It's an amazing thing in our culture, everybody is afflicted with ontological guilt
For example, if a policeman comes to the door
Everybody is instantly frightened, you wonder, “What on Earth have I done?”
And there are certain clergy who are absolute experts in making you feel guilty
They’re really marvelous
And they're a clergy of all kinds, all classes, and for all levels of intelligence
And they can make you feel real guilty [Laughs]
[Chorus]
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Now you see the thing is, that really is a puzzle, they don't admit they're playing games
And when a person is playing games, and doesn't admit that they're playing games
Then you have some kind of a trickster who isn't really being fair to you
Now of course the game, that this game is not a game, has a certain kind of a fascinating quality to it
How mixed up can we all get? Let's try
How mixed up can we all get? Let's try
See, there is a certain possibility in that
I would like to go insane and be as insane as anybody has ever been
And be the far-est out crazy nut in the world
See, that's a game, but it's not a good game
It's a game being played by a person who didn't really understand that every day life was a game too
And I think the most important thing is to admit this
[Chorus]
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
For example, if a policeman comes to the door
Everybody is instantly frightened, you wonder, “What on Earth have I done?”
And there are certain clergy who are absolute experts in making you feel guilty
They’re really marvelous
And they're a clergy of all kinds, all classes, and for all levels of intelligence
And they can make you feel real guilty [Laughs]
[Chorus]
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Now you see the thing is, that really is a puzzle, they don't admit they're playing games
And when a person is playing games, and doesn't admit that they're playing games
Then you have some kind of a trickster who isn't really being fair to you
Now of course the game, that this game is not a game, has a certain kind of a fascinating quality to it
How mixed up can we all get? Let's try
How mixed up can we all get? Let's try
See, there is a certain possibility in that
I would like to go insane and be as insane as anybody has ever been
And be the far-est out crazy nut in the world
See, that's a game, but it's not a good game
It's a game being played by a person who didn't really understand that every day life was a game too
And I think the most important thing is to admit this
[Chorus]
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
Only, you have to watch always
What games people are play
So, it's difficult for us because of that cultural heritage to accept
To accommodate our common sense
To the idea that the web might basically be playful
That it might be like somebody saying, "Won't you come and play with me?"
A child, and the other child has some little hesitation
“I don't know whether I ought to play with you, you come from the wrong side of the track. I don't feel like playing today, I feel serious. I don't think play is important, we ought to do something real like wash the dishes for mother.”
Who incidentally has forgotten that the whole point of washing the dishes is
[Chorus]
Playful
Arranging patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
You don't wash the dishes for a serious reason
You like the table to look nice, you know?
You don't want to serve up the dishes for the dinner with all the leavings of breakfast still lying on them
So why do you want the table to look nice?
Well, again it's “f’nice”, you like the pattern of it that way
People get terribly compulsive about doing these things
And they think that going on arranging the patterns of life is something that's a duty
That means a debt, that you owe it to yourself, or to your family, or to someone or other
You're in debt
See that's the trouble
When a child comes into the world the parents play an awful game on it
Instead of being honest they say
"We've made such great sacrifices for you
Here we are we've supported you, we've paid for your education, and you're an ungrateful little bastard."
And the child feels terribly guilty because
What we do is we build into every human being the idea
That existence is guilt
[Chorus]
Playful
Arranging patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
The existentialists make a big thing of this
You watch out for them
Because they're hoaxers and they say that guilt ontological
If you're not feeling guilty, you're not human
That was because papa and mama said
"Look at all the trouble you've caused us, you shouldn't dare to exist. You have no rights, but maybe we'll give you some out of the generosity of our heart, so that you'll be permanently indebted to us."
And so everybody goes around with that sort of thing in their background, unless they have different kinds of papas and mamas
Who didn't play that trick on them
And if they don't do it, somebody else does it
Auntie comes around and says
"You don't realize what your father and mother have done for you. You think you can just stay around here and goof off, but they have sweated blood to give you your clothes, and food, and so on, and you ought to be grateful for it."
