmas.

[21:21]

you can see that this interrupts discrimination, like naming interrupts discrimination. Or you're using naming to interrupt discrimination. You could say, you're staying in the six vijnanas without going into manas. A kind of pedagogy which can be so simple as a single phrase would not have developed without an understanding of the mind like the eight vijnanas. So when you interrupt... Let's say seeing.

[22:40]

At the moment of contact of appearance. What are you seeing? When you say this very mind is Buddha. You're seeing or noticing the act of seeing itself before association. So you're naming the act of association before associations arise. You're naming... the act of perception, you're naming the act of knowing Before associations arise.

[23:56]

And what are you naming it? You're naming it mind. You're naming it Buddha's mind. You have a kind of feeling at that moment. Somit hast du ein Gefühl in diesem Moment, dass dieser Geist, der frei ist vom Assoziieren, dass der Buddha ist. Dignaga sagt, ihr kennt den Geist nur und die Dinge, wie sie wirklich sind, nur... He says you only know them when you're free of conceptual thinking. And here you're sort of using a kind of concept. Or you're using a concept. This very mind is Buddha.

[24:59]

It's like using a medicine or a poison as a medicine. So you're using the concept, this very mind is Buddha, to stop the process of concept forming. which would lead to personal and cultural association. And notice mind itself prior to association. Now, if you keep repeating this, You begin to get a feeling for mind prior to association.

[26:08]

And you're kind of indoctrinating yourself with the idea this might be Buddha. Okay. Okay, so I think you've got the picture. And after a while you really are physically and mentally familiar with this mind prior to associations. Okay, now let's take another tack. Attack is sailboat, you go left or right, another direction. Okay, another course, yeah. I said the other day that when you investigate the present as duration you see there's no reference point.

[27:19]

You establish a reference point by creating a foreground against a background. But it's an artificial reference point because they're both simultaneously established. So you can say, in fact, there's no reference point, and that's an experience of, an understanding of emptiness. Now, what a practitioner ought to do when they hear that? And I suggest in the woods somewhere or in your office somewhere, you practice this no reference point mind. As I've often said, you practice appearance very simply, like looking at somebody and closing your eyes, opening your eyes and closing your eyes, and to get a feeling that they keep reappearing and they're slightly different.

[28:47]

Or in your office, say, you look to the right side of your office, and then you look to the left side of your office, then you look to the right, and each time a different part of the office appears. And you feel slightly different each time you look as well. So such little exercises both make you aware of impermanence. So kleine Übungen, die machen dich beides. Einerseits gewahr für Vergänglichkeit. You develop a feel for noticing appearance. Sie entwickeln ein Gefühl für das Auftauchen.

[29:50]

And are really part of the practice of the six source or sense vijnanas. Und sind Teil der sechs Quellen vijnanas. Okay. All right. Now... If you hear this and you get a feeling for it yourself, well, there's really no reference point. I'm lost in this world. How do I make decisions? There's no reference point. So then you say, I better find one. What is a reference point? Do I have a reference point? I love it that people studying martial arts are called artists. If you're a martial arts artist, and your canvas is your body, One of the things, and those of you who study martial arts could confirm this, if it's, you know, or whatever.

[31:14]

As I understand, you work with your center of gravity. So, for instance, you might take an odd position on one foot, but if you know where your center of gravity is, you can locate the center of gravity, which may be out in space in this case somewhere. You can hold that center of gravity and it's very difficult for somebody to push you over or something. So, yeah, this is a kind of reference point then. And in the case of this, it's a reference point that moves according to your position and posture.

[32:21]

So what's my reference point right now, sitting here? What's my reference point in my thinking, in my giving this talk? And I think you'll find if you work with the reference point, because if there's no reference point, you better find one. I mean, maybe you're in trouble. If you work with this, you may find location is part of it. What is my location? What is my reference point? How do I locate myself?

[33:29]

How do I locate my reference point? As I point out often, because our attention goes back to our thinking, usually away from our breath, Which means that your reference point then is in your thinking. And if your reference point is in your thinking, it's then defined through your personal history and your culture. not particularly defined in relationship to the world, and so not particularly defined in relation to the Alaya Vijnana, but related to Your personal history and often, as we said this morning, comparison to others.

[34:49]

Morality and virtue aside, this is a very unstable reference point. Okay, now going back. If the Buddha has pretty much the same body as we do, does he have the same mind? Or if we take the eight vijnanas, does he have all eight vijnanas? Well, they thought about this. And they would say, the first six Vijnanas he may share. At least the process of the... Sorry, the process?

[36:09]

At least the process of the eight Vishnanas he shares. But does he share the Alaya Vishnana? Well, the conclusion is, in Buddhist history, yes. If you think of the Alaya Vishnana as an unconscious, no, then he does not share our unconscious. But if we, each of us in this room, the totality of our experience Of the millions of micro-moments that are part of our imprints of experience on us, are different.

[37:12]

are different. Yeah, it's different. We've each had a different experience. But overall, it's the same. And it's through that we have the fundamental recognition of each other if we're, say, lost in the forest or in a tsunami. So part of this teaching of the eight vijnanas is the process is the same as the Buddha's and the alaya vijnana is the same as the Buddha's. Virtually the same. The process of the eight vijnanas and the alaya vijnana are Okay, if that's the case, then we should develop a way of practicing and teaching that we really know the process of the eight vishyanas,

[38:29]

And we bring the Alaya Vijnana into the center of our being. Okay, all right. So now, we have again, this very mind is Buddha. Or this very mind is not Buddha, it's exactly the same. Both make you see the mind. Prior to association. whether you call it Buddha or not Buddha. Okay, so now you know the mind prior to association. Okay, so now let's take a practice of a particular Vijnana.

