Alan Watts - Zen And The Arts

===== Zen And The Arts - 01 - Zen And The Art Of Controlled Accidents =====

The point of view of Zen and of Daoism has many curiously practical applications.

And I wanted to start off this afternoon by saying a little bit about one very close to home, which is clothes.

Now, when you notice how Western clothes are made, you will find, if you are experienced in packing,

that shirts are difficult to fold, that suits are absolutely abominable, put as was his case,

that women's blouses are the most curiously odd conformations,

because none of our clothes conform to the nature of cloth.

We try to make the cloth conform to the nature of our bodies, and the results are not always too edifying.

When the Japanese adopt Western clothing, they look perfectly absurd, and they have no idea how ridiculous they look.

Especially at a formal wedding, when they wear striped trousers, cutaways, top hats,

with the girl in the traditional kimono and white headdress.

It's the funniest looking thing on earth to see this match.

Now, we, it is true, do not wear Japanese clothes really elegantly.

They usually push it a little down here, have a little bit of belly, sorry.

They're rather proud of that.

It's called hara, H-A-R-A.

So you get the phrase harakiri, belly-cutting.

There's a thing that really, if you practice then, you get a belly like rock,

so that if somebody kicks you in the tummy, they break their toes.

Now, notice then, my sleeves are conveniently full of all sorts of things.

I've got pipe and spectacles and things in there.

And I stretch it out.

But do you see what's happened here?

The rectangular pattern of weaving cloth is followed.

The whole of this thing is constructed on rectangles.

And so it folds perfectly.

And it's extraordinarily comfortable.

And the cloth follows its own nature.

And in following its own nature, it creates a garment of considerable dignity.

When I see old ladies going around in frocks,

and they get those hats on that are all little flowers all the way around,

and then they get, they're about this big around,

and then they get a frock on.

And they lean over, and you can see the tail of the slip underneath.

And maybe you see where their stockings are rolled up just above their knees.

And that sort of scene is just terrible.

When you get to be a portly old lady,

you should have something that really covers you.

And likewise, when you become a populous old gentleman,

you should get something that is a graceful, flowing affair.

And I once asked a young Japanese who arrived in San Francisco,

he'd never been in the West before,

and we discussed Japanese dress,

and why it was being abandoned.

There are two reasons why it's being abandoned in Japan,

although it's superbly comfortable.

One is you can't run for a bus in one.

The other is that in order to clean these things in the traditional way,

they rip the part completely,

and they iron all the cloth elements separately,

and then sew them back together.

Now, there's no necessity to do that.

These things can be reconstructed as this one has been.

This one is an adaptation to modern ways.

It's made of heavy cotton,

and it can be sent to the cleaner,

just like any ordinary suit.

And it's much simpler to deal with than an ordinary suit.

But this business about not being able to run for a bus

is the whole point.

Running for buses is an insult to human dignity.

When you get about the age of 20,

you should never hurry.

Never.

You can't hurry in this outfit.

You have to walk at an easy pace

and take rather shorter strides

than you would normally.

The Zen monk can take, in his outfit,

quite a stride longer than that.

He has a different gear.

And they strive quite a bit.

But in this,

this is a sort of address

for a scholarly gentleman

who will shuffle

any of the alarm

looking at things

as they go around.

And you see,

it cuts you down

without making you uncomfortable.

It is capacious.

It is supremely comfortable

in the sense that

I would advise any man

going to Japan,

the first thing he does on arrival

is to go to a tailor

and have one of these made for him.

Especially if you're going to go outside

the beaten track

and if you're going to be

staying in temples.

Women, I don't advise that

wear kimonos,

not Western women,

because they get treated

like Japanese women.

And if you're not used to that,

you won't like it.

The woman in Japan,

the Western woman in Japan,

should wear very full skirts

and be very comfortable.

If possible,

don't wear corsetry

and all those pulleys

and blocks and tackle arrangements

that women have on the garment.

Be very comfortable

in full skirts.

Slacks are not too well appreciated,

but the Japanese girls

are beginning to wear them.

But I think for the Western woman

to wear a full cotton

or heavy cotton

or wool skirt

is the ideal thing

which can just

flow around

and be comfortable.

But men,

especially travelling out

in the road

as you'll find

that one of the

most uncomfortable things

is to sit Japanese-style

wearing pants.

Pants, in any case,

are in the front of the manhood.

They're instruments

of castration.

And they should never

have been worn by men

and suitable for ladies

but not for men.

Now,

we,

this is just an ordinary

cold stone floor

but we found ourselves

one morning

in the great Zen temple

of Ahedi

and we were in this

great open temple

floored,

not with hard stone

but with Japanese

tatami mats.

And they're resilient

and rather comfortable.

There were about

500 Japanese pilgrims

came there

four in the morning

to sit and attend

the Zen celebration.

and the doors

kept opening

and drafts

kept coming in.

And there was

a Japanese girl

next to me

wearing a sweater

and slacks

and she was

shivering and cold

and sneezing.

And then all

of our tour members

who were

dressed

Western-style

were horribly

uncomfortable.

I have this thing.

You can huddle down

onto the floor

like that.

And if you

you train,

you have to train

a little bit in this.

It's a little hard

on the ankles.

But you open your heels

and you sit

between your heels

and the matting

is soft

and you're

completely covered up

and you are

warm

and cozy.

If you want to change

and you get tired

of doing that

you sit over

that way

like this

or to the other side

but you will

remain

all the time

covered

and warm

and

at ease

in a

a well

that is geared

to the floor.