But that's not the way to make people grateful
They won't be grateful that way
They'll imitate gratefulness, they'll put on a big show and say
"Oh thank you so much, I feel so indebted to you," and so on and so forth
And they'll make it look good
But it isn't real
But it isn't real
Because actually, one's father and mother
Had a great deal of fun bringing you into being, or we hope they did
And they wanted to do that the worst way
They have no reason to complain about all these things
And try and make the children feel guilty
[Chorus]
Playful
Arranging patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
To accommodate our common sense
To the idea that the web might basically be playful
That it might be like somebody saying, "Won't you come and play with me?"
A child, and the other child has some little hesitation
“I don't know whether I ought to play with you, you come from the wrong side of the track. I don't feel like playing today, I feel serious. I don't think play is important, we ought to do something real like wash the dishes for mother.”
Who incidentally has forgotten that the whole point of washing the dishes is
[Chorus]
Playful
Arranging patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
You don't wash the dishes for a serious reason
You like the table to look nice, you know?
You don't want to serve up the dishes for the dinner with all the leavings of breakfast still lying on them
So why do you want the table to look nice?
Well, again it's “f’nice”, you like the pattern of it that way
People get terribly compulsive about doing these things
And they think that going on arranging the patterns of life is something that's a duty
That means a debt, that you owe it to yourself, or to your family, or to someone or other
You're in debt
See that's the trouble
When a child comes into the world the parents play an awful game on it
Instead of being honest they say
"We've made such great sacrifices for you
Here we are we've supported you, we've paid for your education, and you're an ungrateful little bastard."
And the child feels terribly guilty because
What we do is we build into every human being the idea
That existence is guilt
[Chorus]
Playful
Arranging patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
The existentialists make a big thing of this
You watch out for them
Because they're hoaxers and they say that guilt ontological
If you're not feeling guilty, you're not human
That was because papa and mama said
"Look at all the trouble you've caused us, you shouldn't dare to exist. You have no rights, but maybe we'll give you some out of the generosity of our heart, so that you'll be permanently indebted to us."
And so everybody goes around with that sort of thing in their background, unless they have different kinds of papas and mamas
Who didn't play that trick on them
And if they don't do it, somebody else does it
Auntie comes around and says
"You don't realize what your father and mother have done for you. You think you can just stay around here and goof off, but they have sweated blood to give you your clothes, and food, and so on, and you ought to be grateful for it."
But that's not the way to make people grateful
They won't be grateful that way
They'll imitate gratefulness, they'll put on a big show and say
"Oh thank you so much, I feel so indebted to you," and so on and so forth
And they'll make it look good
But it isn't real
But it isn't real
Because actually, one's father and mother
Had a great deal of fun bringing you into being, or we hope they did
And they wanted to do that the worst way
They have no reason to complain about all these things
And try and make the children feel guilty
[Chorus]
Playful
Arranging patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life
Playful
Arranging the patterns of life, f’nice!
Playful
[Chorus]
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
When people are unoccupied, as far as I can make out
They get together and the sing and dance
Or else watch somebody else do it
Nowadays we live in a non-participative culture
And we don't do very much singing and dancing
We are lugubrious
But we watch other people do it on television
What we really are interested in is to be able to spend all the time going
“gohooda-bada-doo boom-di-di-boo-ba gohooda-bada-doo
Boom-di-di-boo-ba bee-boo doodie-boodie doo-doo tchi-ko”
You know something like this
And that's what our heart's doing
That's what our lungs are doing
That's what our eyeballs are doing
And it's what all these fantastic capillaries of the veins are doing, they're going
“joo-di-boo-di, huppa-bubba, umpa-buba jee-dee-dee-dee,”
And that's the point
And now the thing is ought this to be allowed [Laughs]
You know?
Dare we admit it?
