Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Words from Seng-chao (374 -414) illustrate the ideas of Chan



































"Once again, words from Seng-chao (374 -414) illustrate the ideas of Ch'an. Although things move (change), they are stationary (unchanging). Although things are stationary, they still move."  In other words, although phenomena move and interact, they are fundamentally empty, and unmoving....nothing is permanent and enduring. All phenomena incessantly arise and perish.   


There is a meditation method called "silent illumination", (silent illumination is not shikantaza, the Japanese method of "just sitting") which is attributed to Hung-Chih Cheng-chueh (1091-1157). Silent Illumination incorporates both movement and non-movement. Illumination is a process of contemplation, therefore it is moving. Likewise, the object of contemplation is also moving.  "Silent" is a quiescent, unmoving state. Only when a person is "silent," or unmoving, can they genuinely observe the true nature of the movement of phenomena. Seng-chao made practical the ideas of movement and stillness by incorporating them into a method....from The Infinite Mirror by Ch'an Master Sheng Yen, pg, 49.


















 



Also check out these Chan sites of interest:
 
1. How to chan meditate:

2. Master Cheng Yen in Facebook;
 

4. the Western Chan Fellowship at http://www.westernchanfellowship.org/





















 There will be a class this Thursday night. Directions and time above.

Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,
email adrian2@shaw.ca
Please notify me if you wish to be removed from the email list.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

March 27th retreat: There will be no meeting the 24th of this week.














There will be no meeting the 24th of this week. However, there will be a 4 hour silent retreat on the 27th.


2nd Silent Interfaith Retreat Day
 music by Oliver Clarke and the Mystic Valley Voices

Are you Sikh, Native, Parsi, Christian, Humanist, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Islamic?
ð  dedicate this afternoon to solve hunger issues in our local community  ð
March 27: 1 to 4 p.m.  At the Filberg Center in the Rotary Hall
411 Anderton Avenue
Courtenay
Chanting between 2 and 3 p.m.



A retreat is a withdrawal from ordinary activities for a period of time to commune and reflect. Whichever faith you bring to this retreat, you can sit and walk beside each other with the shared intention to improve your community.

The Lush Valley Food Action Society is hosting a silent interfaith retreat on March 27th, between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Join us in your choice of silence: meditation, prayer, sacred walk, or observance.

You can make your retreat for an hour or the entire afternoon. Your suggested donation of $20 will help support the valuable programs and services offered by the LUSH Valley Food Action Society.

LUSH Valley, which has been operating in our community since 2000, is a charitable, non-profit grassroots volunteer society that supports food related projects to empower people of the Comox Valley towards wellness and environmental stewardship.  LUSH Valley’s programs promote local food sustainability; provide education about how to grow, harvest and cook food; and facilitate the generosity of those who wish to share their harvest.

For more detailed information about LUSH, please call 250-331 0152 or Google http://www.lushvalley.org

For information about the retreat, please call Adrian  at 250 898 8201 or email adrian2@shaw.ca

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Also check  out Chan sites of interest:
 
How to chan meditate:

Master Cheng Yen in Facebook; 
and the Western Chan Fellowship at http://www.westernchanfellowship.org/

Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,
email adrian2@shaw.ca
Please notify me if you wish to be removed from the email list.





Monday, March 14, 2011

A prayer for Japan: the heart sutra

















The Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra

When the Bodhisattva Avolokiteshvara was coursing in the deep Prajnaparamita,
He perceived that all five skandahs are empty, thereby transcending all sufferings.

Sariputra, form is not other than emptiness
And emptiness not other than form.
Form is precisely emptiness and emptiness precisely form.
So also are sensation, perception, volition and consciousness.
Sariputra, this voidness of all dharmas is not born, not destroyed, not impure, not pure, does not increase or decrease.
In voidness there is no form, and no sensation, perception, volition or consciousness;
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
No sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, thought;
There is no realm of the eye
All the way up to no realm of mental cogntion.
There is no ignorance and there is no ending of ignorance through to no aging and death and no end of ageing and death.
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no cessation of suffering, and no path.
There is no wisdom to attain, or any attainment.
With nothing to attain, Bodhisattvas relying on Prajnaparamita have no obstructions in their minds.
Having no obstructions, there is no fear and departing far from confusion and imaginings,
They reach Ultimate Nirvana.
All past, present and future Buddhas, relying on Prajnaparamita, attain Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.
Therefore, know that Prajnaparamita is the great mantra of power,
The great mantra of wisdom, the supreme mantra,
The unequalled mantra, which is able to remove all sufferings.
It is real and not false.
Therefore recite the mantra of Prajnaparamita:
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.




