In our previous lectures, we have studied the relationship between real and seeming, or emptiness and forms. Real, we mean something beyond our thinking. Whatever we say about it, it is just a suggestion, not real or emptiness itself.

[01:13]

It is something beyond our thinking mind, so we call it emptiness. It is not actually something which we can understand in terms of good or bad, not real or not real. And seeming, or whatever it is, or what we say, everything what we say or what we see is forms. And we actually live in the world of forms and colours, and we don't know actually what is emptiness itself.

[02:28]

But even we call it emptiness, there are some rules how emptiness takes various forms. So, according to some rules, emptiness takes its form and colour. And we are explaining about the relationship between emptiness and forms, which we can see. Right now, we have been mostly discussing in a rather philosophical way.

[03:46]

But tonight, it may be better to explain it in a more psychological way, or a more physical way. According to Buddhist psychology, you know, of course we have five senses and thinking mind. And to some faculty, to lead our thinking mind in false, to make our thinking mind mistake, that kind of faculty we have. And there is also some faculty to point out the mistake of the seventh mind.

[04:55]

Five senses and thinking mind, that is six. Seventh one is to make our mind make mistake, that is the sixth one. Seventh one, that is the mind which lets our thinking mind stick to something. There is no need to stick to something, you know, actually. But the seventh mind makes the sixth mind to stick to something. The truth we think, the idea we have is not always, should not be always the same, it should change.

[06:03]

But we are liable to stick to some idea. Why we do so is because of the sixth mind we explain. And that sixth mind is, of course, a mistake. We should not stick to some idea always, because everything is changing. If things in reality are changing, our mind should change also. But we are liable to think something always exists, something which we see, which we saw always exists. And some conclusion we reach is always true, but it is not so. Today's conclusion will not be true anymore, tomorrow maybe.

[07:19]

But we are liable to stick to some conclusion or idea. That is the seventh mind. And eighth one told us, tell us, that is also a mistake. And eighth one, eighth sense is at the same time the storehouse of various ideas and knowledge. And eighth sense is just the purpose of, motto of the eighth sense is just to keep things as it is, old and new.

[08:33]

Everything is mountain and river, whatever it is. What we see is always kept in our mind. That is eighth sense. And it includes also, not only knowledge or ideas, but also outward object, so-called outward object. Objective world, including mountains and stones and rivers and water. Everything, you know, which we call objective world is included in our eighth mind.

[09:35]

So eighth mind or sense is both subjective and objective, and material and spiritual. But most of us, most of us are very much involved in thinking mind. And we ignore the more fundamental mind, because we put more emphasis on thinking mind. So we ignore our tummy, which is the center of more vegetable-like nervous system.

[10:50]

We call it, I think you call it, autonomous nervous system. This is the center of autonomous nervous system. And, you know, our brain is the center of thinking mind. And our nervous system connects both centers, like this. We know many things about our brain system, but we don't know whether we have mind here or not.

[11:52]

But from ancient time, oriental people studied a lot about this mind. Just very, you can, I don't think you have any idea of having some mind. And to our great astonishment, you know, the most, maybe 99% of our nervous system is more vegetable-like system, not smart thinking nervous system.

[13:03]

And we Chinese people call mind here is yang, and this mind here is yin. Some people understand yang is better than yin, or more powerful than yin, but that is not right. Both yin and yang are important. So, yin means something which produces many things, that is yin, like earth. Earth is yin and the sun is yang. And yang helps producing earth many things. And woman is yin and man is yang.

[14:10]

We don't know which is more important. Anyway, both is necessary, yin and yang. And Chinese people think this mind we have here is, or this mind or nervous center, center of vegetable-like nerves is here, right here. And this is actually the branch of this nervous system according to Chinese understanding of mind. So, even though you cut off our mind from this mind, cutting off the connection between this mind and this mind,

[15:34]

still you can survive, and still you will have children, still you can eat. If you cut off this mind from yin mind, this center exists, but this center stops working. So, that is why, you know, we put emphasis on practice of here. If you practice zazen, you will have more active, more autonomous nervous system.

[16:51]

On the other hand, on the contrary, if you use too much thinking mind, it will affect the activity of your nervous center here, and will create some digestion, or will create some trouble to your tummy or lungs, which is in your tummy. We, you know, by the way, it means flesh, you know,

[18:08]

and this means earth, which is yin, and this character means hara, this is hara, the flesh, earth or yin natured flesh is here. And it is, so this is very important part. It is not just, tummy is not just to keep your various things, you know, back to keep various things in it, it is very important.

[19:11]

Hara. So, in our practice, we rather stop our thinking and encourage our activity of more vegetable-like nerve. And this is nearer to the understanding of reality. We analyze things for some purpose, you know, but more important thing is to support ourselves in healthy condition.

[20:15]

And you can analyze things and think about something, and try to make our life easier. But first of all, we have to keep ourselves healthy. So, even though, so maybe, you know, that is why we are now more interested in medicine, or medical science, rather than philosophy nowadays, I think. And when you become more interested in medical science,

[21:22]

eventually we will be more interested in study of our own hara. And Chinese people say, according to Chinese people, you know, we have five organs in our body. And each one of us, each one of them has some special, not thinking, but nervous activity.

[22:28]

My friend is very, now in Japan, authority of Chinese medical, medicine. And he has been, he was a good student when we were studying together. But he started to, he became interested in Arabs and Chinese medicine. And he is still continuing reading many books. And relationship between Zen and Chinese medicine. And it is so voluminous that I have no time to follow his books.

[23:42]

But what he described in those magazines or books is very interesting. And he has big confidence in our future medicine. Which is almost, you know, vanished from China and from Japan after Meiji period. When we are more interested in Western medical science. So, according to our law, we cannot be a doctor unless we study Western medicine. That is the only way to be, to have license as a doctor.

[24:49]

And we have still therapy, for instance, what we call, to burn our skin. On some point, or to put a needle, by needle, here, we help some people. But they are just popular therapists. They have no, they have license, but they have no license to diagnose a patient.

[26:00]

If they come, they will see him, and of course, you know, unless he knows what is wrong with him, he cannot use his therapy. But by law, it is prohibited to make some prescription to diagnose a patient. But if you study more, nowadays it is very difficult to have, to read books, to collect books. Because we haven't, not much books even. And in China also, those valuable classics is no more.

[27:13]

So, he has very difficult time to study Chinese medicine. This is not what I wanted to talk tonight. But anyway, what I want to say is, you know, thinking mind, in our practice, you know, we stop, rather stop our thinking mind to make our more fundamental activity active. Sometimes we say direct experience. What does it mean physically or psychologically?

[28:18]

More to stop our thinking mind and to open our basic mind. By taking off the veil of thinking mind. That is the purpose of our practice, physically speaking or psychologically speaking. Anyway, we western people, eastern people, oriental people, our base of, for oriental people, base of our thinking is oneness, oneness.

[29:25]

And that one will be divided yin and yang, yin and yang. And that one will be divided yin and yang, yin and yang. And that one will be divided yin and yang, yin and yang.

[29:34]

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