[Chorus]
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
Because we've been brought up you see
In a cultural context
In which the universe is presided over by somebody serious
It's only very, very occasional obscure references in the Jewish and Christian scriptures
To the idea that God dances
Of course in Hindus they know Shiva dances, and all the Gods dance
They're represented in the dance
But in our way of looking at things
No
Back, that deep down in there is something that you must respect
You mustn’t laugh in church
Especially if you got in front of the throne of heaven
Everybody would be dead silent
Wow! You see, I mean that's really serious
Here is the father Almighty, world without end
And you watch out!
Don't you laugh
Why not?
Because father Almighty, world without end, is a very insecure fellow
Anybody laughed he might feel uneasy, you know?
Like something wrong going on
Someone challenged his power
[Chorus]
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
So he is a funny fellow, you see?
As we've mythologized
Ultimate reality in the form of this cosmic grand papa
Who is also a king
And is demanding above all things reverence and respect
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
When people are unoccupied, as far as I can make out
They get together and the sing and dance
Or else watch somebody else do it
Nowadays we live in a non-participative culture
And we don't do very much singing and dancing
We are lugubrious
But we watch other people do it on television
What we really are interested in is to be able to spend all the time going
“gohooda-bada-doo boom-di-di-boo-ba gohooda-bada-doo
Boom-di-di-boo-ba bee-boo doodie-boodie doo-doo tchi-ko”
You know something like this
And that's what our heart's doing
That's what our lungs are doing
That's what our eyeballs are doing
And it's what all these fantastic capillaries of the veins are doing, they're going
“joo-di-boo-di, huppa-bubba, umpa-buba jee-dee-dee-dee,”
And that's the point
And now the thing is ought this to be allowed [Laughs]
You know?
Dare we admit it?
[Chorus]
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
Because we've been brought up you see
In a cultural context
In which the universe is presided over by somebody serious
It's only very, very occasional obscure references in the Jewish and Christian scriptures
To the idea that God dances
Of course in Hindus they know Shiva dances, and all the Gods dance
They're represented in the dance
But in our way of looking at things
No
Back, that deep down in there is something that you must respect
You mustn’t laugh in church
Especially if you got in front of the throne of heaven
Everybody would be dead silent
Wow! You see, I mean that's really serious
Here is the father Almighty, world without end
And you watch out!
Don't you laugh
Why not?
Because father Almighty, world without end, is a very insecure fellow
Anybody laughed he might feel uneasy, you know?
Like something wrong going on
Someone challenged his power
[Chorus]
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
What do people do most of the time?
And what would they like to do really?
What's your idea of heaven?
What's your idea of heaven?
So he is a funny fellow, you see?
As we've mythologized
Ultimate reality in the form of this cosmic grand papa
Who is also a king
And is demanding above all things reverence and respect
So you see there's something going on
This web may be looked at as a pattern, and the world is basically patterning
What else do you do?
When you come to think of it?
What else do you do?
When you come to think of it?
When you eat, you are turning food into the pattern of your skeleton
Your muscles, and your nervous system
[Chorus]
That's a pattern
And you say, you see basically “Hooray for that pattern!”
That's a pattern
That's a pattern
And you say, you see basically “Hooray for that pattern!”
That's a pattern
But then you want other patterns, you'd like to look through a microscope and see the patterns that exist in the small world
And see the patterns
You'd like to look through a kaleidoscope or a teleidoscope
And see the patterns
You'd like to have paintings around
And see the patterns
You like to watch the water play
And see the patterns
You want to watch the birds go, and the clouds and all that
Fascinating patterns
And that really does, doesn't it seem to be the point. I mean what do you do?
When you're very rich?
Take some rascal of ancient times who became very rich by all sorts of skullduggery and warfare and so on
He got himself a suit of armor
A beautiful sword
And he had the armor make the most intricate patterns
Arabesques of inlaid gold on the steel
Why?
Because it's as they say among the Pennsylvania Dutch, it’s “f’nice.”
It's a great thing to have all that jazz
And that's what we go for
That's a pattern
[Chorus]
That's a pattern
And you say, you see basically “Hooray for that pattern!”
