and releasing. Okay, so that's, you know, enough on that formula. We could call it a kind of wisdom formula. Kind of wisdom pill that begins to function in mindfulness. Functions through repeated mindfulness. Not just in zazen or meditation time. Although that may be where it's most fruitful at first. But it can have power just in our conduct, livelihood and speech. Yes, so that's a kind of teaching. Before we have a break, let me speak a little bit about karma again. The practice I just, the formula practice I just gave you

[01:02]

This formula of practice that I have just given you So I've been actually speaking about a practice rooted in the understanding of the formation and freeing of karma. This is my teacher. Okay. Say you like cookies. I've heard some people like cookies.

[02:22]

Now, you like cookies because they're sweet. But you also like cookies because they helped you through difficult times as a child. There were terrible afternoons of long naps. relieved by having a cookie. Or something like that. So if you're having the cookie partly because it's because of the memory of cookies. We can say that that's karma. Because you chose to have, you participated in choosing cookies at one time. But the sugar in the cookies still makes it interesting even if you forget about the karma.

[03:48]

Yeah, now if you like chocolate, for instance, chocolate can also give you the sensation, they say, of being in love. So this is even more difficult. You have a karma of liking chocolate, but now, whoa, right, okay, so... So the sensation of being in love from chocolate is much harder to resist. Now I'm sorry to hit on you smokers. But it's such a good example, I can't resist.

[04:49]

And I also, of course, worry about you're trying to do breathing practice and then also smoking. Because smoking not only allows you to... Smoking isn't just chocolate, it's an addiction. And it allows you to dose yourself very exactly. And it suppresses other ways of getting pleasure. So it's more than just karma. It's the immediate situation. But it's now working with all kinds of other karma that makes you want to feel a certain kind of pleasure. in contrast to other feelings.

[06:02]

So it's very difficult to work with your karma when it's also an addictive situation. So if you're going to really be present to the immediate situation, It's good to arrive with as little baggage as possible. And addiction brings a lot of baggage with it. It makes such a complex situation, it's very difficult to... give form to and release. But all your actions appear again in your own context. Whether it's smoking or cookies or chocolate. Or thinking about the future.

[07:17]

Or imagining yourself as inferior or superior. All these things are loaded or we can say your karma. And you can try to deal with them as much as possible. But the fundamental way to deal with them in Zen practice is this... is this practice of dissolving, of this practice of noticing you make a distinction, noticing you have a desire for something, and at that very moment using the desire to dissolve that state of mind.

[08:33]

So you don't try to understand the whole process so much. Which is also okay. But you use whatever appears. To dissolve that which appears. So you use the very desire for a cookie. Or the desire for a cigarette. You allow a certain pause to occur. And you dissolve into that. So you can use any afflicting emotion or habit. as the basis of coming into an undistracted awareness.

[09:39]

It's more difficult when there's a genetic kind of interest in it. But still, it just makes the opening more acute. Acute means stronger. So in your practice, one of the things we're doing, of course, is, you know, as I say, especially in the first couple of years of practice, in the mind of Zazen, you're recapitulating your life, opening yourself to everything that's happened to you,

[10:44]

in the mind of zazen rather than the mind of ordinary consciousness. And in recapitulating your life, you reparent yourself. Your life becomes your own possession. And you stop feeling like a victim. But still there are various sticking points. Things you can feel. Where you get stuck in certain kinds of habits. Or certain kinds of minds. Certain kinds of minds are triggered. Triggered to want a cigarette.

[11:58]

Or triggered to want the future under control. And so if through mindfulness you can feel those triggers, So, okay, you can feel the triggers. And if you can't feel the trigger, just when a headache arrives, Or before it arrives, but you can sense a headache's coming. Or just before a certain mood comes. Where everything irritates you. So if you can feel the triggers, that's good. If you can't feel the triggers then when you notice you're in say an irritable mind instead of getting rid of it you enter into it just as it is.

[13:05]

dann geht ihr da so richtig hinein, so wie er gerade eben ist. Ihr gebt ihm die Form von einem ärgerlichen Geist. Wir akzeptieren das, was ist, und da ist es eben. Ich bin in einem wirklich, wirklich ärgerlichen Geist. Also jeder sollte am besten aus meinem Weg gehen heute Nachmittag. And you give it form and release it. And you give it form when it keeps reappearing and you release it. And if you can be present at the triggers it's much easier to release it. Yeah. And even noticing it and giving it form, the practice of mindfulness is to notice and give form.

