What does it mean? I don't know. You know, a leopard has spots. Also, der Leopard hat solche Flecken. I guess it means a chain which can't be noticed. I don't look it up, I don't really know. I use it, but I don't know what it means. Okay, good morning. Thank you for starting a little earlier. I don't know if we'll need time.

[01:02]

We always use it, I guess. But what concerns me is, I think it will be interesting to introduce this koan. Conceptually interesting and maybe experientially interesting. Are you okay, Gisela? Oh, good. Because koans require incubation. You have to kind of brew them.

[02:12]

And so it's pretty hard to brew, incubate, percolate, et cetera, a koan in one Sunday morning. But it will show you something about how then goes about things. And I'm also thinking that maybe when I look at the koan, perhaps you'll notice that the elements in it are the same elements we've been speaking about these days.

[03:18]

Okay, so what we've done so far is we've looked at some categories. Categories of what a Bodhisattva does not perceive. does not create a perception of. And the five skandhas. And I'm calling them categories in the sense that it's a very old word. I guess Aristotle had his ten kategorias. And the agoria part is the assembly, the parliament. And so it's what can be presented and what can be named to an assembly.

[04:22]

And the implication is that there's some things that can't be named. And these lists are like that. They're not a list as these things exist. It's the things that it's the things we can list which can be explored studied incubated etc. Again with the sense that the categories are within a larger context that can't be categorized.

[05:42]

And this is very intentional in Buddhist lists. And since I'm very happy that Siegfried and others of you have taken to heart that everything's an activity. Because these shifts, that's certainly one of the main ones from which everything else follows. And it's part and parcel of, you know, to not see the world as a container, too. The container is also an activity. It's not a container. Yeah, no. Okay, because if you're not, if you don't really make these kind of shifts your own, they're a little mental blip and they don't have much meaning.

[07:18]

Okay, so, okay, these categories, as they're also activities. These categories, as they are also activities, they have borders, margins. And I like the word margin in this because it's both a verb and a noun. Und ich mag das Wort Ränder, weil es sowohl im Englischen sowohl ein Hauptwort als auch ein Verb ist. It's a border, but it's also something you do at the border. You margin something. Es ist eine Grenze, aber es ist auch etwas, was du an der Grenze tust.

[08:37]

Du begrenzt, du grenzt ein, du umrandest. So if we take... Let's take the skanda of form, rupa dhatu. Dhatu means realm or something like that. And realm is also a good metaphoric word. Because it means in English the area ruled. And there's borders to the realm. And there's a center. And so, if we take form, and as I said, form is not physical matter, stuff, matters and stuff like that.

[09:54]

It's form that can be sensed. Yeah, that can be noticed, that persists, can be noticed. And so as form which can't be noticed, It means its appearance. Because the emphasis is not on the form which is sensed, but on the sense of the form. Right. The emphasis is on the perception of the sense of the form, not the form of the sense. Yeah, okay. So when we talk about forms, Ganda, we're talking about...

[10:56]

the mind as appearance or form as appearance. Okay, all right. If the rupa dhatu is appearance, What is the edge of appearance? What could it be? What can it be other than emptiness? Appearance comes from emptiness. When you dissolve appearance, you have emptiness. So here's the five standards. If you go up in the five skandhas, they accumulate as consciousness. If you go down in the five skandhas, as I put them up, if you go down to the five skandhas it's a process of deconstruction and you end up with awareness unstructured awareness so it becomes a dynamic of feeling yourself into consciousness and feeling yourself into deconstructed

[12:44]

consciousness as awareness. Okay. Now, this whole edifice, and you can hardly call it edifice, that means a building, rests on form, but rests on form as appearance. So the whole experienceable categories of self The experienceable categories of self are all based on emptiness. Because the border dynamic, the margin, playing at the margins, And we have the classic, you know, form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

[14:06]

So this becomes a, the stand has become a territory or a way in which you experience yourself and discover emptiness. Anyway, get used to this border, this margin of form and emptiness. Emptiness and the experience of appearance. And emptiness in the experience of appearance turning into perception. Or becoming feeling. And non-graspable feeling at the edge is also emptiness.

[15:08]

And when you get experientially acquainted with this, if it's an activity, it has a border. If you get experientially acquainted used to this border of appearance and emptiness, even if you have a terrible dream or you receive some kind of bad news, The bad news wasn't there a moment ago. The bad news is there right now. And it would be, if it's serious bad news, it's okay, nor is it okay, nor what? Still green for sure.

[16:23]

But still, even in the middle, in the middle of it, you get, you, you feel it. And it gives you a kind of big terror, this, this, this, experience happens and you experience it. So the five standards are an experienceable list. Explorable list. But it's Uh, you know, uh, change the territory, uh, [...]

[17:37]

And just because it contextualized, it contextualized deeper. Deep in, I don't want to say deeper, in a sense of existence. You're able to feel things even more dangerously, even more dramatically. you have to you have to You may not want to do this, but...

[18:52]

I understand. This is better than understanding. But it does change your versions of death. But it changes your behavior. It changes all of my behaviors. So, I mean, I have deep stability, rooted, vertically rooted in the world. How? In a deep state. I mean, I'm listening. How is this vertical world all in the way for what's in the world? And it's the experience of the world. What's at the primary mark of the Holy Sabbath is an open sacrifice. It's a returnable one. You have an integral mind, not just an integral mind, because your top is an integral mind.

