Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Three Pure Precepts

Pics by Suzie Chatwin

















Cease from Evil, Do Good, and Do Good for Others
Dogen Zenji says of the first pure precept, “Ceasing from evil is the abiding place of laws and rules of all buddhas.” This abiding place is the state of non-duality, of not-knowing and non-separation. The Sixth Ancestor of Zen defines zazen as the state of mind in which there is no separation between subject and object—no space between you and me, up and down, right or wrong. So we can also call this precept “Returning to the One.”

It’s a very difficult place to be in, this place where we don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong. It is the place of just being, of life itself. How many of us can say that we are open to all the ways of all lives? How many of us can say that we don’t have the answer? How many us can say that every way that’s being presented is the right way?

Zen is a practice that pushes us to realize what is. To me, zazen is a form of bearing witness to life, of bearing witness to the elimination of the denial of the oneness of our life. As human beings, each one of us is denying something. There are certain aspects of life we do not want to deal with, usually because we are afraid of them. Sometimes it is society itself that is in denial. Zazen allows us to bear witness to all of life. To me, that is the essence of the second pure precept, doing good. Dogen says, “Doing good, this is the dharma, supreme enlightenment. This is the way of all beings.” Bearing witness to things we are denying or that society is denying, bearing witness to the things we don’t want to deal with—this is the second precept. When we bear witness, we open to what is, and we learn. The things that we are in denial about teach us. We don’t go to them to teach them. When we can listen, when we can bear witness, they teach us.

For me, the flowering of zazen is the third pure precept, doing good for others. Dogen says, “This is to transcend the profane and to be beyond the holy. This is to liberate oneself and others.”
What good is it if we just make ourselves more holy? What’s the point? The point is to serve, to offer, to be the offering. Of itself the fruit is born. So we don’t have to worry about what to do. If we cease from evil, if we become that state of unknowing, if we become zazen, the offering will arise. The fruit will be born.

The question always come up: how do we bring our Zen into our life? But Zen is life. What is there to bring? And into what? The point is to see life as the practice field. Every aspect of our life has to become practice. I was trained in a traditional monastic model whose forms are conducive to the state of not-knowing. The question for me is, what forms can we create in modern society that will be conducive to seeing the oneness of life? What are the forms that will make it easier for us to experience that state of nonduality? Almost anything we do will cause more dualistic thinking. How do we lead ourselves, our brothers, and our sisters into a state of nonduality?
That’s the question. That’s the koan."....from http://zenpeacemakers.org/


View a short video by Master Guo Jun...http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/returning-home

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Also check out these Chan sites of interest:
 

2. How to chan meditate:
 
3. Master Sheng Yen in Facebook

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

5. Other Buddhist centres in the Comox Valley:
http://www.dharmafellowship.org/hermitage/ 
http://www.sherabchammaling.com/biography.html

Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,
email adrian2@shaw.ca 




Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Summer retreat with Master Guo Jun



Master Guo Jun on adapting teachings to the modern world:  "We have a traditional saying, If the disciple, no matter how you scold, will not run away, then you go to the next stage.  You chase him away. No matter how you try to chase him, if he doesn't run away, then you go to the third stage. You beat him. If he still doesn't run away, only then do you begin to teach him. 
If I used this method on my students and disciples, or just stared at them fiercely, or beat them, or made them do endless remedial tasks, they would say I had no compassion and head for the hills. How would I be able to spread the dharma and deliver sentient beings? Those are my vows. So I have adapted."....Master Guo Jun, from Tricycle, Spring 2013, A special Transmission, Teachings from the heart of the Chan Buddhist Tradition, pg. 107. 

Master Guo Jun also has a new book out.

And he will be leading a workshop this summer. Register early. He was the Abbot at Dharma Drum in New York State for three years. Underlying his fluent English, his contemporary knowledge of the western mind and his humour is the finger that is always pointing to the moon.




Courtenay Elementary is open again after the spring break. We will be meeting this Thursday the 11th.


Also check out these Chan sites of interest:
 

2. How to chan meditate:
 
3. Master Sheng Yen in Facebook

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

5. Other Buddhist centres in the Comox Valley:
http://www.dharmafellowship.org/hermitage/ 
http://www.sherabchammaling.com/biography.html

Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,
email adrian2@shaw.ca