[14:13]

Now I'm in an irritable state of mind. Now I'm in a more irritable state of mind. But now I'm releasing it. Now I'm in a more releasing state. Just noticing it is a form of freedom from it. Or the freedom is just around the corner. So if you practice also, let's say smoking. I want a cigarette, really. I love this special breathing practice. The hell with Zen. So you feel, now I really want a cigarette. And you release it. This is a kind of power of practice. And the bigger the problem, the bigger power you'll gain. of a mind really deeply rooted in undistracted awareness.

[15:27]

Now, since karma Whatever we mean by karma. However we understand our accumulated actions. And how they reappear in this moment. Asking for reinforcement. Or freedom. They're like prisoners knocking on the door. Lock me up. Free me. And you have a choice. If your mindfulness is enough, you can hear it not. Lock me up. No, free me. Lock me up. No, free me. I like you locked up, you dear.

[16:27]

Oh, no, you have your freedom. Some kind of experience like this. Anyway, we all have our accumulated actions that knock on each moment. Does practice help you deal with them? Are you innovative and creative enough to find ways to let practice help you deal with them? Find that mind in any circumstance where just now is really enough. Where just this body is still enough. Still enough or just enough?

[17:41]

Still enough and in its stillness enough. That's how we live and die. Okay, so I'd like us to take a break now. And as I said, since karma is of some interest to us, I'd like around ten to five, or something in that area, we gather into what, five groups? And Gerald and Beate and Gisela can find spaces for all of you. And have some discussion about your own experience of karma.

[18:45]

Of noticing karma. Giving form to karma and knowing the possibility of becoming free of it. Through practice. Even if it's karma added to addictive situations. Or other kinds of situations which reinforce our karma and make it hard to get out of it. Okay, like some kind of discussion like this. Practice and karma. So now let's make it five to five. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay.

[19:53]

Perhaps you can continue it. Too short. This evening. The best discussions are always too short. Why don't we sit for a few minutes before dinner? Dogen talks about dropping off body.

[21:42]

And sometimes sitting we lose the sense of the boundaries of our body. And sometimes we do feel the body is dropped away. Such a wide mind. Wide, spacious feeling. Don't compare this to something else. Is it real or not real?

[22:45]

Just a wide, spacious feeling. A wide mind. And even that dropped out. No conceptions at all. And then there's that little poem I like. Sitting quietly, doing nothing.

[23:48]

Sitting quietly, doing nothing. Spring comes. Grass grows by itself. And the grass grows on its own. Well, I'm very glad we can be together again this morning. And how are you? Oh, okay. Yeah.

[24:57]

And for the short time I was at the meeting last night, it seemed like a nice meeting, good meeting. I felt I'd missed something by only coming to the end. That's much better than arriving and thinking, boy, I didn't miss anything. So from your discussion yesterday in the small groups, or from last night, is there anything you'd like to bring up? Yes, all good.

[26:15]

The problem was form. The problem was form. Why? I don't know in detail, but we were intensely haunted by that. We were unsure what you mean by form. It was in the same group. It's beginning to take form. It was my idea, my thought. There have been other ideas, but that was mine. It's the connection to the skandhas. The first skandhas form is this giving form. Is that the end of all those, the end of the five skandhas? So does the end of the five skandhas when it goes into the consciousness and then concepts get added, or is it something which is in this way through the five skandhas?

[27:26]

And then if you let go of the form again, you go kind of down in the skandhas again. I mean, you know, if you write them like this, consciousness up there and falling down. So forms at the bottom in your picture? No, I made that picture. When you say down, where is down? Up or down? It begins from the form. This form-giving is more of this consciousness level. When we put concepts on it and so on, then we give it a form. When we dissolve the form again, we go back to form. That was my idea. I understand. I'm glad you accept responsibility for it it's not bad there okay I heard you I heard you what else anybody else from that yes We spoke a lot about karma.

