. [...] Good morning.

[19:05]

Good morning, all here in the room, and good morning on Zoom. Unfortunately, I cannot see you. I'm happy to know that you're there. My name is Timo, for those who don't know me. I'm pretty good in being resistant to giving Dharma talks. So this is only one of my first few talks since the 14 years I'm living here at Dringach. This talk, actually, tomorrow, Monday, the 10th, is Indigenous People Day. And so I want to acknowledge living on this wonderful, beautiful land here, Green Gulch Farm, which was stewarded and taken care of for many, many thousands of years before us by the Coast Miwok people.

[20:25]

And I think the day tomorrow is for us to remember the unspeakable violence and harm and injustice that has been done to these people here and all the other tribes in other parts of this country of what they called Turtle Island. So I want to extend from all of us, our gratitude for them taking care for such dramatic long time for this land and the beings living here. And I personally have the deep belief that actually their caring and their living in harmony with all beings comes from

[21:33]

deep-rooted face of them in the connection in the dependence of all beings and so i want to dedicate this talk to them and to the connection of all beings and So what I will be talking about today is my limited view of what Buddhism's view is of interconnection, interdependence. And I just realized, I think I'm allowed to remove my mask for the talk. I mean, I should long enough. I'm sorry, that makes some sounds here. my face oh you can't hear me now you see i'm not doing this very often how about now and i'm in need my glasses too okay so

[23:13]

I'm starting with the interdependence as a central theme, I could say, which runs through many teachings of Buddhism. In the early Buddhist teachings, this interdependence or dependency is mostly described as a dependent arising or dependent origination. And in these early talks, the focus or the concern of that theme of dependency is usually suffering. And so the focus of this teaching is the limited factors, the countable factors that are involved in bringing forth suffering. And so they describe the factors which lead to suffering, and they describe the factors which free us from suffering.

[24:28]

And that is described in the famous teachings of the Four Noble Path, Four Noble Truth, which is the truth of suffering. The arising of suffering, the ceasing of suffering, and the pass, the eightfold pass to become free. And then the details are more laid out than in the 12-fold chain, 12-fold link of suffering. 12-fold chain of causation, it's actually called. So having mentioned that, I think I couldn't leave that out. I want to move in this talk more into later teachings, into later Buddhist teachings, which see more broader view of interdependency. And the reason why I want to move there is because these teachings remind me of what I felt like was a deep face of indigenous people.

[25:38]

So in these later teachings, in contrast to the earlier, they are not looking at limited views on creating suffering they are more looking about um unlimited like holistic view of the independence of the whole world and all the animate and inanimate things we have in this world and I want to introduce this teaching by a quote of venerable Tishnatan. And he says, if you are a poet, you will see clearly that there's a cloud floating in this sheet of paper.

[26:44]

Without a cloud, there will be no rain. Without rain, the trees cannot grow. And without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we cannot say that the cloud, so we can say. We can say that the cloud and the paper inter-ar. That's what he calls it, inter-ar. And I think with this very poetic, beautiful description, most of the people, spiritual views or not, can directly relate to interdependence of things. Like you all know, like the paper, or we are dependent on The sun, the plants, the air to breathe, a place to sit, whatever, you make it up.

[27:57]

This is very clear to us. And so we can imagine also, of course, easily that this line like plants, world, animals, our ancestors, our mothers, so on, going back and back, will bring an endless list of things which we feel dependent on. But the later teachings, I want to come now to a little bit later teachings, bring even forth a more radical model of interdependence, and go beyond this, what we just heard, very intuitive view, which we put into this poem of Tishnatan.

[28:59]

And this later school, which I want to refer to now, is called the Flower Garland School, or Yen. That highlights a picture of interdependence that is called the Indra's net. So I'll just want to describe briefly the Indra's net to you. So Indra is a ruler of God in Indian mythology, and he lives in a palace on Mount Meru or Mount Sumeru. And you might know or not that Mount Sumeru is in the Buddhist teaching. the center, the central axis of the universe, at least of this universe. It's a huge mountain. I mean, it's like, I think they gave numbers how high it is, and it's about like two and a half times from here to the moon. So it's like a really huge mountain.