You see our well

is so

I mean

when I look at people

in an auditorium

like this

sitting on these

particular kinds

of chairs

I

interiorly giggle

and I don't

want to be rude

but they look

like birds

on searches

human searches

something has to

hold you up

you see

and so on

because

we

in our culture

you see

we're not

properly grounded

of course

the Chinese

have invented

the most

uncomfortable

furniture on earth

the formal

Chinese

teakwood chairs

are very

comfortable

but very

dignified

the way

they can sit

on those

things

and the

everybody

is

in a firm

but being

mated

to the floor

is

a very

fascinating

way of life

there are certain

things that we

could suggest

to the Japanese

by way of

improvement

and they

will willingly

learn

there are ways

of stopping

drafts that they

haven't caught

on to

there are ways

of heating

and there are

ways of lighting

that they don't

understand

that we do

but they

understand beds

much better

than we do

they understand

baths much better

than we do

and this

life

geared to the

floor

has this

fascinating

quality

that you

don't need

to invest

in an

enormous amount

of furniture

you know the

things that

the bills

we incur

when we

move

because we

have to

move

these

lustful

overstuffed

couches

most of it

look like

gun

emplacements

and uh

uh

the stressful

things with

springs in

that are

made for

the feeble

body

but these

with a floor

covered with

comfortable mats

and once you

learn the

art of

floor living

most

teenagers

know how

to live

on the

floor

because they

like for

example to

read a book

lying on

their backs

on the

floor with

their feet

on the

seat of

a chair

or pushed

against the

wall or some

funny position

like that

and I find

when I give

lectures

and with a

crowd

that the

young people

come to the

front and

sit all over

the floor

now the

sign

there's a

Turkish

proverb

that he

who sleeps

on the

floor

will not

fall out

of bed

and there's

a sense

of getting

grounded

you see

being

with the

earth

and that

one of

the

one of

the

uh

principal

factors

of zen

meditation

is

that after

a certain

time

rooted

like a

tree

now

I'm not

trying to

say that

we are

trees

are not

to be

rooted

but

Mr. Fuller

would thoroughly

disagree with

me

to say that

the whole

marvel of a

human being

is that he

learns to be

unrooted

that he learns

to be

completely

modal like

a fish

or a bird

and so

that's true

but at the

same time

to be able

to relate

to the

ground

and live

on the

ground

and do

without

furniture

is a

great

advantage

and

especially

an advantage

of this

kind of

clothing

now you

see when

a Japanese

businessman

goes home

in the

evening

he's been

wearing

western

clothes

he's wearing

a regular

business suit

and a

black

necktie

and he's

miserably

uncomfortable

all day

but he

looks right

the minute

he gets

home

he puts

on what's

called a

yukata

a yukata

is a

cotton

kimono

usually made

of striped

material

rather light

in summer

it is very

thin cotton

and in

winter

it is padded

but this

is a

bathrobe

essentially

and they

relax in

this

and

they'll

dance

in it

they'll

do anything

you know

in the hotel

all the

Japanese

families

come

and they

put on

your

cup

and suddenly

revert to

this more

comfortable

way of

life

and they

all take

off to

the bathroom

where they

have a

marvellous

system of

washing

which is

a very

very hot

tub

which can

accommodate

about

in a big

household

it can

accommodate

six or seven

people at a

time

and you

wash outside

the tub

standing on

the tile

floor

you take

buckets full

of water

from the

hot tub

and throw

them over

yourself

the whole

room is

steam

also

you can't

see a

thing

if you're

afraid of

being

immodest

because the

sex is

mixed

you just

can't

see anything

so

you wash

off with

soap

outside

rinse

off

then you

get in

the bath

tub

and you

sit

and you

talk

conversation

you sit

until you

can't

stand it

you had

enough

then you

can go

back to

your room

and if

you live

in a

private

home

make a

telephone

call

in advance

so if

you live

in a

hotel

the manager

does it

for you

and you

get a

masseuse

male or

female

very often

blind

and before

you go

to sleep

they'll

come

and they

will

use

their

fingers

like

little

nibblers

they don't

they're not

these kind

of tough

finish

masseuse

you've

got

but it's

very

subtle

vibration

of the

nerve

ends

and

you've

got to

sleep

it's

great

and

this is

you see

a highly

civilized way

of living

this is

an aspect

I'm just

saying these

things to talk

about clothes

and bath

clouds and

rooms

it's a very

important point

that

zen buddhism

is

not like

that we

think of

religion

as being

spiritual

I remember

years and

years ago

when

it was in

at the world

conference of

faiths in

London

we had a

meeting of

all the

faiths

and there

was a

final meeting

which was a

great auditorium

in queens hall

in London

and the

chief

representatives

of the

different

religions

were asked

to speak

on the

supreme

spiritual

ideal

well you

can imagine

what an

opportunity

for hot air

that was

and people

got up

and they

talked about

this abstractment

and that

abstractment

brotherly

love

and oh

it became

sickening

finally little

old Suzuki

got up

with his

eyebrows

going like

this

and he

said

I am

asked

this evening

to talk

about

supreme

spiritual

ideals

no

but

oh

sure

what a word

spiritual

means

so I

look it

up in

fiction

I

cannot

understand

this

I

see

spiritual

people

in

this

country

here

in England

but

the

spiritual

people

make

very

other

material

surroundings

I

think

spiritual

we

Buddhists

see

spiritual

material

same

thing

and then

he went

on to

give a

description

of his

garden

and house

at home

and to

make the

point

that

the West

is confused

we think

we are

materialists

and we

aren't

a materialist

is a person

who loves

material

wouldn't that

be a fair

definition

do any

of our

cities

look as

if they

were made

by people

who

love

material

they

let's

take

Los Angeles

it is

a

chunky

it is

made

by people

devoted

to the

conversion

of

material

into

rubbish

as fast as

possible

I mean

lots of

the things

we make

are rubbish

even before

they're thrown

away

we can't

cook properly

I mean

some of us

can't

in our

homes

and a few

elegant

restaurants

so by and

large the

food that

you buy

in the

journey

across the

country

is fried

and rancid

as

cook

with

to quote

Lucius

Bege

it is just

not love

it's made

by people

who know

that it's

good food

you know

and you

ought to

eat it

and it's

all scrubbed

and soaked

before being

served

and it's

you know

but it's

terrible food

because the

people who

made it

didn't love

material

we are

devoted you

see in this

war against

nature

to abolish

the limitations

of time

and space

so we've

got these

jet planes

now jet

planes aren't

made by

true materials

they are

beautiful

pieces of

engineering

and those

people

they love

steel

they love

wiring and

electricity

they know

they can

make it

but the

use to

which this

thing is

put

instead of

being for

a marvelous

entertainment

you know

that zoom

as you go

off

they are

so maneuverable

these poor

pilots have

to keep

them still

like that

but actually

on one

of these

jet planes

you can

have a

real ride

they are

tremendously

tough

beautifully

airworthy

and so

you could

go to Hawaii

instead of

just going

straight

like that

while you're

sitting and

pretending

they're in

their living

rooms

you could

make circles

and you

have a

wonderful time

traveling

if you don't

do that

so what

happens is

this

in abolishing

the limitations

of time and

space

and conquering

nature

Hawaii

becomes the

same place

as Los Angeles

it is

being Los

Angelized

and

it is

a cross

between

Atlantic

City

and

Sunset

Boulevard

and

a little

bit of

Tokyo

thrown in

because

all places

connected

by jet

are becoming

the same

place

wake up

in Tokyo

and you

don't know

where you

are

you have

a vague

feeling

it's Japan

but you're

not sure

that it

isn't

San Francisco

in some

sense

it might

be Los

Angeles

it might

be Paris

it might

be Shanghai

it's all

thrown

together

and more

you see

every great

metropolitan

center of

the world

is becoming

the same

place

and this

place is

a junk

heap

you know

that book

published

God's Own

Junkyard

photograph

our world

our civilization

what we're

doing

and it's

because we

do not

love

material

the great

symbol of

the unloved

material

is plastic

stuff called

Tiki Taki