[20:20]

Because you're vertically and horizontally vertical in the world. In the awe of Thomas Schmitt, he said, Thomas Schmitt, he said, I'm in emptiness. This is... The experience is awe and astonish. Nothing can exist at all. The bliss and joy that are part of this awe and astonish. And we're not just talking nonsense here. Actual. The possibility that we mean by to stay higher than the things that we feel inside.

[21:31]

Which is a long-harder possibility and it is. It's also wonderful that it can be so hard that it can be big. Really? Well, not that. Most of us. We are on the farthest, as we speak, in Thailand. We are on the farthest, as we speak, in Thailand. We are on the farthest, as we speak, in Thailand. Express. [...] And that's possible if not each of us is a I can see that. And that can function. And that can function.

[22:31]

Correct. [...] I have a question. What is the difference between the vertical and the vertical? And look how the difference two and vice can do. Here you know after five covers is a is a separate mind and friends only. Roots in the world and for a history of . hat die Wurzeln in der Welt und aber auch in der Geschichte deutet.

[23:34]

Maybe the first birds singing gave you joy when you immediately heard. Zum Beispiel. Listen. Das erste Mal, dass du singen gehört hast in einiger Zeit, die es in Freude gemacht hat, als du in die Jahre alt warst. Also, any perceptual experience this year is formative or memorable. That is imminent in every person. And when you practice percept only, when you practice perception, it's also the personal history of accumulated experiences and the connection. What a floor, okay? One way to explore, um, if I was.

[24:46]

Any art that comes canvas to a fortune is comes. develop practice for a while, you know, while you, it's a practice you use. So I follow a thought to its source. One way follows a thought to a thought to your zazensei. So many of these things, it's hard to follow. It's hard to restore. But, uh, Um... What say you're Zaza? Scream. Where the heck did that come from? Ah. Ah. So you attempt to see what the core is like. So it's easy for that. Probably. Perhaps what was the sound you heard creating the first sound you heard in the chain of thoughts. And then with the sound of the word, with the sound of the word, and you do nothing. And before the sound of a social sound, perhaps there was a feeling that you had, a path to fall off to its source.

[26:09]

That pain has to work through the scandals up and down. And I said, you use yourself. Because if you do it rather intentionally, you don't say it. You know. You are so three or three out of five Zazenbeers that I've been to see for a year or so in the side of some country. You get nothing but time as long as you can hold your vibe. I have a ton of them, but look at what you've said. and you get after a while something appears you feel nothing immediately you don't have to say nothing okay It was great.

[27:27]

Oh, yes. We're not done. Yeah. Where did it go? Source. Where did it go? Just go ahead. Yeah. Okay. Therefore, the mental problems also are a tragic form of a tragic sex form. Sure. Yeah. Oh, no. It's not fair for shit, everything else. I just want us to understand what part you choose to understand. What part of the sex? Oh, you might want to do it like this. You don't know who I am.

[28:40]

It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Yeah, I'll improve. Over here. Yes, you see. Okay, that's great. See you. She's in systemic therapy with systems. And with her idea, can she think in terms of systemic analysis?

[29:44]

Is it self-reliance to think that systems are And in that always talking of system theory, it's quite familiar to think of space as activities. Okay. In the moment when you start speaking about space, about space, when you start speaking about space, Räume? Süd für Räume? So when you start speaking about spaces, they think there is something concrete or

[30:45]

real and that exists. So this term or word, it's difficult to go further. So that's one term that she wants to discuss. And there is a second. So the second is difference, differentiation, or discrimination. And according to how you use it, I don't know whether you use it so that it belongs to the fifth karma, consciousness.

[32:35]

Like discriminate, I would say. Or... or whether it is already relevant when appearance happens. So in my inner dialogue, that's what occupies me. I don't know whether it's relevant. It's so relevant, I don't know what to say. Well, let me start with discrimination. Discrimination, the word vijnana means that which can be discriminated or separated. And more subtly, it means to know separately, to get... But it is what can be discriminated, and consciousness is the modality of discrimination.

[33:57]

But these, when you're, say, in the form skandha, And let's say with no subjective vector, it's appearance only. So there's a big feeling of space. That's still not some kind of scientific category or I don't know what. It's something you're experiencing. And you can hold that attentional space while you bring various levels of noticing to it and discovering it. Okay, is that somewhat satisfying?

[34:57]

I must start to, maybe a little bit. Yeah, well, I'll make a special trip here next week to check up and see. Space is so important in Buddhist thinking because it's in contrast to movement. But it's inseparable from movement, but it's in contrast to movement. So it's an activity in its contrast. In this poem, I don't know if there's one sentence in English, when the

[35:59]

wheel of activity turns, discrimination begins. When the wheel of activity begins to turn, discrimination begins. So spaces use... I mean, we could spend a whole seminar on this. Space is important because it's a contrast. So it represents and experientially imperturbable mind, which isn't a certain. And space also is metaphorically and experientially inclusive. And when you practice meditation, one of the things that happens when the glue of consciousness is loosened,

[37:25]

the parts of consciousness, parts, which were in a particular pattern in consciousness, come loose. And then an associative mind, a preset mind, they float. Now, the space, the experience letting things float is a particular physical field of mind. And the shift from attention to the parts to space as the object of perception, because space itself can be an object of attention or of attention, is also a physical field of mind.