[30:02]

So on this mountain, Indra, on this palace, on top of this mountain, Indra hangs her net down. And this is a vast net. And at any connection of this net, there is a jewel, a very clear crystal. And so every crystal in this net completely reflects all the other crystals which are in this net. So you can imagine that any change of the picture reflected in one crystal is reflected in all the other crystal of this never-ending net. And the other way around, too, all the crystals, all the pictures of these crystals that are around are reflected in a single one crystal in that net.

[31:06]

So, That is the visual picture to make clear that all phenomena are interdependent. There's no reflection, no phenomena existing by itself. In this picture, they all, you could say, need each other, require everything else to be there, to have their own picture. And this view that there is existence in one crystal only if all other crystals are there is one view of calling this crystal is empty.

[32:11]

Just to make that point clear, it is empty. What is it empty of? This one thing, which is dependent on all other things, is empty of an existence by itself. It needs all other things for it to be what it is. And... even though that might feel a little bit intuitive, I just want to go into the example or into seeing how does it apply to ourself, just to see how revolutionary this picture is and how actually beyond our normal intuition it would be. So if I look at Timo, maybe I don't assume about you, if I look at myself,

[33:12]

can accept, like, yes, I am dependent on the air that I'm breathing. I am dependent on you making me food, giving me place to live here. I'm dependent on the sun to make me warm. I'm dependent on my family. I'm dependent on all these things. I can see that. But I still... have thought of this view is like, yeah, but if something there changes, if you just left the room, there would be still Timo here. There would be still somebody unchanged here. And even if all this, like even if the sun goes down, it's freezing cold, I would be at least for a few minutes or a few seconds, I would be the same person and not a different one. So, This is just to show that I have, and maybe you too, this feeling of like, oh, yes, I can see we are dependent, but still we are in some way, there is an independent essence.

[34:23]

There's an independence, you could say, soul here. And then you could argue, yeah, but this were just like the outside factors. So let's talk about the inside factors, like my feelings, my emotions, or... My perceptions, which I have. And yes, I know, I mean, they can change momentarily. But I also have the feeling, even if my feelings change and my perceptions change and all of these changes, I sort of have that strange idea. Oh, this is still Timo. There's still a Timo with all these changes. Who? is present through that moment, who is carried from one moment to the next. Who is still there when I wake up in the morning and had strange dreams and thought about all sorts of things.

[35:25]

And this belief in this essence, this belief in this, there's a core which we lock on to. is what I feel like the teaching wants us to let go of. And why? Now we are back at the beginning, because it wants us to be relieved from suffering. Because that teaching in a core, that teaching in a timo, which is now here and will be next moment here and goes on, that teaching leads to attachment, grasping, and all the nice realm of samsara, which is described in the early teaching in the 12-fold chain. And because it's so difficult to let go of this teaching, even with the interdependence, there are more teachings given.

[36:53]

Like one teaching in addition to that is that all the things arise and cease every moment. So that this moment with all the phenomena completely ceases. in a snap of a finger and rises again and is completely new. And that Timur, which was there, that you, which was there in the last moment, is totally made up new in the next moment. So if that story or that version which i presented was not really shocking to you i brought something for you i brought a model of interdependency which was made by my kids and i can tell you it's very explicit

[38:12]

It's very direct in its description. So if you want to close your eyes, you're welcome to. I want to pull this out. So. You see this? Do you recognize what that is? This is a bunny. And that bunny represents you. And what do you think this is? The moon is not bad. I asked my daughter, what is that bunny made of? She said, paper. Immediately.

[39:12]

Then I asked my son, what is that bunny made of? And he said, hmm, well, I think both responses are great. And what this paper here represents in this model is everything, the whole universe, every single phenomena in this universe, every single thing, every single being. And As you can see, the shape of that bunny, the form of that bunny is completely made up by the whole universe. There is nothing. The bunny itself has no own features. It is what we call in Buddhism, empty of inherent existence. I hope you won't forget that.

[40:19]

Anyway, so this is the picture of our empty self. And now how do we see ourselves? I have it and you might guess. That is how we see ourselves. And that is how our suffering arises, because we feel separate from the universe. Because we think we have some substance, we have some essence which we can lose, and so we are afraid to die, to lose whatever we have, whatever we are. And so, we need... What do we need? What do you think?

[41:26]

I have it. We need another bunny. Another bunny. This is a Luka bunny, by the way, and this is a mirror bunny. Another bunny which teaches us. A Bodhisattva bunny which says, you were never ever separate before. This is an illusion. You were always empty and part of the whole universe. And because that bunny needs some more teaching to really get that, it goes into the dependent co-arising. And the dependent co-arising is like this. This is a moment of bunny, of us, of me. And that moment completely ceases. And then a new moment comes up. A new moment with a completely new bunny, which is maybe looking a little bit like this one.