actually

which is a

mixture

of plaster

of Paris

paper mache

and plastic

glue

and it comes

in any

flavor

and it's

formless

and has

no texture

and you

know that

song

they're all

made out

Tiki Taki

and they

all are

just the

same

well that

is the

symbol of

the philosophy

against

material

make material

infinitely

malleable

make it as

completely

spiritual

in other

words as

possible

drink pure

alcohol

instead of

wine

you see

that's

becoming

increasingly

spiritual

because what

the spiritual

person is

looking for

is kicks

in the

sense of

magic

the

Aladdin's

lamp

rub this

thing

and

instantly

anything

you want

will be

fulfilled

and that

is the

one situation

that nobody

really wants

if you think

about it

let's take

it in

regard

to

sex

sex is a

highly

desirable

thing

but it is

had on the

basis that

I get it

exactly when

I want it

and wherever

I want it

it ceases

to be

interesting

I'm

very liberal

on these

matters

but there

is nothing

more

sexually

discouraging

than a

nudist

account

where

everything

is shown

and it

becomes

boring

because

you see

the nature

of the

universe

as I said

in the

beginning

is

the

dynamics

of being

are

now you

see it

now you

don't

it

and that's

also the

basis of

coquetry

women in

particular

who are

artists in

coquetry

should be

a little

difficult

they should

cover up

they should

conceal

themselves

they're going

to reveal

later on

but not

now

and if

you don't

have that

kind of

element in

life

you've

lost the

point

so in

the same

way

if there

is no

distance

to travel

between one

place and

another

it's not

worth

going there

in Japanese

architecture

for example

they don't

believe in

picture windows

except

occasions

they on

the whole

feel that

if there

is a

view

you ought

to make

a little

effort

to go

and look

at it

so that

when you

look at

the view

you don't

do anything

else

so you

don't take

the view

for granted

so you

climb up

a little

stairway

at a

certain

point

where there

is a

moon

viewing

platform

which

looks out

over a

garden

views

but before

you know

where you

are

the view

is somebody

else's

picture

window

looking

at

yours

and there's

no privacy

privacy is another

important thing

especially when

population is

increasing

and from which

we have many

lessons to learn

from Japanese

and Chinese

architecture

the art

you see

when you live

in a household

where everything

is made of

paper

you can hear

everything that

goes on

all belly

rumbles

and such

intimate

noises

are

perfect

public

property

that you

get to learn

not to know

this

they learn

to see

without looking

and to hear

without listening

and they

manage to

create

marvellous

privacy

by the

use of

space

by the

use of

screens

and by

using

small

interior

areas

to build

gardens

that in

their

architecture

suggest

huge

interior

spaces

somebody

in a

small

garden

copies

a

Chinese

painting

a

great

landscape

of

mountains

and rivers

doesn't do it though

you must avoid

when you make a

Japanese garden

please don't use

toy stone lanterns

bridges

bronze stalks

and anything like that

that's just

terrible

it's corn

I must

sometimes give a

whole lecture on

bad taste in

oriental art

but don't use

those things

avoid them like the

plague

you should use

nothing

but sand

and rock

and plants

oh yes

no but even if

that's sometimes

expensive

that's the point

if you can afford

water

for example

in Kyoto

the gardens

that can afford

water

very often

have it piped in

from the hill springs

in bamboo tubes

and you know how

those bamboo tubes

come out

over a stone

where the top

of the stone

has been hollowed out

into a pool

and that water

is flowing down

all the time

into that

and the sound

goes on

and on

and there's a

dipper there

you can pick up

and drink

if you want to

but that's a luxury

and it's a luxury

in Southern California

really

but so the artist

makes his streams

out of sand

and he rakes the sand

in such a way

that it becomes water

so with nothing

but sand and rock

the most famous garden

in the world

is Rio Anji

which is made of

nothing but sand

and rock

and

it suggests

either

a beach

or an ocean

with islands

it doesn't supposed

to mean anything

they unfortunately

when you go there

they travel

the tourist

sort of trade

issues

little

pamphlets

in English

on what each

one of the rocks

means

the person

who did this

had no such

thing in mind

there's also

a very very funny

Zen priest

at another temple

called Dyson Inn

who

doesn't speak

very good English

but has memorized

a beautiful lecture

in English

which he gives

on the spiritual

meaning of the

rock and sand garden

how you progress

from the hard

crunchy rocks

of human passions

to the pure void

of nirvana

where there's

a large expanse

but nothing in it

but two mounds

of sand

on sand

you can hardly

see them

and he gives

this great style

and verb

and one day

I tweeted

and said

you seem to think

that this garden

means something

he said to me

the trouble with you

is you're too

skillful with words

but he's a very

nice fellow

but he's got a

little racket

going there

you know

they have to have

an explanation

they want to know

what it means

people always

take hold of a piece

of Chinese art

and say

what does that

symbolize

well really often

it doesn't

symbolize anything

now here we come

you see

to a most important

point about all this

what we call

the meaning of life

and you can't

really appreciate

this without being

a materialist

words have meanings

because every word

refers to something

other than itself

the word water

refers to a certain

drinkable experience

and you know

what water means

if you had that

experience

but water

as a noise

and as a set

of letters

is not the same

is not itself

drinkable

and so we could

have a kind of

a then saying

water cannot be

drunk

and you would now

get the meaning

of that

it is terribly

important therefore

not to get hooked

on words

because hooked on

words is the same

thing as to get

hooked say on money

money symbolizes

wealth

in the same way

that words

symbolize the physical

world of nature

now money is a

very poor diet

you can't eat it

but the only thing

that you can do

practically with money

is use it for wallpaper

but yet people

value money

more than they value

wealth

you know this experience

when you go to a

supermarket

and you come up

with your cart

full of all these

things you bought

and the clerk

brings up the thing

and finally hands you

a strip of paper

about so long

and says

thirty dollars

please

people feel a little

bit gloomy

thirty dollars

gone

but you've got the

stuff in the basket

because the

thirty dollars

are the symbol

and they're the

abstraction

they're the

spiritual thing

the stuff in the

basket is the

reality

that's the

material thing

so then

to be

a materialist

and to reverence

material

is to begin to

understand you see

the secret of life

it teaches you

for example

to live here

and now

because the material

world is an entirely

present world

there is no past

material world

there is no future

material world

past and future

are purely abstract

worlds

they're worlds

one can think

about

that have

happened

and have gone

but can be

preserved in

memory symbols

and the future

world is a world

that may happen

but the real world

is entirely now

the great problem

for mankind

you see

is to relate

to the real world

which I will call

the material world

to live in it

to be here

and to enjoy

the fact that

the material world

doesn't mean anything

I see

this is very difficult

for us to dig

because

when we say

something is meaningless

we mean it's a

washout

it is no good

words are meaningful

now supposing

things were like words

supposing this bamboo

meant something

like a word

means something

what does this bamboo

mean

is it supposed to have

some significance

to be a sign

pointing to something

beyond itself

of course not

this is it

this

fantastic

creature

which goes

like this

that's the point

that's what life

is about

and if you can't

see that

you can't see anything

so when they ask

in Zen

what is the Buddha

which means

what is the

principle of enlightenment

the ultimate reality

the answer is

the bamboo tree

and the garden

but that's not saying

you see

this is not being

Philistine philosophy

which says to people

stop asking silly questions

and get on with your dinner

you know

like you might say

to some sort of

inquisitive child

it's not that

it's that if you

understand

that this

now reality

symbols refer to

past and future

remember

to the elsewhere

to the non here and now

if you understand