[39:39]

And let's take seeing, because it's the most difficult. And seeing is the most difficult because seeing dominates all of our senses. And we tend to interpret all of our senses through seeing. So it's the hardest one to have a feel for. Like you can hear hearing, it's harder to feel minding. Okay, but now we have this understanding of the vijnanas through the ayatanas. Or the datus is nearly the same.

[40:41]

Okay, so there's the organ of perception. There's the object of perception. And there's the field that arises. Now you keep, you understand that conceptually. And you hold it as a basic recognition. And you begin to find this is the way you start to see, hear, etc. Okay. This isn't going to take till tomorrow, by the way. I'll finish soon.

[41:42]

So you see something. And you can feel the object of perception. And now you can begin to develop the feeling for the organ of perception. And one way to do that is to develop the sense of feeling seeing from behind the eyes. As if the location of your seeing was behind the eye. So what have you got here? You've got a field with two points. And you've begun to see what happens when you create duration by letting this field have a kind of presence.

[42:44]

Okay. You begin to have a feeling for when this field between the organ of perception and the object of perception begins to have a certain duration and presence. So you begin to be able to bring your attention along to the object or back to the organ or somewhere in between. Okay, now let's switch to hearing. Your two ears allow you to locate something in space. Locate a sound in space. The bird is over there.

[44:01]

Now that's a kind of reference point. It is a reference point. And you're always creating a location with reference points established in each sense. Your eyes are locating you. And your ears locate the world, the aura, A-U-R-A-L, world around you. And your balance, your proprioceptive movements locate you in space. All right, so now you hear the bird and it's over there. So there's the object of perception.

[45:13]

There's the ear, the organ of perception. And you've located in space and created a kind of field. And you have located the bird in space. And you've created a kind of field. But that location isn't only where the bird is. That location is in hearing itself. So you can pull that location into yourself. And you can do that with each sense. It's a little bit like the ten directions are not out there as north, but north is coming towards you.

[46:17]

I mean, north is just a direction. And we can have a cultural habit of thinking that direction is away from us or toward us. And yoga culture says that there are ten directions including up and down and they come toward us. And this is related to the eight visionaries, actually. It's when you see something, you feel it comes toward you. It's located within you. I can see that clay Buddha out there. This fabricated Buddha. As are all Buddhas. I can see it out there on the rock, but I feel it located within me, within my seeing.

[47:33]

Now, when I do that with all my six source senses, This is prior to associations. I can let associations happen. But this very mind is Buddha. This mind that appears in each sense dieser Geist, der in jedem Sinn auftaucht, ist in gewisser Weise das Manu-Vijnana, das jeden Sinn begleitet, must be the same as the historical Buddhas.

[48:44]

Der oder das muss das gleiche sein wie vom historischen Buddha. If we don't add Manus. But we have to add the alaya vijnana. We add the alaya vijnana so it bypasses manas. This is a practice you can practice. And then, when, for instance, I am allowing this seeing of this Buddha out there, with feeling it in my own seeing, I awaken associations, I call up associations from the Alaya Vijnana differently than when they're called up through the manas.

[49:59]

They're different than when they're called up through the manas. And then there are many more possibilities of combinations, creativity, associations, etc. Okay. When we smell, we really notice it. We pull the field of smelling up into ourselves and then kind of locate, what is that? When you practice in the service, say, in the morning, And it may be something like Frank described when he's over there in his office across the road.

[51:12]

You're in each unit of the service. With no place to go. And very little to do. So you can just keep locating yourself. If you keep confirming your location as exactly where you are. So there's an activity of locating through the touch, Visnjana, You're actually pulling the location into yourself and confirming it as your location.

[52:22]

Okay. So this is, you know, a short version, a long version, a middle-sized version of the practice of the eight visionaries. It depends on working with appearance. It depends on feeling the difference between having your attention at the object or in the field or in the organ of perception. And this is not possible to do effectively until your sense of location and reference point is no longer in your thinking. Then when you do think, your thinking is full of the energy of mind itself, And the associations which arise from the Alaya Vishnaya.

[53:44]

Yeah, and this is close to what it means to be a Buddha. I'm always close to this. Ich bin dem immer nahe. What? Among the three bodies, what body does not fall into any category? Welcher von den drei Körpern fällt in keine Kategorie? I'm always close to this, said Dung Shan. Ich bin dem immer nahe, sagte Dung Shan. That's another phrase you can practice with. Now, just the lecture's over. But just as a little aside, I think the iPod is based on the Alaya Vijnana. And I don't think it's an accident that Stephen Jobs is a Buddhist. Ich glaube, dass es kein Zufall ist, dass Steven Jobs ein Buddhist ist.

[55:03]

And thinks of what he's doing as Buddhist activity. Und sich das, was er tut, als Buddhistische, als Handlung vorstellt. It may be a misuse of the Laya Vishnana. Vielleicht ist es ein Missbrauch des Laya Vishnana. But it assumes that you can start to control the associations around you. Because the phenomenal world is part of the Allaya Vishnu. So every moment you can have exactly the song you need. This is a kind of corruption, I think. But it's certainly selling a lot of iPods.

[56:07]

That's just a head note or a footnote. To say that the life of Jnana is part of our world and can be commercially exploited... It's basically a different conception than radio stations and records. Because it treats it not as an event, but an activity. Okay, I was told by Judith, the director, that there's no discussion tomorrow. But I guess you may have some time for discussion now. I always get schmaltzy at this point. Until we meet again in the Ayurvedic Yana.

[57:14]

Okay.

[57:14]

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