[38:47]

a physical field and which you can establish. So when your colleagues aren't getting it and when your colleagues aren't getting it you just establish that space in your body and then dance and pirouette through the room. And you're going to be so excited. Sometimes I try to Imagine space as activity in that way that it moves in a different speed. And that makes it easier for me to imagine that movement in space is a different movement than the space.

[40:24]

And then what matters is the relationship. Yeah, okay, good. Let's be careful that we're not turning space into an entity. It's a tensional space. And as a tensional space, it can have different viscosities or densities. It can be an attentional space which increases the potentiality of occurrence. es kann einen Aufmerksamkeitsraum haben, der die Möglichkeiten für das Erscheinen erhöht, or absorbs appearance, or seals itself from appearance. From those senses, attentional space is clearly activity.

[41:32]

In this sense, this area of attention is clearly an activity. Yes. I have an answer to this thinking. I found an interesting statement. concept of perception. So what happens is, . Then next step, I'm helping to understand this, perception that I perceive. . It could be otherwise. And then, perception itself. Okay, good.

[42:41]

You're welcome. Slowly, but it will happen. Okay. Now I would like to, after the break, I have concentrated on the koan. But I want to say something about what the Bodhisattva doesn't do list. I also want to emphasize again, and I was interested to see the unitizing or personification of these categories yesterday and last evening in the installation.

[44:31]

And it was interesting to see them again personified. And the experiences of relationship among and between them. And I wasn't there for the first part of the Constellation. So I don't know if Bodhisattva felt both connected to them all and relieved that they weren't connected. What did the Bodhisattva feel? You were the Bodhisattva? One of three Bodhisattvas. I mean, this is the first group I've ever had selected for Bodhisattvas.

[45:43]

But it would be you if anyone's going to do it. Did any of the Bodhisattvas feel relieved that you didn't have to create a life span? For me this wasn't so concrete. It just started flowing and then it didn't matter anymore. And what I experienced in all postures, although in different ways, was my own glance, my seeing, my viewing.

[46:53]

And this somehow shifted from a focused to a non-focused. We are looking. Okay. So anyway, these are certainly five ways of being embodied. And I think that when you explore them as a mode of embodiment, And I think if you explore them as a kind of embodiment, a mental and physical embodiment, you do find yourself in a slightly different light, in a slightly different emphasis. Or significantly different emphasis. And it was good to see or interesting to see how important the role of soul was.

[48:00]

Which Gabriele manifested. And soul is the vehicle for carrier of rebirth and deities and so forth. and Buddhism. Now, when I made this list, I tried to emphasize the way in which it was his activity. And the way each is a realm, are all constructs. And then again, or you can live a different way about it. If you're a...

[49:01]

I clearly have feet and hands and body and so on. And where the Darth Vader routine came from. Sophia has watched all the Star Wars movies. And I'll say, well, you know, I do know George Lucas. And she said, yeah, but who was Princess so-and-so's grandmother? I don't know if she knows that or Gigi knows it. I say to her, yes, you know, I know George Lucas. And she says, yes, but who was the grandmother of Princess Leia? And she knows the whole origin story and so on. And there's something very funny on YouTube. Of a British comedian. Rick... Izzy Izzard.

[50:27]

Izzy Izzard. It's worth looking up. Izzy Izzard plays this guy who goes up to Darth Vader who says, where's the canteen? There's no canteen, there's no star. Darth Vader says, give me a tray. And Darth Vader says, I could kill you with a tray. You know who I am. Yes, so this is a physical block I've heard. And it has some continuity when I'm walking.

[51:47]

But I also have the experience every day in Zazen that the borders, the boundaries of the body disappear. And experiencing a bodily experiencing a differently bodily space, which I can really tell you is the nose in this part of the space and the hands in this part of the space. So if this body is active and doesn't have a fixed identity, And even while I'm walking here, I can feel this sense of the body in which it's spatial without the... And a feeling of embodiment as space and not, et cetera.

[53:08]

You understand? Tell me about it. So once you really release yourself in the idea that somehow things aren't really entertaining Once you release yourself from the belief, no matter what Buddhism says, these are real entities. No matter what Buddhism says, these are really entities, not activities. No matter what Buddhism says, there are entities. This body is really an entity. But if you remind yourself often, moment by moment remind yourself, eventually just the body is an activity.

[54:14]

Aber wenn du dich Moment für Moment daran erinnerst, irgendwann wirst du den Körper als Aktivität erfahren. Und innerhalb dieser Aktivität kannst du diese Wahrnehmung einer Lebensspanne nicht erschaffen. Und ich bin in einer Art zeitlosen Gefühl, wie du erwähnt hast, with a note before and after. And Yuan Wu, the compiler who wrote your practice, create a mind with note before and after and be enlightened right where you see it. So, anyway, okay. So here I'm trying to show you that these were a particular kind of activity.