this here and now

you are there

you've arrived

and there are

no further problems

so when they say

in the Hindu tradition

Tattva Masi

that art thou

or

this

world is Brahman

which means

the witch

in which there is

no witcher

they mean just that

just exactly that

arrive

here

but here

you can't understand it

if you look for meaning

in it

when Rinzai

who was a great

Chinese Zen master

was asked

what is the meaning

of Buddhism

he said

if there is any meaning

in it

I myself

am not delivered

now

that is the sense

then

that

the whole universe

is nonsense

that just as you

could hear Hindu

musicians

when they sometimes

play rhythms

they go

and they make

all kinds of funny

noises like that

what's it all about

when we like to dance

clap hands

most people do

most people like to

spend most of their

free time

engaged in some

kind of a rhythmic

activity

singing

dancing

hitting balls

around greens

various things

of that kind

they're absolutely

pointless

but hooray

I mean what are

birds singing about

the mockingbird

gets up there

and makes

those extraordinary

noises

which are very

artful

the morning

mockingbirds

have learned to

imitate nightingales

there are no

nightingales in the

United States

but people play

records of

nightingales

when they play

the Speegies

the birds of

Rome

the mockingbirds

of Southern

California

have picked up

the nightingale

song

but these are

ridiculous birds

they go on

and they make

all these noises

but there's no

point to it

except doing

that

so the whole

universe is doing

that

it's playing

and we take it

seriously

we say

oops

what do you mean

so a Zen master

once wrote this

poem

when he was

about to die

he said

from the bathtub

to the bathtub

I have uttered

stuff of nonsense

the bathtub in which

the baby is washed

at first

and the bathtub in which

the corpse is

for burial

all the time

I've been talking

nonsense

so

I remember

a letter

which the

great

Sokayan Sasaki

who was

the New York

Zen teacher

for many years

wrote to one of his

former students

who aspired

to be a novelist

and who wanted

to write novels

which would

help people

understand Zen

he said

you mustn't do that

he said

you my friend

are raising waves

when no wind

is blowing

don't write any

story to the

human being

write it to the

great sky

that here I am

studying Buddhism

50 years

and all I have

learned in this

time is great

nonsense

it is spring

today

and I go out

to get my

shoeshine

and there is

the shoeshine boy

shining a lady's

shoe and holding

her ankle

and two nuns

go by in their

ghostly black

robes

and he looks

at them and

winks at me

and this wink

doesn't mean

anything

you think of

the great

storytellers

Fanny Hurst

O. Henry

so on

they don't have

any message

they are just

talking about

life in a

beautiful way

as it rolls

on

as the water

flows

that is the

great art

you do

that

so in

the same

way

we had

some time

ago

a discussion

in Kyoto

with

Morimoto

Roshi

a marvelous

dinner party

and we

were talking

about

the work

that is

being done

in Japan

to translate

Zen literature

into English

and Morimoto

Roshi

shook his head

and said

I don't think

that's necessary

he said

you can use

any book

you like

to teach

Zen

you can use

the dictionary

he said

I make a

koan

to my

students

what is

the first

word

in the

dictionary

think

that one

over

or

even

he said

you could

use

the bible

you could

use

Alice in

Wonderland

he said

after all

the sound

of the rain

needs no

translation

that's the

most interesting

thing I heard

in Japan

except the

sound of the

rain

when we

were having

an early

morning lecture

from the

Roshi

Odagoshi

of

Daitopuji

one of the

great Zen

temples in

Kiyoil

it was a

very interesting

affair

because they

came in

and they

beat all

sorts of

drums

and rang

bells

oh they

got marvellous

rhythms

going on

these things

and they

made

obeisances

to the

Buddha

and the

Roshi

laid out

carpet

and prostrates

himself

several times

to the

Buddha

in preparation

for giving

the Buddha

a lecture

and the

Buddha sits

on one

throne

his image

and immediately

opposite of

another throne

is the

Roshi

and he

engages

in the

dialogue

and one

of the

students

takes a

book stand

and holds

it up

in front

of him

and from

this

he reads

you know

he has

he gives

on this

lecture

the

commentary

on one

of the

great

Zen

classics

and everybody

is handed

copies of

it in

Chinese

who's

you know

there's a whole

bunch of

weird swinging

westerners

who go in

and sit

on those

two

and they

all

read this

and the

monks

sit opposite

on one

side

but in

the middle

of it

it started

ringing

and the

rain came

down on

that roof

like thunder

he didn't

raise his

voice

slightest

difference

went straight

on

what you

hear

makes no

difference

just listen

to the

sound

of the

voice

now

I can

explain this

to you

in a

poem

but this

regards

letting you

in on

a little

bit of

scholarly

information

I

there's

another

section

other

than

that

which

is

called

shinshu

which

means

the

true

school

or

jodo

shinshu

means

the

pure

land

true

school

and this

is the

easy

way

of

it

because

they say

this world

and its

practical

problems

and all

its

commitments

and

involvement

make it

too

difficult

for ordinary

people

to become

enlightened

but this

has all

been taken

care of

in the

higher

world

because

there

is

a

great

Buddha

called

Amitabha

in Japanese

Amida

and he

has made

a vow

that anybody

who repeats

his name

with sincerity

will at

their death

be born

into his

special

domain

where it's

a cinch

to become

a Buddha

everything

is made

easy

and when

you get

there

you know

there will

be a

great

pool

vast

pool

think

of that

pool

in front

of this

Buddha

and every

new

person

the lotus

pops up

in the

pool

and the

body

pop

and there's

a new

person

from this

world

sitting in

that

lotus

and eventually

that lotus

is going

to be as big

as the universe

and there's

going to be you

as the Buddha

sitting on it

you know

and then your

lotus pool

in front of you

and all

those

new

lotuses

coming

so all

you have

to say

to get

this

scene

is

namo

amida

butz

that means

namo

name

like the

french say

namo

you'll be

quite sure

you know

you only need

to say it

once

you'll be

quite sure

by saying

the rosary

well

anyway

there's

something in

this

it's not

as superstitious

as it sounds

and so

zen people

and

shinshu people

sometimes get

together

well

there was a

zen master

who had a

student

whose background

was shinshu

and the zen master

felt that this

student was getting

warm

getting near the

point

and so he said

why don't you

write a poem

that expresses

your understanding

so he said

he would

and our

saying

namo

amita

buddha

is called

nenbutsu

is

remembering

buddha

that means

now

it means

to think

about

hold the

mind

it means

also

an individual

thought

buddha

nenbutsu

that he wrote

was

when the nenbutsu

is said

there is

neither buddha

nor oneself

namo

amita

buddha

only

the sound

is heard

the sound

is a rain

which means

no translation

but the zen master

said

it's alright

as far as it goes

but it's not perfect

write it again

the man

thought it over

and came back

with another form

of the poem

that said

when the nenbutsu

is said

there is

neither buddha

nor oneself

namo

amita

buddha

namo

amita

my criticism

is that he added

one line

too many

let's have a brief

intermission

===== Zen And The Arts - 02 - Why Not Now =====

Hello, I'm Bill Hartley, publisher of Audio Renaissance, and I'm very pleased to introduce

you to Alan Watts' Teaches Meditation, the most recent addition to our library of Alan

Watts' tapes. The material for this program has been made available to Audio Renaissance

through our association with Alan Watts' son, Mark Watts, and the vast archival collection

of recordings of Alan Watts, maintained by the Electronic University. Portions of the

material used in this recording were previously available under the title, Why Not Now?, produced

by Gary Usher for Ascension Records. The Electronic University wishes to acknowledge Mr. Usher's

contribution and to thank him wherever he may be. And now, may I introduce Alan Watts' Teaching

Meditation. The art of meditation is a way of getting

into touch with reality, and the reason for it is that most civilized people are out of

touch with reality because they confuse the world as it is with the world as they think

about it and talk about it and describe it. For on the one hand, there is the real world,

and on the other, a whole system of symbols about that world which we have in our minds.