Also check  out Chan sites of interest:
 
How to chan meditate:

Master Cheng Yen in Facebook; 
and the Western Chan Fellowship at http://www.westernchanfellowship.org/

Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,
email adrian2@shaw.ca
Please notify me if you wish to be removed from the email list.




Sunday, March 6, 2011

mind and attachments
























Here's some more on why Buddhists are so wound up on attachments...this is the Zen version: There is the expression, "A response instantaneous as a spark struck from flint."


At the very instant you strike together [two pieces of] flint, a spark appears. And since the moment the flints are struck, the spark is produced, there's no interval or gap anywhere between. 

So this, also, expresses the idea of there being no interval in which the mind can attach [to anything]. It's an error to understand this solely as a matter of speed. It's a matter of not attaching the mind to things, a matter of the mind not even attaching to speed. When your mind attaches to something, your mind will be
captured by your opponent. So if you act quickly with the deliberate intention to act quickly, your mind will be captured by that deliberate intention. 



In the Zen school, if someone asks, "What is Buddha?" you should make a fist. And if someone asks, "What is the ultimate significance of Buddhadharma?" before the words are even out of his mouth, you should reply, "The plum flowers on the branch," or, "The cypress tree in the garden."

The point is not to pick and choose between these answers, but to revere the mind that isn't attached. The mind that isn't attached isn't drawn either to color or to smell. The substance of this mind that isn't drawn to things we worship as the kami, revere as the buddhas; we speak of it as Zen mind and ultimate mastery. However, when you have first to form your thoughts, and then afterward speak them, even golden words and marvelous phrases will be [nothing more than] delusion as the abiding ground of ignorance


































The expression "A response instantaneous as a spark struck from flint" describes the swiftness of a flash of lightning. For example, when someone calls, "Uemon!" and you instantly answer, "Yes!" that's what's meant by immovable wisdom. On the other hand, if someone calls, "Uemon!" and you start to think, "What does he want?" and so forth, the mind that then wonders, "What does he want?" and so forth, is delusion as the abiding ground of ignorance. The mind that attaches to things and is then pushed around and deluded by them is called delusion arising from attachment. This is the mind of ordinary beings. On the other hand, when someone calls, "Uemon!" and you answer, "Yes!" that's the wisdom of all the buddhas. Buddhas and sentient beings are not different. Nor are kami and humans. That which accords with this mind we call kami or Buddha. The Way of the kami, the Way of poetry, the Way of Confucius--there are many different Ways, and yet all express the brightness of this one mind.

If you are only capable of interpreting the mind using words, then that's the kind of mind in which you and others [like you] will live, day and night. And then, following your karmic destiny, whether you do good things or bad things, you'll end by abandoning your family and destroying your country. Good things and bad things
both result from the karmic activity of mind...from http://www.firstzen.org/ZenNotes/2001/200102_Vol_48_No_02_Spring_2001.pdf





















Also check  out Chan sites of interest:

How to chan
meditate:
Master Cheng Yen in Facebook;
and the Western Chan Fellowship at http://www.westernchanfellowship.org/
Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,
Please notify me if you wish to be removed from the email list.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Bodhidharma and Chan audio tapes
















Here's some Zen poetry. It was written by a red headed barbarian named Bodhidharma who travelled from India to China sometime in the mid 500's. He meditated in front of a wall for either nine or 12 years. These four lines he wrote fueled about 93 generations of Chan teachers. It's still going on. The 99th, Master Sheng Yen, who died about a year and a half ago,  accredited about six people around the world to carry on his tradition. One of those teachers is William Tsao, who has a passion for pushing people to awaken, and teaches out of White Rock and Richmond. He will be doing a two day seminar in Courtenay soon. See February 14th for upcoming retreats.

Here they are:

"Not relying on words or letters, (it is)
A special transmission outside of Scriptures,
Pointing directly to the human mind,
Seeing one's nature, being awakened."

Scads of books have been written describing the essence of these words.  About those books? 

Bodhidharma is probably scowling. (While Sufis dance, Zen people get sore knees and flat asses.)

Ha ha! 





























For new meditators on how to meditate:  

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For super audio tapes on Chan. Check the length of each audio. Ensure you are in a listening mode. Sometimes, some of the tapes don't get 'hot' until 20 minutes have passed...a long enough time to practice your non-discrimination activities! http://www.tallahasseebuddhistcommunity.org/mondayevening.shtml#DharmaTalks

Also check  out:
Master Cheng Yen in Facebook; 
http://chancommunity.ca/home.php
and the Western Chan Fellowship at http://www.westernchanfellowship.org/

Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,
Please notify me if you wish to be removed from the email list.