[42:33]

But the universe is a little bit different. The bunny is a little bit different. But it is not a substantial bunny which stays through. It is not something which is carried over from the last moment to the next moment. I think so much to that model. Maybe it's not necessary to say, but of course, take this model again. Of course, this is one bunny made by the universe. But of course, all, the whole universe is just made out of other bunnies, other things, which are... empty of inherent existence. So there is no substance. It's just like holes, cutouts, whatever you call them, empty things influence empty things.

[43:36]

So the right model would be like this. Okay. I think in the final part of the talk, I want to move a little more into how is this view, this not so intuitive, revolutionary view, helpful in everyday life? How is that relieving suffering? And instead of telling you, I just want to make you, just invite you to make a little trial now or whenever. For example, to think about a person, think about a person which you have some, I don't know if you have ill will against any person, but if you have some resistance or some aversion against, it doesn't need to be extreme.

[44:42]

And you imagine that person with a name. Imagine a person with a name usually gives us immediately into like, or we project an essence on that. That's just what I do. Let's say like that. Imagine this person with a name and look into how your feelings are, what your feelings are and what your projections are. And if you have done so, just try to bring up this person in an imagination, that has no name. An imagination which is like this person, this being, is just like an empty bunny. It's made up by all factors in the universe, outside of this person, inside of this person. There is not a substance of a person.

[45:45]

And then check in what your feelings are about this person. And if I do that and look at people, then I feel like, oh, it's difficult, for example, to get angry, to get angry at persons which are not really separate, which are not grasped, which the whole universe, including me, contributed to make, to be made up like this. So that's one suggestion. Another one which gets closer to us, of course, is to think about us, to imagine us, to feel into us, to have faith into us being completely made by the universe of being empty of an inherent existence.

[46:56]

And what does that do to our feelings? Like, we don't like ourselves. We put ourselves down. We put ourselves above others or arrogant. It gets in a different space. And my feeling would be, or I think the teaching would be, it allows us to give this person, the other one, And ourselves compassion with that view because there is not a fixed self which we hate. It's just the beauty of the universe which is reflected in ourselves, which is reflected in every being and which is all one thing which we can't pull separate. And maybe as a last point, a good time to explore that.

[48:14]

Being completely created, being an expression of the universe as Zazen. And I personally think it's not only a good time to do that. It is what the Zazen of this school is. Namely, an... actualization of our interdependence. It is the ceremony of a realization of our interdependence. And if I even have the feeling or the thought in the Zazan, oh, that is not very good and I think I don't get it, then this is the actualization of the universe. And to remind us of this, I see most of you holding a very nice hand gesture. We call this a cosmic mudra.

[49:19]

And the cosmic mudra reminds us of being part, being part of the universe. If we forget, let the cosmic mudra sit and remind you. And that is what Dogen describes that very nicely. It's like to carry yourself forward and experience myriad things. That is delusion. But that myriad things come forth, I say, during Zazen and experience themselves and experience the cosmic mudra. That is what is called awakening. I think, oh, we have seven minutes, good.

[50:25]

Maybe I want to end here with two quotes which felt very touching to me and which fit to the day tomorrow and to all what I tried to bring forth. these two people both left around the same time frame. One will be from Albert Einstein, and the other one will be from Black Elk or Glala Sioux. And maybe I first want to read the one from Einstein. A human being is part of a whole, called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space. They experience themselves, their thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of their consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is the one issue of true religion.

[51:32]

Not to nourish the delusion, but to try to overcome is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace in mind. And the second quote, which I feel like just says the same thing from Black Elk. What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. The true peace is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers. And when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the great spirit and that this center is really everywhere.

[52:43]

It is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. They are a chance to secretly extend to everything you can place. There is a chance to go to the end of the day. Beings are not the best.

[53:45]

I vow to save them to the end. is is I think there is time for questions or comments, expressions. It looks like the universe has nothing to express in addition right now.

[55:21]

Is there anything from the chat? No. Well, maybe we can just sit together for a minute and then end. you very much. Bye, everyone.

[58:46]

So good to see you. Tassar is doing very well. Sending greetings. Thank you. Good to see you.

[58:58]

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