These are very, very useful symbols. All civilization depends on them. But like all good things, they

have their disadvantages. And the principal disadvantage of symbols is that we confuse them with reality,

just as we confuse money with actual wealth. And our names about ourselves, our ideas of ourselves,

our images of ourselves, with ourselves. Now, of course, reality, from a philosopher's point

of view is a dangerous word. A philosopher will ask me, what do I mean by reality? Am I talking

about the physical world of nature? Or am I talking about a spiritual world? Or what? And to that,

I have a very simple answer. When we talk about the material world, that is actually a philosophical

concept. So, in the same way, if I say that reality is spiritual, that's also a philosophical concept.

And reality itself is not a concept. Reality is, and we won't give it a name. Now, it's amazing what

doesn't exist in the real world. For example, in the real world, there aren't any things,

things. Nor are there any events. That doesn't mean to say that the real world is a perfectly featureless

blank. It means that it is a marvelous system of wiggles in which we describe things and events in the

same way as we would project images on a Rorschach plot, or pick out particular groups of stars in the

sky and call them constellations, as if they were separate groups of stars. Well, there are groups

of stars in the mind's eye in our system of concepts. They are not out there as constellations already

grouped in the sky. So, in the same way, the difference between myself and all the rest of the

universe is nothing more than an idea. It is not a real difference. And meditation is the way in which we

come to feel our basic inseparability from the whole universe. And what that requires is that we

shut up. That is to say, that we become interiorly silent and cease from the interminable chatter that

goes on inside our skulls. Because, you see, most of us think compulsively all the time. That is to say,

we talk to ourselves. And I remember when I was a boy, we had a common saying, talking to yourself is the

first sign of madness. Now, obviously, if I talk all the time, I don't hear what anyone else has to

say. And so, in exactly the same way, if I think all the time, that is to say, if I talk to myself all

the time, I don't have anything to think about except thoughts. And therefore, I'm living entirely in the world

of symbols. And I'm never in relationship with reality. All right. Now, that's the first basic reason

for meditation. But there is another sense, and this is going to be a little bit more difficult to

understand, why we could say that meditation doesn't have a reason, or doesn't have a purpose. And in this

respect, it's unlike almost all other things that we do, except perhaps making music and dancing.

Because when we make music, we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the

composition. If that were the purpose of music, to get to the end of the piece, then obviously the

fastest players would be the best. And so, likewise, when we are dancing, we are not aiming to arrive

at a particular place on the floor, as we would be if we were taking a journey. When we dance,

the journey itself is the point. When we play music, the playing itself is the point.

And exactly the same thing is true in meditation. Meditation is the discovery that the point of

life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. And therefore, if you meditate for an ulterior motive,

that is to say, to improve your mind, to improve your character, to be more efficient in life,

you've got your eye on the future, and you are not meditating. Because the future is a concept.

It doesn't exist. As the proverb says, tomorrow never comes. There is no such thing as tomorrow.

There never will be. Because time is always now. And that's one of the things we discover when we stop

talking to ourselves, and stop thinking, we find there is only a present, only an eternal now.

So, it's funny then, isn't it, that one meditates for no reason at all, except we could say for the

enjoyment of it. And here I would interpose the essential principle that meditation is supposed to be

fun. It's not something you do as a grim duty. The trouble with religion, as we know it, is that it is

so mixed up with grim duties. We do it because it's good for you. It's a kind of self-punishment.

Well, meditation, when correctly done, has nothing to do with all that. It's a kind of digging the

present. It's a kind of grooving with the eternal now. And brings us into a state of peace,

where we can understand that the point of life, the place where it's at, is simply here and now.

Well now, in the art of meditation, there are various props, supports.

One thing that we are going to use as a means of stilling chatter in the mind is pure sound. And for

that reason, it's useful to have a gong. This is a Japanese Buddhist gong made of bronze and shaped

like a bowl. If you don't have one of these, you can get the rounded end of an oxygen tank. Have a

machinist saw it off roughly into the shape of a bowl and use that. Or you can use your own voice,

chanting. Another prop in meditation is the use of incense. And that is because the sense of smell

is our repressed sense. And because it's our repressed sense, it has a very powerful influence on us.

And therefore we associate certain smells with certain states of mind. And so the smell of incense

is associated with peace and contemplation. And so it's advantageous to burn incense in meditation.

The other prop is a string of beads. And these beads are used in meditation for an unconscious

method of timing yourself. Instead of looking at a watch, you move a bead each time you breathe in

and out. So that at a certain rate, you see there are always 108 beads on a rosary. And when you get to

slow breathing, halfway around the rosary is about 40 minutes. And that is the usual length of time for

which one sits in meditation, because otherwise you get uncomfortable and you get stiff legs and

problems of that kind. Now then, the other thing, first of all, that we have to go into is how does

one sit in meditation? You can sit any way you want. You can sit in a chair or you can sit like I'm

sitting, which is the Japanese way of sitting. Or you can sit in the lotus posture, which is more

difficult, which is cross-legged with the feet on the thighs, soles upwards. And the younger you start

that in life, the easier you'll find it to do. Or you can just sit cross-legged on a raised cushion

above the floor. Now the point of this is that if you keep your back erect, I don't mean stiff like this,

nor slumped like this, but just easily erect, you are centered and easily balanced, and you have a

feeling of being thoroughly rooted to the ground. And that sort of physical stability is very important

for the avoidance of distraction and generally feeling settled.

Here and now, je suis, je reste, as the French say. I'm here and I'm going to stay.

Well now, the easiest way to get into the meditative state is to begin by listening. If you simply close your

eyes and allow yourself to hear all the sounds that are going on around you. Just listen to the general hum

and buzz of the world as if you were listening to music. Don't try to identify the sounds you're hearing.

Don't put names on them. Simply allow them to play with your eardrums and let them go. In other words,

you could put it, let your ears hear whatever they want to hear. Don't judge the sounds.

There are no, as it were, proper sounds or improper sounds. And it doesn't matter if somebody coughs or

sneezes or drops something. It's all just sound. And if I am talking to you right now and you're doing this,

I want you to listen to the sound of my voice just as if it were noise. Don't try to make any sense out of

what I'm saying because your brain will take care of that automatically. You don't have to try to

understand anything. Just listen to the sound. As you pursue that experiment, you will very naturally find

that you can't help naming sounds, identifying them, that you will go on thinking, that is to say,

talking to yourself inside your head automatically. But it's important that you don't try to

repress those thoughts by forcing them out of your mind. Because that will have precisely the same

effect as if you were trying to smooth rough water with a flat iron. You're just going to disturb it

all the more. What you do is this. As you hear sounds coming up in your head, thoughts, you simply listen to

them as part of the general noise going on, just as you would be listening to the sound of my voice or just as you

would be listening to cars going by or to birds chattering outside the window. So look at your own thoughts

as just noises. And soon you will find that the so-called outside world and the so-called inside world

come together. They are a happening. Your thoughts are a happening, just like the sounds going on outside.