That's a pattern
That's a pattern
And you say, you see basically “Hooray for that pattern!”
That's a pattern
But then you want other patterns, you'd like to look through a microscope and see the patterns that exist in the small world
And see the patterns
You'd like to look through a kaleidoscope or a teleidoscope
And see the patterns
You'd like to have paintings around
And see the patterns
You like to watch the water play
And see the patterns
You want to watch the birds go, and the clouds and all that
Fascinating patterns
This web may be looked at as a pattern, and the world is basically patterning
What else do you do?
When you come to think of it?
What else do you do?
When you come to think of it?
When you eat, you are turning food into the pattern of your skeleton
Your muscles, and your nervous system
[Chorus]
That's a pattern
And you say, you see basically “Hooray for that pattern!”
That's a pattern
That's a pattern
And you say, you see basically “Hooray for that pattern!”
That's a pattern
But then you want other patterns, you'd like to look through a microscope and see the patterns that exist in the small world
And see the patterns
You'd like to look through a kaleidoscope or a teleidoscope
And see the patterns
You'd like to have paintings around
And see the patterns
You like to watch the water play
And see the patterns
You want to watch the birds go, and the clouds and all that
Fascinating patterns
And that really does, doesn't it seem to be the point. I mean what do you do?
When you're very rich?
Take some rascal of ancient times who became very rich by all sorts of skullduggery and warfare and so on
He got himself a suit of armor
A beautiful sword
And he had the armor make the most intricate patterns
Arabesques of inlaid gold on the steel
Why?
Because it's as they say among the Pennsylvania Dutch, it’s “f’nice.”
It's a great thing to have all that jazz
And that's what we go for
That's a pattern
[Chorus]
That's a pattern
And you say, you see basically “Hooray for that pattern!”
That's a pattern
That's a pattern
And you say, you see basically “Hooray for that pattern!”
That's a pattern
But then you want other patterns, you'd like to look through a microscope and see the patterns that exist in the small world
And see the patterns
You'd like to look through a kaleidoscope or a teleidoscope
And see the patterns
You'd like to have paintings around
And see the patterns
You like to watch the water play
And see the patterns
You want to watch the birds go, and the clouds and all that
Fascinating patterns
We've discussed the web from three points of view
As an analogy of the selective operation of our senses and mind
Whereby certain things in the world are picked out as significant according to certain game rules
The game that we are playing mostly is the survival game
That is to say the game ought to go on
Only the way we play the survival game has a kind of element in it
Which makes it difficult
Because we tend to say, “The first rule of this game is that it's serious.”
And that messes the whole thing up
So, you have to watch out in other words when you play
For contradictory game rules, self contradictory game rules
Because if you get mixed up into them
The game seizes to be worth the candle
You start straining at doing something when it just isn't worth it
Then the second thing that we observed
Was the web as an analogy of mutual interdependence
We could call it the idea that all existence is relative
That all existence is transactional
The transaction being typically exemplified by say the operation of buying and selling in which there can be no buying without somebody selling, and there can be no selling without somebody else buying
That kind of interdependence of the inside going together with the outside
[Chorus]
What is in you going together with what is outside you
Is absolutely fundamental to existence
It is existence
Existence is relativity, existence is relativity
What is in you going together with what is outside you
Is absolutely fundamental to existence
It is existence
Existence is relativity, existence is relativity
Existence is relativity
Then we explored the web as a trap
The spider's web, "Won't you come into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly
And we saw what happens when you look at all of life from the point of view
That it is original selfishness and original hunger
And we found that if you take that point of view to its ultimate extreme
It dissolves
And it isn't so bad after all
Shakespeare says, "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and theory, signifying nothing."
