Has it been warm in here? Not too bad, huh? Good. Tassara, when we first moved there, of course, at all times it can get really hot there, 110 or 12 sometimes degrees Fahrenheit. I don't know what that is. I don't know what that is. 30 something. About 40. So we did one practice period in the summer, never again. You have to wear all these layers as a monk. At my ordination, I was ordained the Knight before the opening ceremony for Tassajara.

[01:22]

I don't know if I intended to get ordained. But since we started Tassajara, I thought some Westerner has to be ordained. It shouldn't be seen as all Japanese. So I volunteered for this experience. I remember I felt like a sheep being led to slaughter. But first they had to shear me. And it was so hot that evening. Whoa! I'm trying to shave my head and sweat is spurting out like a fountain on my head.

[02:26]

That might be an exaggeration, but that's what it felt like. Then we discovered that somehow Buddy had bought Futasahara. Maybe it was made in 1930. We don't know. The huge fan. Really, this is like this big a rock. Then we bought a huge ventilator that was built in the 1930s. It's as big as a plane propeller from a DC-3. So we turned this thing on at the end of the sender. And then we threw this thing into the sender. I didn't have any hair. Because like this sendo, it had no cross-ventilation. And if you read very early Tassajara lectures of Sukhya Rishi, he sometimes refers to this fan.

[03:30]

But after that summer it wasn't a problem because we only had practice periods in the winter. But we could, if it does get hot here, try a fan out in the hall or something. Just to move the air. I feel very lucky extraordinarily lucky To be able to talk with you about these things.

[04:44]

And to have a place here in this continent to speak about these things. And to practice together. And that you're willing and so sincerely able to practice. And we even have volunteer translators so I can perhaps make myself partially understood. I really, it's amazing, I can't describe how fortunate I feel. But at the same time I'm rather sad. I have so much I'd like to say and there's so little time. Today in this session in my life There are days in which I have nothing to say, then I feel sad too.

[06:11]

Especially if I'm supposed to give a lecture. And I know too that I... You know, mostly I can't really make this understandable. Or really get you to understand that it's useful. But here I'm a poor... What? Forerunner of this Buddhist culture. Yes.

[07:16]

Yes, you know, We're talking about a whole culture here of continuous development for two and a half millennia. Also, wir sprechen hier über eine Kultur, die sich fortlaufend entwickelt hat, über zweieinhalb Millennien, Jahrtausenden hinweg. Yeah, and it's a culture which emphasized not the development of intelligence, und es ist eine Kultur, die nicht die Entwicklung von Intelligenz gefördert hat, but the development of consciousness, aber die Entwicklung von Bewusstsein.

[08:23]

the development of consciousness, awareness and in-betweenness. And our culture hasn't done that. Yeah. And of course I think even if you aren't so interested in Buddhism, it's useful, and it is useful for our culture, for these two cultures to come together. And just as in the Sui and Tang and Sung dynasties, Yeah, good.

[09:38]

The Buddhist culture permeated the literature, the philosophy, the philosophical studies of China. And it's happening, the same thing is happening in the West now. And I've always said the major influence of Buddhism in the West is going to be on the general culture. And there will be a Some people, thousands, for whom Buddhism is a kind of therapy. A spiritual resource. And there will be a few, not very many, who actually carry the practice forward from generation to generation. So I believe in this cultural influence and

[10:46]

That's one of the reasons I pay so much attention to the language of Buddhism. And one of the reasons I've decided not to use Sanskrit and Pali words, but try to use Western words. And of course our practice is going to be mostly people who are developing this to, practicing this to develop themselves. And the middle group of people who are practicing really to develop themselves. And then there will still be a few who try to fully realize and embody this practice. And I'm always trying to speak to this smaller group as well as anyone else who wants to practice.

[12:10]

And I have to assume that you are this smaller group. You better be. Okay. So what is a practice, a teaching that emphasizes the development of mind? I want to give you a phrase, just a part of the soup here. The proverbial monk asks, what about when the sun has come up? The morning sun has risen.

[13:50]

And the night moon can no longer be seen. And the teacher said, the The dragon keeps the ocean pearl in its mouth and pays no attention to the sporting fish. So maybe I will try to say something about that as we go along. Maybe you'll find this ocean pearl somewhere in your mouth.

[14:52]

And I was a little jealous seeing all of you go out for your walk on this beautiful day. Maybe one afternoon I'll join you. I like to follow Gerald wherever he leads. Okay. As long as it's not through the ticks. I had a bad experience with those. And it's such a wonderful chance to practice the Vishnayanas. To As you walk along, say, just smell the path, the grass.