[28:44]

Is this the same group or a different group? Thank you, boy. We spoke a lot about karma and tried to find out why we experience karma. Last week I noted that we are in emotional situations like in anger and irritation. that we discovered that we came in a karmic entanglement. And the question was then which it was to discover that in this kind of strong emotional situation it's not so easy to let go and to change it so that it gets a positive shift or that this pattern can dissolve.

[29:51]

That's true. This is love. We discussed that as if one can observe it and let go and then it's already something else. And we discovered that it's not that easy. If it were easy, I'd have no job. One seminar would be enough. I was in the same group and I was asked the question, is fear a base of consciousness? a fear. And also it's a karmic... Are you in a karmic action when you lose your parents very early? Like your father or mother, you lose them to you two or three, and then later on you realize you miss them very much.

[30:56]

And is this also always as a karmic emotion or a karmic feeling? Does it never leave you? How can it change? German, please. One question was whether fear is the basis of karmic actions. And the second is if you have lost your parents in the past, mother or father, with two or three, and during your life you are actually in this Yes, in this feeling you miss something. And whether you can give it a change, whether you can change it. Well, first let me say I don't know how to answer all these questions.

[32:12]

And it's only in the last six months or so that I've been trying to tease out the idea of karma In terms of how we practice with our accumulated actions, accumulated actions and inherited views. So I have to look at the way I do it. And I have to look at the way we tend to do it, you individually and you in this culture. And then I have to look at how, not Buddhism, but Zen presents

[33:25]

the understanding of karma as something you can practice with. In yogic practice, karma only has meaning, not as a philosophy, but as something you can practice with. The theories come after the practice. Yeah, at least in many ways. In other words, you see what's possible in practice. And then you define, then you create theories that allow you to practice with your experience.

[34:39]

Buddhism always comes back to resting in your actual experience. Yeah. So it's really wonderful for me to discuss these things with you because we can refine our shared understanding of karma and so forth. Now I can respond. I have some sense of what how to respond to your question. But I'd rather put that aside for now and speak about practice after we have some discussion.

[35:45]

Okay, now, going back to Hans Pedro's comment, And for Beat, it's the same. Afterwards, I'd like to talk about practicing in regard to what you said. Okay. And with Hans Pedro, what is form? And with you, what is form? Renato. Yeah. Well, again, there's no general definition of any word in Buddhism. It's always contextual. Okay, so when the context is form and emptiness, form means everything.

[36:51]

And emptiness means everything. Okay. More practically, form means anything you can notice. So that's the form of the five skandhas. But every other skandha is also form. Because associations are form. Perceptions are form. But that's form understood in another context. So it's form plus form equals five skandhas. All right, so what else?

[37:56]

Yeah. I wanted to say something about the discussion. Last night or the... Yeah. I always have the feeling in myself everything is so unsecure and chaotic. You personally? Yeah. And I come here, and here's this kind of big rock, you know, in the wild water. Gibraltar of Zen. Yeah. And then I notice that isn't like that. Here's also this kind of wildness. So I'm confused. I have to orientate myself. How do I take a position? The rock is in you.

[39:00]

Yeah, but maybe it's heavy and you could put it down. You know, this is my life. It's like this all the time. People say to me, how are we going to make Crestone work? Three people are leaving and nobody else is coming and there's no money and... We go, okay, fine. What can I do? And the same is sort of true here. Except we have our two Gibraltars of Geralt and Gisela, who for many years at Crestone and now here have the waters of disorder swirling around them. And they're getting kind of tired of it, actually.

[40:16]

But even, you know, any organization nowadays, these large companies that we think have been here for generations are beginning, a lot of them are folding. Yeah, it's just the way it is. We're just a very acute example of everything changing. The first noble truth is impermanence and suffering. So we should be the first noble truth. I don't know, I get used to it. You can get used to it too. If you get used to it, then it's easier to get used to it in yourself. Something else?

[41:23]

Yes, go ahead. What's the difference between karma and samsara? And another question... That was in your discussion group or you're just asking this question? The effects of our actions accumulate. So I should say the accumulated effects of action.

[42:25]

But I try to make translation easier for her. Yes. So I'll come back to that. I have to come back to that. Yes? It's my duty to report from group number four. Oh, your duty. All right. Thank you. The duty officer report is... That's correct. We gathered various distinctions where we thought karma was important, number one, to our life. We also had questions where we were uncertain whether to term this karma or not. Three examples for karmic experience where the affected persons were working with it. One was a mother who had a stereotype discussion with her daughter.

