Just plain sitting...and upcoming January 4 retreat day

Sitting enables and forces us to discover all the ways "I'm" doing the universe, or "I'm" believing thoughts about the universe. We see all the ways that thinking and feeling are interfering, all the ways they are getting in the way of this blank slate that we always are right now, this original face that is functioning., responding, and manifesting morning to night. Because I believe thoughts, feelings, and emotions, this original face seems not at all this life. Holding on to body-mind habits, we miss this that we are from the beginning ---just this....from Elihu Genmyo Smith in NONSELF in everything is the way, pg. 162

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a half day or day of silent meditation/contemplation

For this retreat, if you are not a Chan (Chinese Zen) practitioner, you may bring your own silent meditation/ contemplation practice. If you do not presently have a practice, or are interested in Chan meditation practice, please contact Adrian a couple of days before the retreat.

Bring your own cushion; chairs are available. Bring a veggie lunch with a little left over to share, and eating utensils.

Limited seating, please RSVP.
Contact Adrian Symonds: 250-650-9055 or adrian2@shaw.ca

January 4, 2015 8:30 a.m to 12; 1:15 to 5 p.m. – Salish House, Lewis Park Recreation Centre, Courtenay Cost: by donation

http://www.cosmoschan.org/

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1. MAIN WEBSITE: Cosmos Chan Zen Community at http://www.cosmoschan.org/

2. Master Cheng Yen in Facebook;

3. Listen to dharma talks with Gilbert Gutierrez http://dharmatalks.riversidechan.org/

4. Listen/download audio talks from the Tallahassee   Chan group at http://www.tallahasseechan.com/talks.html

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

6. Questions?  Adrian at 250 650 9055; adrian2@shaw.ca and this blog http://comoxvalleyzenchan.blogspot.ca/

Chan Service: Training Community Mediators in Central Africa

   

                           

                                Training Community Mediators in Central Africa

George Brose and Adrian Symonds are seeking your financial support for this project. You will receive a Canadian Charitable Receipt for your taxation year. Make your cheque payable to Comox Valley Community Justice…Attention Rwanda Mediation Project, Suite E-450 Eighth St., Courtenay, B.C. V9N 1N5. Please ensure you clearly write your name and address so a taxation receipt may be issued to you.*

                                                  

Project Goal: To support the ongoing process of training community mediators in Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania

Participants:   Mediators Adrian Symonds and George Brose from Courtenay, BC

Cooperating Agency in Africa: African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI), a Quaker initiative based in East Africa, AGLI <http://aglifpt.org> was founded shortly after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda to provide conflict resolution and reconciliation between people from both sides of that genocide and in neighboring countries. AGLI provides three principal programs of conflict resolution: Healing and Rebuilding our Communities (HROC), Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) and Mediation.

Training aspect: A training session will include approximately 20-25 trainees who will return to their respective communities to provide mediation service in their villages and urban neighborhoods.  In most of these communities the residents have little or no access to the courts to resolve conflict which without resolution often results in escalated violence between the disputing parties. It is proposed that the two mediators Brose and  Symonds will conduct at least 4 trainings in the time they will be in country: one hundred new mediators! 

Previous Efforts: The first mediation training began with AGLI in 2007. Five North American mediators have directly trained over 300 mediators who have in turn trained another 2000 mediators. The 2014 training project will be Brose's fifth time participating on the mediation project.  This will be Symonds’ first time.  As well as Rwanda, the two will return to Pemba Island, Tanzania to reinforce the training that George did there three years ago with Sharia judges, Imams, Social Workers, and Teachers. 

Why are More Mediators Needed?

The continuous conflict and war going on in the Eastern Congo and occasionally still in Burundi has cost the lives of over 6 million people. As well, the refugee camps are a seething mass of human conflict.  With no police protection to speak of, crimes such as   homicides, rape, burglary, and domestic violence have no resolution. In the absence of a well functioning court system, these countries have a pressing need for more trained mediators.

·      http://www.cjc-comoxvalley.com/index.html

1. MAIN WEBSITE: Cosmos Chan Zen Community at http://www.cosmoschan.org/

2. Master Cheng Yen in Facebook;

3. Listen to dharma talks with Gilbert Gutierrez http://dharmatalks.riversidechan.org/

4. Listen/download audio talks from the Tallahassee   Chan group at http://www.tallahasseechan.com/talks.html

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

6. Questions?  Adrian at 250 650 9055; adrian2@shaw.ca and this blog http://comoxvalleyzenchan.blogspot.ca/

More (commentary) on Suchness, this time by the Dalai Lama

From Nagarjuna:
Not knowable from another, tranquil
not fabricated by mental elaboration,
devoid of conceptualization, and not differentiated--
that is the character of suchness.

This stanza presents what are known as the five main characteristics of ultimate truth. Basically, the stanza is stating that suchness lies beyond the purview of language and thought. Unlike everyday objects--where we can distinguish, say, between a thing and its properties--the emptiness that is mere negation of intrinsic existence is free of any such differentiations. It exists in the manner of a single taste. This does not mean that the suchness of all phenomena exists as one. Although each and every individual phenomenon has suchness, that just means all phenomena share the nature of being empty of intrinsic existence. That is the meaning of this stanza.

and more...