[16:06]

And then sometimes just shift into maybe just hearing and not seeing or smelling. Every now and then you should practice these things. Maybe like a good chef can tell what's in the food by the smell and look and taste. You have to become the chef or cook of your world. So why is this done? What's the problem? Just look around. Don't worry about smelling, hearing, etc. Well, this kind of practice comes out of a culture which feels that we are constructs. There's no creator.

[17:21]

Everything is in the midst of being created. There's no causes from the past pushing you forward exactly. But rather all the causes converge at this point each moment. And you're the convergence. And you're part of the convergence. Unless you understand this, the whole idea of karma doesn't make any sense. Karma, which offers the opportunity to be free from karma. So I spoke yesterday about the location that you are. As a series of nows. And part of excavating this series of nows, I say excavate because it's not just observing and thinking about, you have to actually dig down into the ideas.

[19:00]

It's not just a concept or something, you have to dig down into the idea. It's not just anthropology, it's also archaeology. So one of the ways of digging down into this idea of a series of nows is to experience this now as a convergence of causes and a convergence of sense impressions. that you're putting together. And when you do begin to... let's say separate out the experiences of your vijnanas,

[20:13]

Now you may again think this is kind of a useless exercise. Now maybe it is. But sometimes we end up with a Can I make up a word? Like, there's telepathy, right? So maybe we have sensoropathy. Like homeopathy, we have sensoropathy. Are you doing okay? Not if I see the doctors around me.

[21:21]

But even, you know, in the Catholic Church, some of the saints have some kind of vivid ability to smell, a sit here, a charism of smell. Also, even in the Catholic Church, some saints have the ability of this very lively feeling of smell And it's been discovered in Buddhism that you're more open to these siddhis or charisms when you begin to experience each sense separately. Siddhis are charisma when you experience each sense separately. So instead of mental telepathy you might have sensoropathy. The ability to smell.

[22:23]

At some distance, the moods are thinking of another person. The sense most... for most people opens themselves to realize states of mind. The sense which most, in Buddhism, which is most, the sense which is most often understood to open people to realize states of mind. Just any sense, one sense. Yeah. His hearing. But it can be smell or taste or neither. And also beginning to separate the senses, to experience each separately and feel yourself putting them together. is you begin to feel the space between the senses.

[23:38]

The five physical senses only give you five points of view on the world. The world is more than these five. Though it gives us a very convincing picture. As I pointed out, Wittgenstein says, But there's nothing in this visual scene that tells me it's seen by an eye. Looks convincing. Could be a photograph. I have to, out of wisdom, remind myself that this is seen by an eye.

[24:39]

I have to remind myself that this is only a five-fold picture. Or in Buddhism we speak about each object as a six-fold object. Because each object, we add mind as a sense in Buddhism, It can only be known in its six aspects, but there's much more there than six aspects. So the silence of the world is to open yourself to the what's beyond the six-fold object.

[25:55]

Maybe in a primitive way it's like seeing a black and white movie and feeling the color. So here we're seeing a colored movie, but there's dimensions we can also feel but can't see or hear. Now this way of thinking comes from a culture which emphasizes the development of consciousness and which sees the world as a construct. and sees each moment as a construct, and sees us as participating in this construction.

[27:01]

Okay, so once there's construction, there's the possibility of deconstruction. We're constructing that sound now. What is it? When you ask what is it, you're beginning to construct it. But you can, as you start to construct it and ask, what is it?

[28:01]

You can deconstruct it. It's just a sound in your ear. You can withdraw thinking about what it is. And that begins to open the space of mind. So you see, as soon as wisdom has brought you to the point where you really know the world is a construction, Aha, then wisdom also has a lot to say about that. If it's a construction, we can participate in the construction. And we can decide how we participate.

[29:05]

And we can decide not to participate. But we can decide to deconstruct. These are natural ways of looking at the world for this kind of world. So my friend from New Jersey, who is now a pretty well-known Buddhist teacher, he, I think, had to believe, really, that everyone spoke that way in New Jersey. Er musste wirklich davon überzeugt sein, dass alle Leute so sprechen in New Jersey. I don't think it would work in Europe. Ich glaube, das würde nicht funktionieren in Europa. You don't believe you are your accent.