[43:30]

Over and over again it always ended in the same dissonance and one day she turned around and gave the discussion a different twist and went in two different directions. The mother gave it a different twist or the daughter? The mother decided to, who's here, decided to discuss the issue in a different way. And it was a solution. They never again had this type of offensive discussion. That's good, okay. One day the mother said to him, One of us was on the edge of a cliff in a very windy weather and felt the urge to fly, to jump, and decided on her own, despite the obvious choice that she had, that she would turn around and

[44:35]

One of us was on a cliff in very stormy weather and was sure it would be the right thing to do. To jump, to fly, is still the other way around and went back again. It seems like a wise decision. Less wise maybe. One of us, he's very tired from the job, comes home, grab a beer and switch the TV set on. There are other days when he won't. There's a decision to be taken at that point. Enough of this. So these were examples from our personal life. We found it more difficult, the issue of a very young child is say killed in an accident. It's actually not his action, it's the action of somebody else, and should we turn this karma?

[45:49]

Or also the basket of fruit which is standing in front of us, it's a result of actions and things that happened before. So the simple law of cause and effect, is this the same as karma or not? We have not yet discussed Good, thank you very much. Someone was right here, yes. Group five. Oh, group five, yeah, okay. It's better not to speak at all.

[46:50]

Our group decided it's better not to speak at all. In the beginning. Part of the group decided that. And then they spoke a long time about not speaking. Then we discussed if there is also And we also spoke. Martin has decided that everything, completely everything which is, is karma. At least I understood it that way. And then we had a discussion, if you practice for a longer period, somebody practicing Creston, and how difficult it is to come out of a seemingly fairly karma-free zone back into the ordinary life, and be caught up in this And then you have the feeling to be caught in that situation.

[48:16]

And I spoke about myself and my experience, that I sometimes have the feeling that the posture is a good image for the conversation with old structures, with karma. or kind of tackling somehow all these karma structures. And through mindfulness I get a chance to notice something and how fast that disappears again. How subtle it is, for instance, walking in Kenya. How difficult it is to really be upright. How subtle it is, that feeling that makes you go back in your old posture. On the other hand, how effective the practice of intention is to work with karma and with all structures.

[49:39]

Okay, thank you. Tara? We discussed also about this dissolving and there can be fear in our group and we dissolve too much that we end up in an unstructured field where there is no direction anymore. Oh, and also that we need something which holds also. Which holds. Which holds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And my question to this is also if this which holds, when we practice that in meditation, if this is form or not form, or mess, how to define that? and then we spoke also about karma and that it is very good when one is in a calming situation that one feels the body goes back to the body and feels where there is tension so and then one can maybe release a little bit afterwards yeah good thank you I love all this somebody else is over here yeah

[51:03]

When Henning was reporting from his group, some questions came up from that situation. When we find ourselves in a karmic-like situation, is it enough to decide not to do the same, let's say, pattern of action, and to stop it and to decide to do something else, or just to change it, really? or is there something else needed or various I guess there are various ways to deal with it but there was coming just do we have to stop it or to change the same number of times we did it so that would be really too much work and then yeah then it came up in Zazen we just Yeah, let happen this dissolving which is connected to these kind of situations, that is a source to, maybe a source to let it happen by itself without always only to do this kind of work in a situation in our daily life.

[52:21]

But what in daily life else could mean this dissolving situation, else than only to decide not to do it, to inhibit the action? That was also in our group, my question, what does it mean in this very complex situation in daily life, dissolving the form, because it's so complex. Yesterday you were saying, everything you take in, what is there in this situation? Yeah, it's just, I don't know what it means. Dorit, please. As Henning was talking about his group, I got more questions. One question is, When I find myself in a kind of chemical situation, is it enough to solve the situation that I then recognize by doing something else, as in the example of my mother, who is in a different situation with her child?

[53:37]

And when I asked him this question, he said, well, maybe you have to decide on something else as well, as you did, as you have always done, and that would take a lot of work. So I ask him, what else is there to solve this, to solve this pattern? then I realize that it happened to me without immediately knowing the connection cognitively. And then the question, if I am in such a situation in my daily life, that I notice it in time, what does this dissolution of the form mean? That was the question in our group in everyday life, not in Sasein, but really in a situation that is not so complex. Someone else? Yes. We mentioned that right in the situation we become very angry, we understand much less than a few minutes or some time later.