When it's put that way, it doesn't seem so bad after all [Laughs]
[Chorus]
What is in you going together with what is outside you
Is absolutely fundamental to existence
It is existence
Existence is relativity, existence is relativity
What is in you going together with what is outside you
Is absolutely fundamental to existence
It is existence
Existence is relativity, existence is relativity
Existence is relativity
I remember that I had a Zen master friend who wrote a letter to a friend of mine, which was passed onto me
This friend of mine was aspiring to be a writer
And he was trying to write a novel that would but across Buddhism to people
Sugar the pill
And my Zen master friend didn't approve of this at all
He said, "Don't write any story to people, write it to the great sky.”
Because all the real masters of literature, especially novelists and storytellers
Are great masters of nonsense
Think of Lewis Carroll
You can use Lewis Carroll, and he did use Alice in Wonderland as a Zen textbook:
‘‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.”
That’s Zen
I had a discussion with a great master in Japan
We were talking about the various people who are working to translate the Zen books into English
He said, "That's a waste of time."
"If you really understand zen," he said
"You could use any book, you could use the Bible, you could use Alice in Wonderland, you could use the dictionary."
Because he said, "The sound of the rain needs no translation."
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
So what does the rain say?
Evening rain
It is the banana leaf that speaks of it first
You see that's the point, and all the talk in the world
Doesn't get it unless you listen to the talk in a new way
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
As an analogy of the selective operation of our senses and mind
Whereby certain things in the world are picked out as significant according to certain game rules
The game that we are playing mostly is the survival game
That is to say the game ought to go on
Only the way we play the survival game has a kind of element in it
Which makes it difficult
Because we tend to say, “The first rule of this game is that it's serious.”
And that messes the whole thing up
So, you have to watch out in other words when you play
For contradictory game rules, self contradictory game rules
Because if you get mixed up into them
The game seizes to be worth the candle
You start straining at doing something when it just isn't worth it
Then the second thing that we observed
Was the web as an analogy of mutual interdependence
We could call it the idea that all existence is relative
That all existence is transactional
The transaction being typically exemplified by say the operation of buying and selling in which there can be no buying without somebody selling, and there can be no selling without somebody else buying
That kind of interdependence of the inside going together with the outside
[Chorus]
What is in you going together with what is outside you
Is absolutely fundamental to existence
It is existence
Existence is relativity, existence is relativity
What is in you going together with what is outside you
Is absolutely fundamental to existence
It is existence
Existence is relativity, existence is relativity
Existence is relativity
Then we explored the web as a trap
The spider's web, "Won't you come into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly
And we saw what happens when you look at all of life from the point of view
That it is original selfishness and original hunger
And we found that if you take that point of view to its ultimate extreme
It dissolves
And it isn't so bad after all
Shakespeare says, "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and theory, signifying nothing."
When it's put that way, it doesn't seem so bad after all [Laughs]
[Chorus]
What is in you going together with what is outside you
Is absolutely fundamental to existence
It is existence
Existence is relativity, existence is relativity
What is in you going together with what is outside you
Is absolutely fundamental to existence
It is existence
Existence is relativity, existence is relativity
Existence is relativity
I remember that I had a Zen master friend who wrote a letter to a friend of mine, which was passed onto me
This friend of mine was aspiring to be a writer
And he was trying to write a novel that would but across Buddhism to people
Sugar the pill
And my Zen master friend didn't approve of this at all
He said, "Don't write any story to people, write it to the great sky.”
Because all the real masters of literature, especially novelists and storytellers
Are great masters of nonsense
Think of Lewis Carroll
You can use Lewis Carroll, and he did use Alice in Wonderland as a Zen textbook:
‘‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.”
That’s Zen
I had a discussion with a great master in Japan
We were talking about the various people who are working to translate the Zen books into English
He said, "That's a waste of time."
"If you really understand zen," he said
"You could use any book, you could use the Bible, you could use Alice in Wonderland, you could use the dictionary."
Because he said, "The sound of the rain needs no translation."
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
So what does the rain say?
Evening rain
It is the banana leaf that speaks of it first
You see that's the point, and all the talk in the world
Doesn't get it unless you listen to the talk in a new way
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation
The sound of the rain needs no translation