[30:06]

Also, ihr seid davon nicht überzeugt, dass ihr euer Akzent seid. In every city there's about a bunch of accents. In jeder Stadt hier gibt es gleich einen ganzen Haufen von Akzents. Around here there's a bunch of accents. Alleine hier schon gibt es eine ganze Menge von Dialekten. But didn't you grow up in New Jersey and only see your family and never go to New York, you know? It's a shock. None of you can understand to go to Michigan. Yeah, the shock of Michigan. Yeah. So what is Zen trying to do? Zen tries to make our actual life and our actual situation the object of study. And Zen gives you the tools to do this.

[31:11]

And one of the tricks or... devices of Zen, which is to put, as I so often say, a wisdom teaching in contrast to something you believe. to something you believe. So, I mean, he had to believe he didn't have an accent for this to turn. So he actually, on such a simple thing, experienced boundarylessness. He had to be released from a belief.

[32:15]

Okay. So that's one of the usefulnesses of studying Asian Buddhism. Because it supplies us with immediate contrasts. Things we take for granted. Okay. Oh, my goodness. And I haven't started. Now I'm really feeling sad. Should we go through the evening? Yeah, okay.

[33:42]

So I want to speak briefly about our posture. But let me say, because there are not always contrasts, So simply available. As the differences between New Jersey and Michigan. Or even between Western culture and Asian culture. Buddhism uses the actuality of in betweenness. So I'll try to bring us into what that means during the Sashin. Okay, but let me speak again for a minute about our posture. so this is a posture you're not you wouldn't naturally assume it's a wisdom posture you might sit in it occasionally but not for seven days now I spoke about how up and down are real for us not just simple ideas not just symbols or something

[35:30]

We have ideas about a difference between what's higher up on a shelf and what's lower down on a shelf. We say things like I'm feeling up or I'm feeling down. Don't you say that in German, something equivalent? Okay, so what I'm trying to get across here is in a culture of consciousness... Up and down are as real as our body. Okay, so then we have ideas like, in Buddhism, rising mind and sinking mind.

[36:34]

The rising mind is more like optimism and the sinking mind like pessimism. The sinking mind is the person who, whatever situation comes up, has to make sure you understand with some thoroughness all the bad aspects as well as the good. Sometimes admit something's good, but they feel an obligation to really thoroughly tell you what's wrong with the situation. This is sinking mind. Whatever happens, they see what's wrong with the situation. Or they see what's wrong with themselves. And their state of mind just It's like it goes right down the kitchen drain.

[37:49]

Like in every situation, they pull the flush. Goodbye, cruel world. Oh. Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. Now, when you get the sense, the vitality of rising mind, not just as an optimism, I always like what Voltaire said. The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. And the pessimist is one who knows the optimist is right.

[38:53]

But the more you feel the vitality of rising mind, the simple appreciation of what you see, what you hear, what you smell. Those cookies today, cakes were unbelievable. No one's brought me tea for some reason the first two days. Today I got tea in about ten cakes. But I'd already had a little something, so I didn't want a cake. So they sat in my room.

[39:56]

I didn't have to eat them at all. The smell, just... I mean, this lecture was inspired by the smell of those cakes. I really was sitting there thinking, this is better than eating. And when you begin to be free of sinking mind, whatever the genetics and psychology of depression, you give much less chance to eat you away. When you've come to know the vitality of rising mind. Okay, so what I've just done is taken a simple idea that's a fact of our experience of up and down.

[40:58]

Of our experience of up and down. And turn it into a practice of rising mind and sinking mind. That has profound psychological implications and effects. Okay, so now I'm going to take up and down and change it into vertical. Now that we've realized up and rising mind, let's realize verticality. Okay, so up and down are given to us by our cultures. I think all cultures probably have some idea of up and down. But when we start having a sense of verticality, then you're into Buddhist and Taoist practices.

[42:26]

So what I'm suggesting in this session, you emphasize this experience of and feeling of verticality. When you first sit down, sort of find your posture, rock forward and back. I always find it useful to turn my head and spine as far to the left and right as I can. But whatever you find useful to come into your body, Then find a feeling of verticality through your body. And one way to do that is to push down several breaths and hold them.

[43:28]

So you inhale without exhaling, inhale without exhaling several times. And then you push down. And then you feel a melting feeling. Then you contract your sphincter. Push a kind of energy and space up your spine. You don't want to do this a lot, maybe two or three times a few zazen periods. You could call it a kind of shooting the spine. Shooting something up the spot. Well, it's good to get used to this feeling. Okay. Here we're trying to paint a picture of our experience. in which we are the painting.