[55:36]

But self has its power. because it's at the juncture of death. And being as a concept has its power because it's at the end of non-being. And what's non-being I'm calling otherness. So it part of the exploration of these as practice is not just to not create the perception of them, but to recognizing that they are a perception. They are a In other words, again we have categories.

[56:50]

Experienceable categories. We could take the territory of aliveness and so forth and put different categories. An infinite number of categories. I mean, the five skandhas, if they have five circumferences or... 20 sides or In other words, if you're thinking of things as activities, where the activity is most dynamic is on the borders. How many borders are there between the five skandhas, among the five skandhas? All right. The borders are part of the establishment of a concept.

[57:55]

So if you have these as concepts, they're concepts in everybody's common parlance. But there are also concepts that now we can point out through the way the Diamond Sutra points them out. They're pointed out in a way that you can experience the borders which generate the concept. In other words, the concept of being is generated from the concept and experience of non-being. What is being in the midst of all this which seems to be non-being? Or otherness? So if things are an activity, then everything is an exploration of that.

[59:13]

That activity is an exploration. So the exploration of being is a constant explanation of where is otherness. Are you other or are you... Die Erforschung des Seins ist eine fortwährende Erforschung des Anderen. And in my notes I spell non-other with a non and the other I make a zero instead of an o. Und ich schreibe das non-other so, dass das o im other eine null ist. Yes. Wenn das being, das Sein... If the concept of being arises from the concept of non-being, is the motivation for this a fear? Well, certainly when you're at the junction of life and death, it's a loss. But I think, well, I don't know.

[60:24]

It's up to you and me to experience this juncture. And for me, the juncture experience of Otherness is an experience of loneliness, disconnection. And again, one of the characteristics of of realization or exploring this, this you never feel alone. You always feel connected in a way that's so satisfying. Yes, someone misses their spouse or something, but But it's only part of, it's just a different kind of connection. Okay. And lifespan. Now, you can apply these junctures to any of them. I just apply them as what I think the emphasis is. You applied that one, which was?

[61:40]

But you choose one because? I choose one because I think it's most I mean, you will not find this commentary, you won't find this in any commentary. What I'm trying to bring out is the way Buddhism makes experienceable categories. And that when you explore a category as an activity, you end up as, well, when you explore the borders of this category, it's actually different than this category.

[62:42]

And Soho has its understood as a category in the Dhamma Sutra. is you as a person, as a self, may carry the feeling, particularly in some forms of Buddhism, that there is Bodhisattva, you know, deities or Bodhisattvas are helping me, guiding me. Or you carry a sense of a future life. I have a very, very close friend who is a painter. who I think is an extraordinary painter and a very sensitive person.

[64:04]

He destroyed his career regularly. I mean, a collector would come to look at some of his paintings and he'd say, I don't think you can understand my painting. I don't want to waste your time. Or he goes to his gallery and steals money from his drawer, his gallery work. I love him. But he's always... Wasn't it after I'm dead? No. And that kept him going. Our people would know that after he was dead. He's dead now, and I'm keeping him going. So, but, that was... So that all disappears for him and me at the Juncture Remedies.

[65:30]

That all disappears. What's going to happen in the future? Will I have a future life? If you're completely in immediacy, there's no future life. So I put soul, juncture, immediacy. And I put person. And I used a concept of Heidegger, like a juncture of being and being. And let me just say, in conclusion, In Buddhism you have no ground. As soon as you have a ground you have creators and something outside this situation and so on. You have transcendence.

[66:35]

In Buddhism there is no transcendence. There is no transcendence for Buddhism. There is only this. There is immanence, but not transcendence. But there is the experience of being grounded. So you can be grounded in imperturbable mind. Being can be grounded in beings. The foreground can be grounded in the background and vice versa. So there's a kind of circle, being, [...] etc. So if I find my being is also you beings and everyone else beings, It's a kind of grounding experience.

[67:55]

My sense of being is also grounded in being. And I think you're a psychotherapist. You've chosen that work partly because feeling your being in being is threatening. Or if I mentioned before the dynamic of typical yogic practice, a way of noticing. Noticing is the inside of knowing. It's the shift right from the particular and the sensorial particular, not a...

[68:59]

not let's just call the sensory. For example, I notice Ulrike Rege. And it's just because my senses notice. So there's the this yogic hat technique of noticing. is you're constantly shifting from a particular field. So sensorially, I go from people who have a red pen in my head To the being of all of you at once. And I'm not thinking about all of you at once, I'm only feeling you all at once. And then I go back to a sensorial particularity. In this case, it's a moon-like circle jewelry there.

[70:32]

And I'm not thinking, oh, probably has good taste in him. It's just what my senses picked up. So I go from that sensorial pickup, let's say, To the non-thinking field. The field of the non-thinking field. Non-discursive field. And that's almost always the state of mind I established in order to give elections. I feel the field, I notice particulars, and then I let something happen. Yeah. Sorry, if we're long, you know, it's the last day of the... Isn't it wonderful to have Christine to translate it?

[71:58]

And keep going. Move on. Now this is an experiment to read and comment to you from a text.