[55:20]

It's the same head, but... Or the same head. But it acts more stupid if we are in the emotion. It might not be the same head. But how can we accelerate the development to dissolve the anger? In this situation we have to react to somebody else. Deutsch, bitte. Sounds good. Okay. Okay. It has nothing to do with the group yesterday, but with one aspect that was mentioned.

[56:30]

I have difficulties in getting rid of my good karma, and even worse, I don't want to get rid of it, because I realise that I could turn it into compassion or help me. It is solving the good karma because I don't want the good karma. It is like a dream. Okay, thank you. Yeah? I was in group one, the... For me, there was a similar question, how do you use karma?

[57:33]

The example, when one is able to see a situation, and then one acts in a different way, in a so-called less harmful way? Is this now good karma? Is this no karmic action? And what is then dharmic action? I mean, you made these distinctions and for me I'm totally confused how to use them. Yes, okay, good. I appreciate you. I was concerned about that. So, Deutsch bitte. Ich war in der Gruppe eins auch. Wir haben uns über Karma gehalten. and about the possibility of seeing a pattern in a situation and then stopping it or changing it and behaving differently.

[58:43]

And then the question arises, yes, is this now a non-karmic action or is this an action for good karma? And in addition, what is then a dharmic action? So how do we make sense of this distinction? That's a long question. Later, of course, I will crystallize it. I will try to do something about making these distinctions clearer. But without a great deal of time together, over a period of time, it's very hard to sort out really what these mean. Because this isn't a dictionary and it's not philosophy. It's what happens when you drop a particular kind of idea into a particular kind of water.

[59:49]

What happens? But the idea always has a little different shape and the water is different and the altitude is different from which you're dropping it and so forth. So it takes time to really sort out a practice idea. And that's something in the end you have to do in the environment of your own living. But we can also, as part of a lineage, we can try to sort this out together. So after the break, probably, I'll try to do something, at least.

[60:52]

Ingrid? My question was, does something exist in Zen like somebody who judges or who, in respect of karma, good and bad karma, is there some kind of judge? Somebody who judges good and bad karma? In Christianity, we have the Ten Commandments and stuff. And Quran, we know that if someone steals an apple out of the hands and stuff. Yeah. No. But your actions are in your living with others and with yourself, and there's always a kind of, a sort of judging going on through that.

[62:02]

A basic view of Buddhism if you're really practicing Buddhism and not just drawing from Buddhism into your own worldview, which is okay too, is there's no outside the system. There's no outside position where judging can happen. Okay. Another question about that. If somebody throws away his life to suicide, then for me there's a gray zone.

[63:12]

My colleague, she killed herself and she was psychologically ill. And I also had another colleague who got to know that he's got cancer and then he killed himself. Well, if you believe in some version of rebirth or reincarnation, how you die affects your rebirth or reincarnation or whatever theory you have. And there may be a factual, there may be a fact, I mean, some kind of survival after bodily death. It may be a fact.

[64:18]

I actually don't think it's important for Buddhist practice. But what is interesting when you study instances of survival after bodily death, What seem to be instances, sometimes quite convincing, it seems that the theories the culture holds influence the survival after bodily death. In Buddhism, it's still what your mind is at the moment of death, whether it's suicide or a normal, average death. And Zen teachers commonly, in effect, commit suicide.

[65:31]

I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. To bring it home. Because usually when Zen teachers in effect commit suicide, They do it at the time they're just about to die. So say that I knew I would probably be dying in the next few weeks. I could feel my life energies at a pretty low ebb. I might decide this seminar was a good time to give you all an example of impermanence.

[66:45]

And And to give you a good example of how you can dissolve the constituents. So I might sit here in an erect posture. And after a while there'd be a long pause and the translator wouldn't know what to say. She might make up a few things for a while. And then she'd tap my shoulder and I'd fall. So I don't know what I should do yet, but my life forces seem to be okay so far.