And everything is simply a happening. And all you're doing is watching it. Now in this process,

another thing that is happening that is very important is that you're breathing. And as you

start meditation, you allow your breath to run just as it wills. In other words, don't do at first any

breathing exercise, but just watch your breath breathing the way it wants to breathe. And notice

a curious thing about this. You say in the ordinary way, I breathe, because you feel that breathing is

something that you are doing voluntarily, just in the same way as you might be walking or talking.

But you will also notice that when you are not thinking about breathing, your breathing goes on

just the same. So the curious thing about breath is that it can be looked at both as a voluntary and an

involuntary action. You can feel on the one hand, I am doing it, and on the other hand, it is happening to me.

And that is why breathing is a most important part of meditation, because it is going to show you,

as you become aware of your breath, that the hard and fast division that we make

between what we do on the one hand and what happens to us on the other is arbitrary. So that as you watch

your breathing, you will become aware that both the voluntary and the involuntary aspects of your

experience are all one happening. Now that may at first seem a little scary, because you may think,

well, am I just the puppet of a happening, the mere passive witness of something that's going on

completely beyond my control? Or on the other hand, am I really doing everything that's going along?

Well, if I were, I should be God. And that would be very embarrassing, because I would be in charge of

everything. That would be a terribly responsible position. The truth of the matter, as you will see it,

is that both things are true. You can see it that everything is happening to you. And on the other

hand, you're doing everything. For example, it's your eyes that are turning the sun into light. It's the

nerve ends in your skin that are turning electric vibrations in the air into heat and temperature.

It's your eardrums that are turning vibrations in the air into sound. And in that way, you are creating

the world. But when we're not talking about it, when we're not philosophizing about it, then there is

just this happening, this, and we won't give it a name. Now then, when you breathe for a while,

just letting it happen, and not forcing it in any way, you will discover a curious thing,

that without making any effort, you can breathe more and more deeply. In other words, supposing you

simply are breathing out, and breathing out is important because it's the breath of relaxation,

as when we say, whew, and heave a sigh of relief. So when you are breathing out,

you get the sensation that your breath is falling out, dropping, dropping, dropping out,

with the same sort of feeling you have, as if you were settling down into an extremely comfortable bed.

And you just get as heavy as possible and let yourself go. And you let your breath go out in just

that way. And when it's thoroughly, comfortably out, and it feels like coming back again,

you don't pull it back in, you let it fall back in, letting your lungs expand, expand, expand,

until they feel very comfortably full. And you wait a moment and let it stay there,

and then once again, you let it fall out. And so in this way, you will discover that your breath gets

quite naturally, easier and easier, and slower and slower, and more and more powerful. So that with

these various aids, listening to sound, listening to your own interior feelings and thoughts,

just as if they were something going on, not something you are doing, but just happenings,

and watching your breath as a happening that is neither voluntary nor involuntary, you are simply

aware of these basic sensations, then you begin to be in the state of meditation. But don't hurry anything,

don't worry about the future, don't worry about what progress you're making, just be entirely content

to be aware of what is. Don't be terribly selective, particularly say, I should think of this and

not of that. Just watch whatever is happening. Now then, to make this somewhat easier, to

have the mind free from discursive verbal thinking. Sound, or chanted sound, is extremely useful.

If you, for example, simply listen to the gong, and let that sound be the whole of your experience,

it's quite simple, it requires no effort. And then along with that, especially if you don't have a gong,

a gong, we can use what are called in the Sanskrit language, mantra. Mantra are chanted sounds,

which are used not so much for their meaning, as for the simple tone.

And they go along with that easy kind of slow breath. One of the basic mantras is, of course,

the sound OM. That sound is used because, if you spell it out, A-U-M,

it runs from the back of your throat to your lips. And therefore, it contains the whole range of the

voice. And for that reason, it represents the total energy of the universe. This word is called the

pranava, the name for the ultimate reality, for the witch, than which there is no witcher. And so,

in this way then, if you chant it, and it's varied like this, you can keep that up for quite a long time.

And eventually, you will find, as you go on chanting, that the words of the chant will simply have

become pure sound. And you won't be thinking about it. You won't have any images about the

sound going on in your mind. You will simply become completely absorbed in sound. And therefore,

you will find yourself living in an eternal now, in which there is no past, and there is no future,

and there is no, something called, difference between what you are as knower, and what you are as

the known, between yourself and the world of nature outside you. It all becomes one doing, one happening.

Now, in addition to those slow-moving chants, you may find it, according to your temperament,

easier to do a fast-moving one. These have a sort of rhythm to them that is absorbing. Say,

a chant that many of you have heard, that goes,

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Krishna,

Hare Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama Ramama

Hare Hare Hare Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama

Rama Ramama, Hare Hare Hare

and it doesn't matter what it means

actually Krishna and Rama are the names of Hindu divinities

but that's not the point

the point is just to get with that thing that is running, running, running

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare and so on

and if you're a Christian or a Jew and you feel more inclined to use a meditation word

that is more congenial to you

you can use, say, Alleluia, Alleluia

or if you're a Mohammedan

you can use the Allah, the name of God

they have a way of doing it, you know, which gets very exciting

Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah

Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah Allah, Allah Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah Allah, Allah and it gets faster and faster you can keep that up for 40 minutes

and you'll be out of your mind but you see to go out of your mind at least once

a day is tremendously important because by going out of your mind you come to

your senses and if you stay in your mind all the time you are over rational in

other words you're like a very rigid bridge which because it has got no give

no craziness in it is going to be blown down in the first hurricane see when we

try to control the mind a lot of yoga teachers try to get you to control your

own mind mainly to prove to you that you can't do it there's nothing you know

a fool who persists in his folly will become wise so they what they do is they

speed up the folly and so you get concentrating and you can have a

certain amount of superficial and initial success by a process commonly

called self-hypnosis and you can think you're making progress and a good

teacher will let you go along that way for a while until he really throws you

with one why are you concentrating see Buddhism works this way Buddha said if

you suffer you suffer because you desire and your desires are either unattainable

or always being disappointed or something so cut out desire so those

disciples went away and they stamped on desire jumped on desire cut the throat

of desire and threw out desire but then they came back and Buddha said but you are

still desiring not to desire they wanted how to get rid of that but you see it

works like this all spiritual discipline works this way I show you it's done in

the form of a child's game you know there's the church and there's the

steeple open the door and there are the people and here's the parson going

upstairs and there he is saying his prayers catch him catch him catch him catch

him catch him you never can because the would-be catchee is the catcher so then

that's like desiring not to desire loving out of a sense of duty trying to be

spontaneous because you ought to be see all that is nonsense lifting yourself up

by your own bootstraps so when you see that that's nonsense there naturally comes

over you a quietness in seeing that you cannot control your mind you realize there

is no controller what you took to be the thinker of thoughts is just one of the thoughts what

you took to be the feeler of the feelings which was that chronic muscular strain is just one of

the feelings what you took to be the experiencer of experience is just part of the experience so

there isn't any thinker of thoughts feeler of feelings we we get into that bind because we have

a grammatical rule that verbs have to have subjects and the funny thing about that is that verbs are

processes and subjects and nouns which are supposed to be things how does a noun start a verb how does

the thing put a process into action obviously it can't but we always insist that there is this