[74:13]

But I think in the context of These categories of self, lifespan, unity, continuity, and so forth. And we're really going to look at within Zen's form of Yogacara practice, The related modes of thinking, we should look at these two koans. This is koan 92 and 93 in the Book of Serenity. Now,

[75:27]

That's not right. That's not right. Oh, yeah. It's a noise. Now, what's happening, as I said, these are categories that we have here that are explorable and so forth. And to some extent, describe it. Hohmann is trying to present non-describable, non-definable characters. They're realizable categories but not easily or not definable categories. And because they're not definable they're more likely to be realizable. So these two koans are about the wish-fulfilling gem.

[77:13]

And the idea of the gem is not unrelated to the Paracelsus or Swiss alchemist saying that the jewel of alchemy, the alchemist's jewel, is the source of all form. The alchemical jewel that they're hunting for is the source of all forms. And there's a similar alchemical dimension. to the jewel in Chinese and Japanese culture. But the jewel in this context is the source of enlightenment. The source of realization.

[78:22]

And the source of consequential action. And in the sense, overall sensibility, all action which is consequential leads to enlightenment. And the jewel concept is pervasive in Buddhism. Om Mani Padme Hum is the jewel in the lotus. Mani is the jewel. The teaching staff I carry when I give lectures is a replica of the spine.

[79:27]

Something like that. But its name, myoi, means the wish-fulfilling jewel staff. And when you hit the mokugyo, the wooden fish, in the mouth of the mokugyo is a jewel. So the jewel is very important. And there's old stories about someone looking for a jewel. And it's been sewn into his clothes. So he's looking everywhere for it, but actually it's already in his course.

[80:41]

Okay. So, koans are, some of you know some, some of you don't know, are compositions. They're literary compositions. They're mostly about Tang Dynasty figures written in the sub-units. And they're usually compilations of several levels of commentary. So in this case, there's traditionally an introduction and then the main case and then commentary. And then there's further commentary written in his verse.

[81:42]

And mostly, in this case, two different men wrote it. With actually the help of the person who defeated Genghis Khan. And it was his thing, you know, war and stuff wasn't really where it's at. Trying to make this book was what's important. So it has an existential drama behind getting this done. So the introduction says, attaining the great trance, which here means the samadhi, obtaining this great samadhi in which the miraculous powers are freely exercised and one of the miraculous powers

[83:05]

is listed here as mastering the spell of the language of sentient beings. Mastering the spell of the languages of sentient beings. And that's really what I was talking about when I said, let's get under the language. Under the spells of language and make use of the spells you learn. And so I'm going to certain sentences, because otherwise we'll be here for a week. So the case, Great Master Yang Ben said, within heaven and earth, in space and time, there is a jewel hidden in the mountain of form.

[84:12]

holding up the lamp, heading into the Buddha shrine, bringing the triple gate in on the lamp. As I said earlier, no one knows exactly what he meant by triple gate. Okay. So, within heaven and earth, of course, established a macro-micro context. And heaven, in Chinese thinking, can collapse or be up high and it's held up by the activity of the earth. It can collapse in any part. It can be collapsed. Or it can be a pot. Or a pie. I know. You have a slice of this heavenly pot.

[85:34]

Okay. So in space and time, there's a jewel hidden in a mountain in form. Now again, the Chinese traditionally think metaphorically more than we do. And they don't think as descriptively as we do. And you'll just see endless examples. So the mountain of form is a metaphor. And it's a metaphor for another metaphor. The four elements and the five skandhas. But it's also a metaphor for everything, all phenomena. So within heaven and earth, in space and time, there's a jewel hidden in the mountain of form.

[86:44]

So this is telling you where to locate this jewel. So it assumes you're going to, and if we were working on this, go on for the next week, You would practice feeling within heaven and earth, you're in this space and time, and you'd feel that as a kind of medium. And within that medium, you're holding up a lamp. And why would you hold up a lamp?

[87:45]

What are you trying to illuminate? Well, let's go into the Buddha shrine. All right, let's do that. Okay. Now, a young man comments on this. The commentary quotes young men. Within heaven and earth, in space and time, there's a jewel. Hidden in the mountain of form. And then it says, this jewel, it, cognizes things. So this jewel is a point of cognition. And it shines emptily. And inside and out it's empty. And it's alone and it's stillness. And it's invisible.

[88:45]

And its function is a dark mystery. So you really have to, again, to work with a koan, you really have to try this out. But what cognizes? Now you see already that in this they're trying to show you a form of self which doesn't fall into the categories of self being soul, etc. And they're speaking of it metaphorically as a jewel. But a jewel, where is this jewel? Well, it's hidden in the mountain of form.

[89:56]

I see all this greenery, like scenery. Is there a jewel hidden in it? And in this mountain of form, the skandhas, there are jewels hidden. So it's basically the question, who am I or what am I? But it's a very elaborated, penetrating way to ask, what am I? Whatever this is, cognizes things. It shines. Inside and out, it's empty. It's alone and still. And whatever it is, however it functions, is a dark mystery. Okay.

[91:08]

Now that is a wonderful poem by Chen Deng, one of the two compilers. And, you know, I really don't know how much detail to go into here. Because one can only absorb so much in any unit of time. Even if it's clear and familiar. But when it's not familiar, then it's harder. But anyway, I think you should just suspend thinking and just listen. And we'll think of this as seeds. That next year we'll do this again, which I hope we do.