[45:11]

A painting that is not just the enlightenment experience. You're now painting the enlightenment experience with your own body. Or you're enacting a painting of enlightenment. enacting a painting of enlightenment which makes enlightenment more likely. And the paint is things like up and down, vertical, etc. So you sit down, you rock back and forth, find your posture.

[46:16]

With or without the practice of shooting the spine. You lift up, you feel it lifting up through your body. And you feel how your shoulders block it. You feel how this triangle here of shoulders up to here really blocks things. And it's a reverse triangle from your shoulders down into your back. And the line of these triangles is somewhere in the middle of your back in here. So you begin to know that you need to create a kind of space for this pathway in your body. A space of verticality.

[47:21]

A space for key or vitality to come in. You're not just creating a something, you're creating a space. A pathway by this lift, first of all a physical lifting feeling. And now a kind of pure feeling of lifting, of verticality. Now this should only take 10 seconds, 30 seconds. You're not constantly straightening yourself and things. Just at the beginning you rock and find your posture.

[48:27]

Move into this verticality. And up through the back of the neck and the back of the head. Yeah, and then let your breathing come into this verticality. And then notice things like the chin dimmer. Strangely, if your chin is out like this, you think a lot. If your chin is in too much, it's something military and stifling. So it's kind of like a little dimmer. It turns on thinking, it turns down thinking, you know. And sometimes it works about as well as Mahakavi's dimmer last year.

[49:29]

No, I'm kidding. Thinking dark, thinking dark. So it takes a while till you can really tune this dimmer. And I'm told by people who ride horses, For dressage and steeplechase and things. That actually you have to get the angle of the neck of the horse just right, along with your own body, before you can take certain leaps. Make certain leaps and movements. The angle of the horse's head and your own body. In other words, a good rider knows that the horse is in a certain concentrated state when its head is in a certain position.

[50:37]

I think most of us now accept acupuncture. That needles in your ear or other places affect your whole body. So this is not just some kind of dumb rule. This is a kind of acupuncture dimmer. But most of us aren't so sensitive to feel it. So with this emphasis on verticality and bringing your breath into that and then relaxing really relaxing Just sit forever.

[51:52]

And yet you still don't lose the feeling of verticality. You can begin to feel the tiny effects your body has on your mind. Or the big effects, tiny differences in your body have on your mind. So why don't you practice this verticality without rigidity? Let your posture do itself. Let your posture do itself.

[52:58]

But prepare the ground for that doing. It's best if you don't do it. But you just open yourself to this posture of Buddha. Okay, thank you. We can't do anything about it.

[54:29]

I think it's too much to worry about. It's too much to worry about. Jéhéhéééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééééé

[55:44]

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, so I'm trying to present Zen Buddhism as I know it.

[57:30]

And experience it. And initially, of course, starting with Suzuki Roshi. But it's inescapable that I am familiar with The profound oversimplifications of Suzuki Daisetsu. Daisetsu, yeah. And the nationalistic understanding of Zen, of Suzuki Daisetsu. And then the general oversimplifications of Zen practice in the West. Yeah, so in the midst of this historical situation we're in of Buddhism early entry into the West.

[58:58]

Early entry. Yeah, we're sitting here in front of this wonderfully old 500-year-old Buddha. wondering if this is really Buddhism, or if this Buddhism can apply to us. So what can I offer you today? One thing is commonplace for me is working with views. What is a view?

[60:00]

Well, each of your mouths are full of saliva. Don't be embarrassed. You know, it's not that much. And there's no problem about that. But if I ask you, maybe I give you each a glass and I say, spit out the saliva into a glass. And then I say to you, each of you drink your own. You may go, eww. That's a view. It was just in your mouth a moment ago and now you're going... Let alone passing the glasses around.

[61:07]

Thank you. So we have these views that feel real to us. So I'm trying to put us in the middle of views. Yeah. And there's various traditional ways of doing this in practice. I used the image of a painting yesterday and talking to somebody the other day.

[62:39]

sense is that most, as I've said often, most artists, painters, poets, musicians, have the power to be artists in a society which in general doesn't support artists. No, most parents don't want their kids to be artists. And to have the power to do it, I think, comes maybe from talent, but very often from having an enlightened experience. And then what you see, what I see when I look at a particular painter or poet, is they paint or poet, they paint or poem that enlightened experience the rest of their life.