subject called the Noah and without a Noah there can't be knowing well that's just a grammatical rule

it isn't a rule of nature in nature there's just knowing like you're feeling it and i have to say

you are feeling it as if you were somehow different from the feeling when i say i am feeling what i mean

is there is feeling here when i say you are feeling i mean there is feeling there i have to say even there

is feeling what a cumbersome language we have chinese is easier you don't have to put all that in

in by you can say things twice as fast in chinese as you can in any other language well anyway when you

come to see that you can do nothing that the play of thought of feeling etc just goes on by itself as a

happening then you are in a state which we will call meditation and slowly without being pushed your

thoughts will come to silence that is to say all the verbal symbolic chatter going on in the skull don't

try and get rid of it because that will again produce the illusion that there's a controller just

it goes on it goes on it goes on and finally it gets tired of itself and bored and stops and so then

there's a silence and this is a deeper level of meditation and in that silence you suddenly begin

to see the world as it is and you don't see any past and you don't see any future you don't see any

difference between yourself and the rest of it that's just an idea you can't put your hand on the

difference between myself and you you know you can't blow it you can't bounce it you can't pull it it's just an

idea you can't find any material body because material body is an idea so is spiritual body this is somebody's

philosophical notions see reality isn't material that's an idea reality isn't spiritual that's an idea

reality is so we find if i've got to put it back into words that we live in an eternal now you've got

all the time in the world because you've got all the time there is which is now and uh you are this

universe and you feel the strange feeling when when when ideas don't define the differences you feel

that other people's doings are your doings and that makes it very difficult to blame other people

if you're not sophisticated theologically you may of course run screaming in the streets and say that

you're god in a way that's what happened to jesus because he wasn't sophisticated theologically he only

had old testament biblical theology behind him if he'd had hindu theology he could have put it more subtly

but uh it was only that rather primitive theology of the old testament

and that was the conception of god as a monarchical boss and you can't go around and say i'm the boss's

son if you're going to say i'm god you must allow it for everyone else too but this was a heretical

idea from the point of view of hebrew theology and so what they did with jesus was they pedestalized him

that means kicked him upstairs so that he wouldn't be able to influence anyone else

and uh only you may be god and um that stopped the gospel cold right at the beginning

he couldn't spread well anyway this is therefore to say that the transformation of human consciousness

through meditation is frustrated so long as we think of it in terms of something

that i myself can bring about by some kind of wangle by some sort of gimmick

because you see that leads to endless games of spiritual one-upmanship

and of guru competitions of my guru is more effective than your guru my yoga's a faster than your yoga i'm

more aware of myself than you are i'm humbler than you are i'm sorrier for my sins than you are i love

you more than you love me it is interminable goings-on about which people fight and wonder whether they

are a little bit more evolved than somebody else and so on all that can just fall away and then

we get this strange feeling that we have never had you see in our lives except occasionally by accident

some people get a glimpse that we are no longer this poor little stranger and afraid in a world it never

made but that you are this universe and you are creating it at every moment because you see it starts

now it didn't begin in the past there was no past see if the universe began in the past when that happened

it was now see well it's still now and the universe is still beginning now and it's trailing off like

the wake of a ship from now in the wake of the ship fades out so does the past you can look back there to

explain things but the explanation disappears you'll never find it there things are not explained by the

past they're explained by what happens now that creates the past and it begins here the birth of

responsibility because otherwise you can always look over your shoulder and say well i'm the way i am

because my mother dropped me and she dropped me because she was neurotic because her mother dropped her

and away we go back to adam and eve or to a disappearing monkey or something we never get at it but in this

way you're you're faced with you doing all this and that's an extraordinary shock so cheer up you can't

blame anyone else for the kind of world you're in and that helps a great deal because most of the good

things we are trying to do are based on blaming somebody else and to improve them kindly let me help

you or you'll drown said the monkey putting the fish safely up a tree if therefore we would stop

blaming others it'd be very difficult to go about a war with a straight face and if you know you see

that i in the sense of the person the front the ego it really doesn't exist then it won't go to your

head too badly if you wake up and discover that you're god i'm not really a musician but it just so

happens that i have in front of me a fabulous instrument which the japanese call koto i suppose it

would be best described as a table harp long instrument stringed with bridges horizontal harp it was

customary among chinese poets in the old days to read poetry and strum on the lute or table harp

at the same time and i've got here a curious old text called psych on time which means the vegetable root

discourses written by koji say somewhere around 1624 and i thought i'd like to read some of this to you

and to get into the right mood i suggest that you try to become a little stupid that is to say

childlike as if you hardly knew how to talk and didn't really know very much about anything that's

going on just listen as you would listen to the wind if the mind is clear a dark room has its blue sky

mind if the mind is somber broad daylight gives birth to demons and evil spirits the just man

has no mind to seek happiness heaven therefore because of this mindlessness opens its inmost heart

the bad man busies himself with avoiding misfortunes heaven therefore confounds him for this desire

how unsearchable are the ways of heaven how useless the wisdom of man the tao is common property

it should be pointed out to all we meet learning is as ordinary as eating rice at home according to the

circumstances it should be applied circumspectly the ancients left rice for mice and did not light lamps out

of pity for moths these thoughts of theirs are the operation point of humanity in life

lacking this a man is a mere earthman a wooden body the zen sect says when you are hungry eat

when you are weary sleep poetry aims at the description in common language of beautiful scenery

the sublime is contained in the ordinary the hardest in the easiest what is self-conscious and ulterior is

far from the truth what is mindless is near will you try and experiment with me simply close your eyes

and allow your ears to hear all sounds around you

don't try to name or identify these songs just hear them as you would listen to music as when you hear a

flute or a guitar without asking what it means and as and when i talk just hear the sound of my voice

don't bother about what it means your brain will take care of that by itself just let your eardrums

respond as they will to all vibrations now in the air don't let yourself or your ears be offended by

improper or unscheduled sounds if for example the record is scratchy okay you wouldn't object if you

were listening to it sitting by a fire of crackling logs let them ring it's just a noise and keep your tongue

relaxed floating easily in the lower jaw also stop frowning allow the space between your eyes to feel

easy and open and just let the vibrations in the air play with your ears you must understand that in

meditation we are concerned only with what is with reality nothing else the past is a memory

the future and expectation neither past nor future actually exist there is simply eternal now

so don't seek or expect a result from what you're doing that wouldn't be true meditation

there's no hurry just now you're not going anywhere simply be here

live in the world of sound let it play that's all in the world of pure sound can you actually hear anyone

who is listening can you hear any difference between all these sounds on the one hand and yourself on the

other naturally we use techniques and gimmicks to help the thinking mind to become silent

and one of them is the gong it is a sound at once pleasing and compelling it absorbs attention but

watch what happens when it fades out the one sound becomes the many the single tone is transformed

easily and gently into all other noises and that's how the universe comes into being out of the one energy

underlying all events so if you don't have a gong you can use your own voice by chanting what Hindus and