[92:11]

You can tell me if any of the seeding flourished. Okay. Then there's this nice little poem, as I said, by Tian Dong. And again, all the All the descriptions here are activities. So Tian Dong has written this poem. But the writing of it is called borrowing. So he borrowed this from various sources. And he put it to use. That's another activity metaphor.

[93:31]

And if he hadn't put it to use, it might have become leftover merchandise. So it's not a thing, it's a thing we use, and if we don't use it, it's leftovers. It's thin, which we use. And if we don't use it, it turns into leftovers. Okay, so the poem says, wrapping up excess concerns, he dislikes fanciness. Er mag nicht die Besonderheit, das übertriebene Besonderheit. And then the next line is simply returning where is life.

[94:34]

Zurückkehren wo das Leben ist. But this is exactly asking the question where is life. Das stellt nicht unmittelbar die Frage wo ist das Leben. Basically because Basically, a sentence like this. If it's a description, it makes a statement. If it's an activity and not a description, then all possible interpretations are in it. So the question is, where is life? preceded by the word returning. So he's returned where you don't need life. So he's returned where you don't have to look for anything. There's not even a sense of lifespan. so he's returned where there's not even into a timelessness where there's no concept of life span and then the next line is to the woodcutter with the rotten axe handle it seems there's no road

[95:47]

No, I love this song. I'm really sorry to inflict it on you, but anyway. The axe handle is a famous metaphor in China. And the line goes way back, pre-Buddhism. When making an axe handle and making an axe, the model is near at hand. Wenn du eine Axt machst, ist das Modell nah bei der Hand. Because what you're making is in your hand. You're using an axe to make a knife. Du verwendest deine Axt, um eine Axt zu machen. This is a famous old Chinese saying. When making an axe, the model is not far away. Also wenn du eine Axt machst, ist das Modell nicht weit weg.

[97:06]

But an axe is also how you clear a path to a clearing. I think Heidegger expresses his life work as trying to cut clearing through the forest, a path through the forest to a clearing. So the axe both represents metaphorically both those things. So here to the woodcutter who let his axe handle rot so he no longer has a model thinks there's no road because he can no longer cut the road so he's happy to be where he is and no road going anywhere so if all of this is metaphorical writing you have to spend a little time with metaphors Through the woodcutter with the rotten axe handle, it seems there's no hope.

[98:26]

Mr. Pot in the casket tree cleverly has a home. And this is a reference to Saul. Because the story is, there is some guy named Mr., that someone called Mr. Pot. Because he would climb up a tree and disappear into a pot hanging on the tree. And he also lived in a tower. And the person observing this realized this is not the usual kind of guy. So he decided it's implying that this is some kind of shaman. So he decided to serve the shaman. The basic approach in this culture to meet somebody you like and you say, okay, can I carry your bags or wash your feet?

[99:47]

Ivan Ilyich used to make a point in the old days, in monastic days, that he washed his feet at the entryway. The abbot came down and washed the feet of the visitor. When I went to St. Gilgen, they insisted before we go in dialogue that they wash my hands. And I said, rudely, what about my feet? We don't do that anymore. Thank you. Anyway, so this guy became the attendant of Mr. Pot, who sold special medicines all at the same price, which was unusual.

[101:01]

So at some point after Mr. Pot trusted him a lot, He said, come in the pot with me. And in the pot there was a pavilion and five colored gateways and dozens of servants. How many servants? I don't know how many, but many. Ha, ha. I have yet to jump in the pot. Anyway, so this represents thinking there's other worlds. And then we have on the golden waves of the night water floats the reflection of the moon. That's a beautiful line.

[102:19]

But again, you see that it's spatially heaven and earth. On the golden waves lit by moon, the moon waves, you have the sense of heaven and earth. And then the next line is the autumn wind and arrays of clouds, arrays, surround the reed flowers. die umfassende Schilfblumen. So here is the center of the field, big scale, and the little reeds. Also wir haben hier dieses Gefühl von dem großen, der großen Weite und dem kleinen Schilf. So this is telling you, if you work with this koan, you should practice with this particular field. So every koan has a particular kind of insight, a realization that's underneath it.

[103:22]

So in the text of the Torah, it presents directly or indirectly practices that if you do, make it likely you realize the point of the poem. And the next line is, the cold fish on the bottom don't eat the bait. So here there's no activity. You're fishing, but the fish aren't... So on one hand, this poem is a complex presentation of practice. And on the other hand, it's simply a beautiful presentation of what they used to do, go out on a lake with their friends and fish. And then after a while, you haven't caught any fish.

[104:42]

And so, at the last line, the party has ended. The party is over. And so, with a clear song, we turn the raft around. Okay, then it says when the clouds reach the wilderness, like Christo, the atmospheric signs are idle. The atmospheric signs? What the weather is like. Aha. Die Zeichen des Wetters sind müßig. When you're really in the wilderness, you don't care what the weather is.

[105:44]

Like in the rainforest here. This is the rainiest seminar I think we've ever had. Now, again, the word flower. Flower means flower. a beautiful flower. But flower also means what you throw away so you have the fruit. So flower isn't an entity, flower is what you throw away so that you have the fruit. So something like this is always presenting, whatever presents is presented as an activity. But the word fanciness is just like fanciness. That's a reference to you discard the flower and take fruit.