[67:54]

Yes? Yeah. I don't know if I like my life so much, but I love hanging out with all you guys. Being alive is kind of fun. So maybe that's about enough. Is there something else anybody would like to bring up? Yes? I would like to know if the word good karma exists in the Buddhist discussion. Oh, of course. There's good karma and there's bad karma, but from a Buddhist point of view, all karma is karma.

[68:58]

I'll try to speak to most of the points after the break, but if I forget some, please remind me. I'll try to respond to all the points afterwards. And if I forget something, please remind me. Okay, Maureen? So I should let go of karma overall, the good karma and the bad karma? Because what I understood is that karma is the recognition or the acceptance that my behaviour comes back. of that they treat me well, they treat me well, like a very easy example. If I would be a good mother, perhaps my child will take care of me. Perhaps not. Nora? I kind of have the same problem like you spoke before, that I really love good karma and that I can't imagine letting it go.

[70:30]

Okay. So, Deutsch bitte. Yes? I have a simple practical question. I observe when I sit and I keep my eyes open. it's relatively easy for me to stay with the breath, and it is kind of like what you said yesterday, it's kind of boring, not much happens. I just sit and that's it. And I'm wondering, you know, like I'd rather be active in my life and have the same, you know, that's what I kind of understand mindfulness would be, to have the same state as when I'm sitting.

[71:34]

Your what would be? Mindfulness. Oh, yeah. So my question is like, why do I want to sit? But then when I close my eyes, when I'm sitting, then I feel something happens, I feel cleansed, say, from karma, like things go through me and are being let go. But when I sit with my eyes open, none of that happens. Yeah, I mean, I think people who wear glasses, for instance, shouldn't wear glasses during meditation. But that's not a rule, that's just my own sense of it. Because the glasses put you in a kind of seeing frame. And in the same way, having your eyes open can keep you in a kind of consciousness. I mean, I think it's Nagarjuna who emphasizes kind of boldly open, fixed eyes.

[72:45]

And that might be okay for a certain kind of practice and a pretty developed practitioner. But in general, I think the general advice is to have your eyes open. over the centuries. But that's really very slightly open so a little light comes through and there's a kind of easy focus on somewhere about your height in front of you. The height you happen to be.

[73:54]

Your altitude. But I think it's also okay to have your eyes lightly closed. So even a feeling of light can come through your eyelids. What you're trying to do is find an eye posture. that doesn't trigger awakeness and doesn't trigger sleep. And one way to do it is also to put your sense of awareness at the back of your eyes rather than the front of your eyes.

[74:55]

Okay. Anything else before the break? Yes? I'm just struggling with this question that when I'm a painter and when I work, this is like practicing, but I'm also building my karma when I work because I'm doing something. So, you know, I'm practicing but I'm also building my karma. And a picture. Yeah, right. I mean, that comes out of it, hopefully, a good one. But still, I mean, this is like... I can't really separate the two. Okay, so I'll try to talk about these things afterwards and see if any of it resolves anything. Deutsch, bitte. Ich bin Malerin und ich habe mich einfach gefragt, wenn ich arbeite, dann praktiziere ich, aber ich baue auch Karma auf.

[76:01]

Okay, thank you very much. Let's come back at 11.30. And then we'll see what happens. Okay, so no one knows quite what we are.

[77:03]

But, you know, let's call ourselves human beings. Though I remember Herr Dr. Konsey once saying, no one's ever called me a human being. He didn't want such a generalization applied to him. Anyway, we don't really know what we are. but we have experience things appear to us and we have some kind of consciousness in which things appear and the consciousness of yeah And the consciousness is conscious.

[78:07]

And it's conscious of perceptions. Yeah, whatever, what's something in front of you. But it's also conscious of all kinds of memories, ideas, thoughts. So although we don't know what we are, there's a lot of things that we notice. Okay, so first of all, we can assume that what we notice is what we are. Now, there's maybe no point in making such a recognition. Except that, you know, it gives us a way, begins to give us a way to work with and take responsibility for what happens to us.

[79:15]

So we notice that some things appear to us rather highly charged. In a repeated, even compulsive way. Yeah, and we notice that some things seem to interfere with our happiness, our ability to function and so forth. In a way, much of the tools of practice are to get you so that you can notice what happens to you. Okay, now this isn't real.