[63:56]

And their poetry and their art may mature, but usually the enlightenment experience doesn't mature. And they don't have the practice not only to awaken an enlightenment experience or mature an enlightenment experience, or evolve an enlightenment experience. But they also don't have the ability to bring the many enlightenment experiences that are, in English I'd say part and parcel, inseparable from living itself. Part and parcel is an English expression that means inseparable. Part and parcel.

[65:20]

They also don't have the practice which allows the innumerable enlightened experiences that are an inseparable part of living. that with practice begin to mature in silence within us. Okay, so what I've done now is created, I've said, there is in the West, and enlightenment is a capacity of human beings, And not certainly limited to artists, but particularly in artists. It's something understood in the West. Okay, now what isn't understood, because we haven't developed an enlightenment-based practice, but what isn't understood in the West, because we haven't developed an enlightenment-based practice, let me...

[66:45]

Stop for a moment. And say, you know, I don't like constantly making the West-East comparison. I think, but it's helpful if you see that we have this big culture on Earth. Lots of cultures. And our cultures, our civilizations are extremely young. You have 10 or 20 generations. ten or twenty centuries maybe a hundred generations or something when human beings like us go back tens of thousands of years so our culture is young and it's barely I think barely begun to work out the possibilities of human

[68:04]

living together. And the two most successful experiments so far we can call the West and the East, West and Asia. And now these two cultures are permeating each other. And this is a human wisdom. It's not nothing to do with West and East. Okay, but we can make use of the differences. Okay, now we can see that there is such a thing as an enlightenment-based teaching. Which emphasizes the evolution of consciousness. The development of consciousness. And sees everything as a moment by moment process of self-construction.

[69:06]

And that everything is from moment to moment a process of self-construction. Now, I think you're here because you probably have some experience like that. Und ihr seid wohl hier, weil ihr davon einige Erfahrung habt. Nicht nur, weil ihr das hier intellektuell amüsant empfindet. Oder vielleicht hat euch ein guter Freund hierher gebracht. Und dann muss man sich fragen, was mit dem Freund nicht ganz in Ordnung ist. But anyway, I think probably you're here because you already have some actual experience in the direction that Buddhism is going. Okay, so let's assume what I'm saying has some validity. Okay, so we have... the painter who has an enlightenment experience then paints that enlightenment experience all his life.

[70:47]

And his or her art may mature, but probably not the enlightenment experience. In fact, the very painting of the enlightenment experience, it's thought in Buddhism, prevents further enlightenment experiences. Because you've got to keep this kind of experience in flux. You've got to keep it protected in a secret place for some time if it's going to develop. I give you a little short poem of Myoe, a 12th, 13th century Japanese Zen master. He lived 1173 to 1232.

[72:00]

1173 to 1232. To 1232. I have trouble with German numbers, too. Ha ha! I think it's Kobin Chinoroshi who said, there isn't enough time in one lifetime to learn German. I know it's not true, but I sometimes agree with him. And that's why I'm constantly in a state of jealousy with you guys. You guys do it so easily. I think, whoa, these people are really smart.

[73:01]

Anyway, Mioe, who lived just before and overlapping Dogen, He said, going into meditation. I go behind the mountain. And it's customary for all Buddhist temples to be called mountains. And the gate to a temple is called the mountain gate. And Zazen, whether it's in the city or in the countryside, is considered going into the mountains. And often the Buddhist statues are made like mountains going up, too.

[74:11]

So he means he's going to meditate. So he says, I go behind the mountain. And then he says, go there, too, O moon. Yeah, go there too, oh moon. Night after night we will keep each other company. This we can understand as that secret place. Night after night we keep each other company. Okay, so now what we have in Buddhism is a practice which is based on enlightenment sees our life as based on enlightenment and sees that enlightenment expressed in many ways including enlightenment experiences.

[75:47]

and sees that enlightenment expressed in many ways, including enlightenment experiences, but not limited to enlightenment experiences. Now, if you understand that statement, you can see the richness of Buddhism in relationship to all aspects of enlightenment. All aspects of enlightenment. Yeah, so Buddhism, there's that life itself is based on enlightenment, that each of us is based on enlightenment, and that enlightenment is expressed in many ways, not just the enlightened experience.

[77:03]

Not only on? It's not... Sorry. Okay. Enlightenment may be the wrong word, but you can feel what I'm trying to speak about with Western language. Okay. So Buddhist practice is meant to make us come in touch with original enlightenment and to enact enlightenment. And almost certainly all of you, with or without enlightenment experiences, in Sashin taste the mind of enlightenment.