[106:46]

It means you're not just interested in pretty things, but pretty things, okay, but they should make sense or be part of your heart. So that's probably enough commentary on the first one. well maybe I'll mention a couple things here now there's a comment on the first commentary within heaven and earth and then the commentary is see see heaven and earth. And then it says, through space and time.

[108:01]

And then it says, see how space and time are established. And the next line from the case is, there is a jewel. It says, if you don't believe it, look under your tunic, under your vest. And then it says, the mountain of Por is the jewel. The mountain of form is the Jew. It says hidden in the mountain of form, and then it says actually the mountain of form itself is the Jew. And then on holding up the work and heading for the Buddha Shrine, So on the one hand, this is important.

[109:13]

What are you searching for? What are you holding out for? And then it says, but this is no more important than an ass, a donkey looking in a well. It's already unnecessary. What can a donkey see? It looks in the well. And then bringing the triple gate in on the lamp. And then it says, now the well is looking at the donkey. So, As I said, it's a metaphorical writing. Okay. Now the next koan.

[110:15]

How are you in time? Okay. So these two koans are both on the jewel. And this is not understanding. And I told you about that before. So it's down here, it says, Chan Master Shih Tzu succeeded in the teaching to Nanchuan. But Tendang erroneously calls him Lutsu. And so here, so you should know, I'm making clear, it's Shih Tzu, not Lut Su. But as I said, this is a thousand years old. They could have corrected it any time. So they leave the correction on those that's out there.

[111:17]

Just so you know this is a text and not the truth. Yeah, okay. Luzhu, actually Shizu, asked Nanzhuang, who is the guy who nailed it, the wish-fulfilling jewel. People don't know about it. But it is personally obtained from the mind of realization of thusness. So the previous one, the mountain of form, was the jewel. In this one, it's mining dustness. And dustness is the experience of emptiness. So how do you mind the experience of emptiness?

[112:46]

And if you mind this, but basically the direction of this koan is, if you find your activities is mining, investigating, mining, etc., the margin we call emptiness. Through this you develop a more subtle way of acting than through self, person, or other. So this is simply not available by description of thinking. This koan is asking you to function in a way that the whole world functions with you. So, Luzhu says to Nanchuan, or Shih Tzu says to Nachuan that he's no dummy.

[114:06]

Yeah. He's not the dumb monk, the stooge. But he asks a very complex question. He says, people don't know it, but I know that it's obtained. personally obtained from the mind of realization of business. And he says, what is the mind? Just imagine here, Nanchuan. And when you work with a coin like this, you try out, what answer would you give? Unless you try out one answer you'd give, the answer Nanchuan gives wouldn't have context. Now, one thing that's, I think, one should realize about this kind of way of working with the text I mentioned to you in the last seminar, there's a rather beautiful movie I found, a documentary called Derrida.

[115:38]

Maybe some of you have seen it. But it's a long interview. It's made by a woman and a real filmmaker helping her. Derrida comes across as a very un-self-assuming person. intimate person, warm person. But at one point his son has moved out of his apartment in Paris. So he's turned his son's room into an extension of his library. And he had shelves built full of books. And the woman looks around and says, have you read all these?

[116:38]

He said, oh no, not at all, only four. And he said, oh no, not at all, only four. But I read them very, those four, very carefully. So this ability to learn to do close reading is essential. And this book is before ordinary printing presses and things like that. So if you had a text like this, it might be the only text you have in your whole life.

[117:39]

You'd be lucky to have four texts or twenty texts. So that they were written to be read closely. Okay. So what's Nanchuan's answer? Okay. She says, Shizu Luzu says, what is the mind? Nanchuan says, that in me which comes and goes with you, is it? Now that's an extraordinary answer. That in me, which comes and goes with you, is it? Okay, so now we're exploring the self. or agency, as that in me which comes and goes with you.

[119:03]

So this Goan then says, if you really, as you spend the next weeks, or whatever, feeling, if you can feel what comes and goes in another person or comes and goes in you, Now the serious practitioner doesn't go beyond that line until they can do that. I mean, you might skim a little bit past it, etc., but basically come back and say, okay, this is the jewel, this is the jewel, this is the point which I'm going to stay until I've realized this point. So then Lu Su, again, there's no doubt there, Shih Tzu, says, what about that which doesn't come and go? Nanchuan says, it's also mine.

[120:27]

And then Shizu says, what is the jewel? And Nanchuan says, Luzu or Shizu. And this guy, we don't really know his name, says, yes. And the guy from whom you will no longer know your name says, yes. And Lachuan says, get out of here, you don't understand. You don't understand my words. And Zen, that's aporya. Aporya means you can't make a passage. Aporya is passage. Ah is no passage. So it's not about that he does or doesn't understand. It's not about whether he understands or not. It's about that Nanshuan blocks him to see what happens.

[121:30]

And this is called the enlightenment experience of Luso. In this with no passage he realized. So it's called, the title is called, Luzhu's Not Understanding, and of course we know it's actually Chisu who didn't understand. This text is a built-in deconstruction. Okay. Have you had enough or a little bit more? You always say yes. What about something you might say no? You might say no? So I'll be a little more careful otherwise.