[80:21]

I mean, some people here, you know, some people say to me and I hear it less than I used to. Yeah, that this is a... Why don't we turn to our own tradition? And what are we doing meddling around in the Orient? In fact, Europe's been meddling around in the Orient for centuries. I mean, as someone said, Awake, Europe was caught in rationalism. Asleep, it dreamed of the Orient.

[81:24]

And you could even say that the Romantic movement in Europe is a kind of upsurge of rationalism. of oriental ideas. I believe the poet Novalis thought that the writer thought that the Garden of Eden was somewhere in the Himalayas near Tibet. So, we have this somehow ancient teaching which is also contemporary wisdom.

[82:31]

I don't want to discuss the reasons for that at any length now. For now, let's just say it's rooted in experience, in any century experience. And the historical Buddha himself saw himself bringing an ancient teaching into the present. And also because it assumes something like original mind. But perhaps more instrumentally because it is about how the mind functions. So in that way it's a little bit freer from culture than most teachings.

[83:53]

It's really not about understanding the accumulations of consciousness. but about how consciousness itself is created. So, in a way, Buddhism is about uncreating consciousness. Or shifting yourself away from consciousness as the main territory of your living. Now, again, no one exactly knows why.

[84:58]

I don't exactly know why I'm doing this. Sometimes I say it's because I was influenced by the poet Escher Pound. who was first embedded in the poetry of the Middle Ages of Europe and then Asia. But when I was, you know, 18 or 19, something like that, you know, I had a friend who was George Andrews, who was a... bass player in a jazz group and a composer and arranger.

[86:00]

Yeah, I've often wondered where he is now. Anyway, we used to hang out together. And he read a lot of Schopenhauer. And he kept saying to me, your ideas are just like Schopenhauer's. You should read Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer, I didn't know who Schopenhauer was. So how did my ideas get to be similar, at least for this guy, to Schopenhauer's? Schopenhauer is the first major Western philosopher to wholesale import Buddhist ideas into Western thinking. Schopenhauer is the first Western philosopher who imported a lot of these Eastern ideas into our philosophy.

[87:16]

The Four Noble Truths, a whole lot of stuff he brought into Western thinking. Now, I think there's three ways, and a fourth, in which Buddhism is influencing the Western world. And I would say overall, the Western European and American view We can even say 18th century rationalism has supplanted or deeply disturbed the worldview of every country in the world. Whether you're a Chinese businessman or the rebel leader in Fiji, saying Fiji should be ruled by the Polynesians,

[88:45]

He wears a suit and a tie and a white shirt. We didn't convert the world to Christianity, but we converted them to suits. And we converted them to some idea of democracy and so forth. But at the same time, the underlying ideas of the world, the underlying worldview ideas are being seriously challenged by Buddhism. Nowadays, as we influence the kind of outer view of the world, the inner view of the world, Buddhism is influencing. So again, I'd say there's three and a fourth reasons which I've felt since I was young that Buddhism is infecting the West.

[90:12]

So again, I'd say there's three and a fourth reasons The first is, it's going to influence the general way of thinking about things. And it's made a pact with the devil, I suppose. From some traditional points of view. With science, sociology, psychology, and so forth. And it's everywhere now, Buddhist ideas. Obvious and disguised.

[91:19]

And the second is, a lot of people... I mean, the first is influencing everyone. The second is going to influence hundreds of thousands of people. And it's happened in the first half of my lifetime. That's an optimistic statement. Assuming I'm only in the first half. Not a few hundred, but hundreds of thousands of people now see meditation as a resource. Yeah. I mean, if you want to sell women's magazines... The first banner on the front of the cover will be a new angle on sex.

[92:29]

And the second is other ways to try meditation. I mean, over and over again, I look at my world. Sex and meditation. And so I went to Bad Säckingen the other day. And every shop had these Buddhist beads. Yeah, yeah. So we're walking along with the real thing, probably. And we looked at these. These look like Buddha beads. And I said, they said, oh, that's what they are. I said, really?

[93:30]

And they look like jello. They're in many colors. Oh, they said the red does this for you and the green does that. Oh, it's not good. I said... Yeah, really. So I said, oh, this is really wonderful. I said, Buddha beads, I said, are these more popular than Catholic rosaries? She said, definitely. These little things signal a big change. I felt quite backward with my boring sort of, you know, wooden beads, you know. And I didn't know what brown does for you.

[94:26]

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