Buddhists call a mantra that is a syllable or phrase sung for its sound rather than its meaning chief of these

as the syllable ohm called the pranava or the sound of god because it involves the whole range of the

voice from the back of the throat to the lips take the tone from the gong and hum it with me oh you can

hear all sounds as ohm they're all at some point in the total range of sound from the back of the throat to

the lips making a spectrum of sound as all colors are originally one white light but don't ask what the

sound is or what it means just hear it and dig it come with me again let me explain again what we are

doing we are going behind words names numbers beliefs and ideas to get back to the naked experience of

reality itself and at this level of awareness we find no difference between the listener and the sound

the knower and the known the subject and the object

or between the past the present and the future all that's just talk what is really happening is you may

wonder how i can keep the sound going for so long a time it depends on regulation of the breath which is

basic to the art of meditation and i'm going to show you how to do this and why to begin with just as you've

been letting vibrations in the air play with your ears let your lungs breathe as they will don't as yet

attempt any breathing exercise don't force anything simply allow breathing now is this breathing a voluntary

or involuntary action or both or neither just feel it without taking sides without words and again hear my

voice as if it were wind in the trees or the sound of waves

Most of us are short of breath. We never really empty our lungs. But to make a long, complete out-breath, you mustn't force it. Imagine there's a large ball of lead inside your neck, and allow it to fall slowly through your body to the floor, pushing and easing the breath out as it drops.

Ease the breath out just as you settle and sink down comfortably into a bed, and when the ball reaches the floor, let it drop away as if to the center of the air. Then let the breath come back, back in, as a reflex, without pulling it, and then imagine another ball of lead in the neck, and again let it fall out, long and easy, and once.

Once again. Now, do you see what's happening? You are generating a great deal of energy without trying or forcing. Two things seem to be happening at once. First, the outflow of breath is simply falling, happening all by itself. Second, it's under perfect control.

So, from this practice, you learn to experience, to realize that what happens to you, and what you do, are one and the same process.

There is no real separation between one thing called you, and another quite different thing called the universe. When you stop talking and naming, they're quite obviously one.

So, again, let your breath fall easily out, all the way. Let it come back on its own, and then out again.

And now, let's put the sound, ah, on the next outflow. And again, so that you have nothing in mind, but Hindus use this melodious and now familiar chant.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna

The point is not what it means, but how it feels.

What happens to you when there is complete absorption in the chant?

Thought and idea called your ego simply disappeared, didn't it?

Then, there is a very effective mantra used by an important sect of Islamic mystics known

as Sufis.

Like all these different mantrams, they will be kept up for quite long periods, say 15 to

20 minutes or more.

So what I'm giving you are only samples.

You can easily do this one with me, it goes like this.

Reformation has no purpose, no objective, except to be entirely here and now.

It isn't something you do to improve yourself, to get ahead in the world, or to prepare yourself

for life.

For the division of time into past, present, and future is a trick of words and numbers.

All memories and expectations exist now.

And now only.

Because now is what there is and all that there is.

We could say that the past flows back from now, like the wake from the prow of a ship,

and then just like the wake vanishes.

As the wake doesn't drive the ship, the past does not propel or move the present.

Unless you, here and now, want to insist that it does, and so give yourself a perpetual alibi

for every kind of irresponsibility.

But I'm not preaching.

That would be a diversion from our feeling centered in this eternal here and now, from feeling

it directly as the reality.

Again then, just let all sounds going on play upon your eardrums, without trying to name,

identify, or locate them.

Relax your tongue.

Let it just float in your lower jaw.

Close your eyes.

If you're still thinking in words or calculating about this, that, and the other, which you're

supposed to be doing, don't try to stop it.

Just let your mind do whatever it likes.

And hear its chatter as if you were listening to rippling water.

So then, we're going to try and find out and feel what we mean by the word now.

Not the idea, but the actual sensation.

Get it?

Like that?

Or this?

Are these two different kinds of now?

One a short, sharp pop, and the other a long, continuous boom.

Is now a split, split second?

Or is it a drawn out expanse of sensation?

Try this.

Just stand up for a moment.

And take three steps forward.

One, two, three, and stop.

Where at this moment is the first step you took?

And where is the next movement you're going to make?

Hold it.

Be still.

Next movement hasn't happened.

Past movements aren't here.

Where are you?

When are you?

What is the position of the universe?

When is it?

Where is it?

Take another step.

Is this a new now?

Or the same old now where you always were?

The next step is not with your feet, but with your imagination.

Recall the first step that you just made.

Now when are you?

Back then or still here?

Think a word.

Just feel.

Please sit down again and relax.

For meditation, it's best to sit on the floor.

In lotus posture or just cross-legged or kneeling on a cushion and sitting back on your heels.

Spine straight, hands with palms upward resting upon each other.

The reason for this position is that it's firm and grounded and just uncomfortable enough to

keep you from going to sleep.

But don't fight the discomfort.

Relax into the position just as you have learned how to relax and to ease out a long, long breath

and so create energy without strain.

In the same way, if you have understood that there is no time but now, you will be able

without the least difficulty to sit in this way for a long time, as measured by the clock.

Once again, the essence of the whole art is to feel, to experience, to sense what is,

what happens, without defining it, without saying anything to yourself about it.

So let your breath flow easily, heavily, down and out again.

No strain.

And after it has come back in, once more, keep it up.

We are going to play it along with the sound mu, a Chinese-Japanese word which means that

which isn't a thing, a think, a thought, an idea, but reality itself.

The very sound, mu, dig that.

What is mu, is you.

What is I?

Some people say it's this body, others the mind, the ego or the soul.

But all those, body included, are names and notions.

Can we experience the self directly, like a sound, a flame or any other object?

Put your hands on that mysteriously invisible thing known as your head.

Keep your eyes open, easily, blinking occasionally without staring.

Let's assume that all ordinary ideas of what my self is are either so wrong or so doubtful

that we must investigate the matter directly.

How to do that?

You must first get the sensation, the feeling of yourself without forming any idea.

Regard words in the head as mere noise.

Relax your tongue and let it float easily in your lower jaw.

Just stop, look, and listen.

Let the various colors and shapes before you play with your eyes, just as you have been letting

sounds play with your ears.

Where are they?

Out in front of your face or inside your brain, in the optical nervous system?

Is your head in the world or is the world in your head?

Or both?

Either you were everything you felt or you just didn't feel yourself, the feeler, at all.

Just as you didn't see your eyes, all or nothing.

As is said in an ancient Chinese text called The Secret of the Golden Flower, between the

all and the void is only a difference of name.

Now put your hands back on your lap, palms upward, one upon the other, and just let go of it

all.

Let your ears hear whatever they like.

Let the nerve ends in your skin feel whatever they like.

Let your eyes see whatever they like.

Let your nose smell whatever it likes.

Let your mind think whatever it likes.

Let your lungs breathe as they will.

And let things happen as they are happening.

Are these all different senses or just one sense, consciously?

Listen to my voice as you listen to the sound of the rain.

The sound of the rain needs no translation, no explanation.

Now I want to show you another form of meditation, which I heard about from a Zen Buddhist master,

who said it was one of the very best ways.

Will you please stand up and put your hands on your hips with wrists upwards?

Now let's all just laugh

laughing

money

laughing

And now sit down again

This zen master told me that

maybe you should do that first thing in the morning when you get up

It's even better than sitting

for a long time and getting your legs stiff.

Now, how do you feel?

Where was you when you were laughing?

What is you now?

Listen.