[122:33]

Maybe we need a break to stand up. Yes. So let's have a little break and then we'll finish up and go to lunch. So, one... One point for me, perhaps the main point for you in presenting this, is that Buddhism assumes and in ways and practice assumes for some various historical reasons, it tries to actualize this assumption, which is how we really function.

[123:54]

It's not a self in a world of otherness. or being in contrast to not being, but in an interrelated way with everything. But if you ask me, what is self? And I said, it's an interrelated way of working with everything. You might reasonably say, or unreasonably say, what is this interrelated way? How can I realize this interrelated way? And when you say acting with everything, what is everything? Yeah.

[125:09]

And everything is like, is there such a thing, if there's no one, is there an all? And the all is never complete. Because it's always all plus one or two if you want. So what is this in accord with everything? I use the word accord with knowing that the word accord also means heart. But I don't really mean in heart with everything, but maybe a little bit. Okay, so these koans are a way to answer or identify how to act in accord with everything and how to come to realize what being in accord means.

[126:24]

So here we have the second koan exploring this So it starts out precious gem falls on a magpie At Cospares you will think of a magpie. Do you know what a magpie is? No. It's a bird which collects bright things and puts them in the air. Anyway, a magpie, it's hit with a jewel. And a rat bites into a piece of gold.

[127:26]

A rat. But they don't know they're treasures. And they can't even use them. Is there anyone here who notices that there's a jewel hidden in your clothes? Now, they give you some more hints, right? The Sanskrit word for wish-fulfilling means as one wishes. How to find the world as one wishes. And the Sanskrit word also means undefiled light.

[128:27]

And it also means to increase. So again, it doesn't mean this, it means that. How are we going to explore this? And then it says, because this starts out with people don't know what the wishful thinking is. I started to say one reason is because this is an exploration of self in a court of liberty. I'm also doing this to show you where what I'm teaching comes from and how to make use of the teaching. And to understand the teaching as if you were writing it yourself.

[129:54]

To understand how it's constructed. As Dogen says, don't let the supers turn you. And this comes from turning the sutra means to practice it. Dogen says, don't let the sutra turn you. You turn the sutra. You make it work. No, it would be unusual in Christianity to say, don't let the Bible turn you, you turn the Bible. So that kind of difference gives you a sense of how Buddhism is. So now it says the Larkavatarasutra. And of course anybody reading this knows this is the sutra that Bodhidharma brought to China.

[131:06]

He says, the peaceful and the unimpassioned is called one mind. And what he means there is the practice of seeing everything as mind. To see everything as appearance, perception. So he's saying, if you practice seeing everything as mind, This is the source of peacefulness and being unimpassioned. And then it says, and knowing the world is one mind is the mind of realization. The mind is the realization of dust.

[132:21]

And then it says, mind contains three meanings. One is the meaning of concealment. It's hidden. It's down in the earth. You haven't found the gold. So you mine for something because you can't bring something into the light. I think in that list of seven persuasive aspects of self, We should add an eighth. And that should be the hidden. The fact that we can hide or not tell things is a persuasive aspect. Okay. So mine has three meanings.

[133:29]

One is the meaning of concealment. In this sense it hides Buddhahood. So this of course means when you start the practice. And the second meaning is it contains the lands of all sentient beings. And the third meaning is in the mining are all the practices of humans and divinities. Okay. Then there's more stuff like that. And then it says the verse, the Tian Dong's verse, he always adds a verse.

[134:30]

Distinguishing right and wrong. So part of this process is you should be able to distinguish right and wrong. You're not putting sand in the gas tank. Clarifying gain and loss. Knowing what benefits increases and what doesn't. And this is also like in the encounter of each and each. the bodhisattva should feel what integrates the person in front of you. And what disintegrates And you can feel this dynamic of movement in a person which they're trying to come together and other forces within are trying to take them apart.

[135:42]

The bodhisattva feels the choice. And relates to what integrates the person. Unless it's your student, and then you relate to what might disintegrate the disease. I'm sort of joking. So, responding to it in the mind So responding to the mind is, again, to realize everything is mind, to keep knowing.

[136:43]

And then pointing to it in the palm. So this is not only that the jewel might be sitting in the palm of your hand, but this yogic sense of the body where the palms are activated, etc., is also the jewel. Coming about Coming and going, not coming and going. It's just this. And this is again the practice of this, this, this. Yeah. Okay. Now we have the kind of questions

[137:47]

We're telling you. Does the mind come from the jewel? Or does the jewel come from the mind? Do you make them into one? Or do you divide them into two? I keep myself a little confused here. You need to be able to use abilities in the midst of inability. That's why Nanchuan was able to say, no, you don't understand my words. Now, what is the mind?

[138:51]

It's in front of the teaching hall. It's not in the teaching hall, it's in front of the teaching hall. And where is it? Well, it's behind the Buddha. So you can't look for it in the teaching, or in the Buddha, or in the temple. It's in front of the temple, and it's behind the Buddha. And then it says, Nanchuan said, go, you don't understand my words. And then it says, Nanchuan, he spilled his guts. That's enough. I don't know.

[140:01]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_68.12