[78:20]

It disappears after Sashin breath because you're not enlightened. But the fact that you can taste it means that basic enlightenment is there. Now, most of you probably don't even know you're tasting the mind of enlightenment. I can't help that. We can put it on the menu. It's the fourth meal. The taste of enlightenment. Yeah, cooked by elves in the middle of the night.

[79:22]

You also taste a lot of shitty states of mind during session two. Yeah. I mean, things start getting you angry. Yeah, I mean, when we're, like in meal service. We have all this wonderful food being brought to us by the kitchen crew. And while we're eating, we get to know the feet of the servers. Probably none of you have gotten to know so many people's feet in such a short time. And then you may find yourself completely angry because one person hasn't cut one of their toes a certain way. Und dann könnte vielleicht sehr ärgerlich werden, dass einer von den Leuten einen Zehennagel nicht auf die gewisse Art geschnitten hat, wie ihr das wollt.

[80:31]

Do I have to be served by this person whose second toe is cut in this funny way? Und dann denkt man sich, muss ich mir von dieser Person servieren lassen, wo der zweite Zeh auf diese komische Art den Nagel geschnitten ist. Yeah, I'm not saying that's the case. Also ich sag zwar nicht, dass das der Fall ist, You can all check your second toes. I just mean that the tiniest little dumb things can get us kind of annoyed. Some kind of weird... anger or discomfort of being alive. Yeah, and there's almost, there's often, I mean maybe for some of you there's a moment, why the hell am I in this sashim? They're not really going to ring the bell for another period, are they?

[81:33]

You're translating this with such vigor. But it's good, you know. You get used to these shitty states of mind. Scheiße Geist. Stay in there. And these days, I mean, even the flies, they start landing on you and walking around.

[82:39]

They also think we're, no. But there's also the part of Zen practice in which we paint our own painting. The painting of our self as a Buddha. Well, that's maybe not quite right. I'm trying to search for an image I can use. Instead of painting a painting, we begin to reconstruct ourselves. Just getting used to being present in shitty states of mind.

[83:40]

Without letting it get you down. Without actually fully identifying with it. This is also a process of reconstructing yourself. Now the basic idea here is that karma keeps arriving. All of our associative thinking carries forward karma. And your state of mind, usual state of mind, reifies and continues that karma. Even strengthens it. And that happens in each moment.

[85:01]

And if you less you see each moment as a series of nows, no, if you see time as continuous, then you're stuck in your karma. When you see, and especially experience, time as discontinuous moment after moment, then each moment is an opportunity to be free of karma, as is the moment of death. So to work with your karma, you have to reconceive of time. And a reconception isn't sufficient. You have to begin... You need to experience...

[86:04]

each moment as a succession, as a now. So you're sitting. And it might be uncomfortable. Yeah. And you're waiting for the bell. Okay. Sometimes. Then you can shift and stop waiting for the bell. A different mind appears. Then you notice you're suffering again and And you wait for the bell again. And you can shift back and forth between the mind of waiting for the bell and the mind that doesn't care if the bell ever rings. And you will experience suffering differently in those two different minds.

[87:20]

Don't you think that's extremely interesting? What about having a mind that doesn't wait for the bell all the time? Or a mind, even waiting for a bell, simultaneously knows the mind that's not waiting for a bell. When I put it this way, it's quite simple, isn't it? And you're in the midst of this practice. The mind that doesn't wait for the bell and the mind that does wait for the bell. Thank you for translating all this. Okay.

[88:47]

So, when you notice that distinction, bell-waiting mind and etc., you're actually at the point of reconstructing yourself. Practice, mindfulness practice. Zazen practice. Of creating a middle mind that isn't caught by things. allows you to choose between which kind of mind you want. You have the tools and equipment and resources in Buddhism to do it. We can ask ourselves, On what basis do we make the choice?

[90:05]

Well, in general, you make the choice based on satisfaction. On choosing the wider over the narrower. Inclusive over the exclusive. The compassionate states of mind over negative states of mind. So you're constructing yourself in the image of Buddha. You may be an incomplete Buddha. But we can get a little... pins which we wear, Buddha under construction. Little fence around us, you know.

[91:05]

Construction zone. Oh, no. How could it get to be 5 o'clock so quickly? It's the translator. It takes up so much of the time. Oh, um... Yeah, yeah. So I'll just finish this thought, this direction.

[92:22]

So we are, in a sense, we could say, making a painting that communicates enlightenment to others.

[92:27]

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