Whatever comes into being in dependence on another
is not identical with that thing.
Since it is not different from that thing either,
it is neither nonexistent nor permanent. ...from The Middle Way...Faith Grounded in Reason by The Dalai Lama, pp. 86-87

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Sunday Retreat:

For this retreat, if you are not a Chan (Chinese Zen) practitioner, you may bring your own silent meditation/ contemplation practice. If you do not presently have a practice, or are interested in Chan meditation practice, please contact Adrian a couple of days before the retreat.

Bring your own cushion; chairs are available. Bring a veggie lunch with a little left over to share, and eating utensils.

Limited seating, please RSVP.
Contact Adrian Symonds: 250-650-9055 or adrian2@shaw.ca

Dec 7:  8:30 a.m to 12; 1:15 to 5 p.m. – Salish House, Lewis Park Recreation Centre, Courtenay Cost: by donation

==================

1. MAIN WEBSITE: Cosmos Chan Zen Community at http://www.cosmoschan.org/

2. Master Cheng Yen in Facebook;

3. Listen to dharma talks with Gilbert Gutierrez http://dharmatalks.riversidechan.org/

4. Listen/download audio talks from the Tallahassee   Chan group at http://www.tallahasseechan.com/talks.html

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

6. Questions?  Adrian at 250 650 9055; adrian2@shaw.ca and this blog http://comoxvalleyzenchan.blogspot.ca/

The self-nature of true suchness manifests thought

"Good fellow practitioners, regarding "no" of no thought, what should we let go of? And regarding "thought" of "no thought", what should we be aware of? We should let go of the attachment to the duality and the mind exhaustion of sense objects, while we should be aware of the self-nature of true suchness. True suchness is the quintessence of thought, and thought is the function of true suchness. The self-nature of true suchness manifests thought, and it is not the six sense faculties that manifest thought. The true suchness has a nature of emptiness, therefore, it is able to manifest thought in accord with conditions. If true suchness has no empty nature, then the six sense faculties and six sense objects lose their functions simultaneously.

Good fellow practitioners, the self-nature of true suchness manifests thoughts. Though the six sense faculties have the functions of seeing, hearing, and awareness, yet they are not defiled by myriad objects, and the self-nature of true suchness is always liberated. Therefore, the Pure Name Sutra says, "One is adept at differentiating the forms of all dharma/Dharma, while simultaneously rest immovably in the Ultimate Principle."....from a translation/commentary by Master Beishi Ghohan of the 6th Patriarch's Platform Sutra.

THERE WILL BE NO CLASS THIS THURSDAY 27 AS THERE ARE PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS.

1. MAIN WEBSITE: Cosmos Chan Zen Community at http://www.cosmoschan.org/

2. Master Cheng Yen in Facebook;

3. Listen to dharma talks with Gilbert Gutierrez http://dharmatalks.riversidechan.org/

4. Listen/download audio talks from the Tallahassee   Chan group at http://www.tallahasseechan.com/talks.html

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

6. Questions?  Adrian at 250 650 9055; adrian2@shaw.ca and this blog http://comoxvalleyzenchan.blogspot.ca/

The 6th Patriarch: Mind training must be centered by Pure Awareness of Prajna Wisdom

"Good fellow practitioners, people in confusion verbally recite Mahaprajnaparamita, and while they are reciting it the deluded and evil thoughts arise. If they devote to mind's effortless effort* thought after thought, they realize its Dharma-nature of true suchness. To realize this Dharma-nature is the Mind Dharma of Prajna, while to devote to mind training in accordance with Dharma-nature is the Act of Prajna. If you do not train your mind in this way, you are ordinary people. If you do your mind training in this way even for one thought, you yourselves are equal to the Buddha.

Good fellow practitioners, ordinary being is Buddha, and vexation is bodhi (enlightenment). A confused preceding thought makes one an ordinary being, while an enlightened succeeding thought makes one a Buddha. A preceding thought that attaches to sense objects is vexation, while a succeeding thought that frees one from attachment to sense objects is bodhi.

Good fellow practitioners, Mahaprajnaparamita is the most honorable, the supreme, and the foremost. It has no abiding, no going, and no coming. The Buddha of past, present, and future manifest from it. You should use great prajna  wisdom to break through; the vexation and mind exhaustion related to the five skandas*. If you do mind training in this way, you will surely attain the Buddhahood, and turn the three poisons (greed, hatred and ignorance) into discipline, samadhi and wisdom"......from the 2nd chapter of the translation/commentary by Master Guohan of The Platform Sutra of Sixth Patriarch Huineng.

*Pure Awareness of Prajna Wisdom: awareness of everything outside, everything inside (thoughts and emotions) and body sensations, without injecting your self centeredness into that awareness by discriminating and creating attachments.

*Full Definition of SKANDHAS. Buddhism. : the five transitory personal elements of body, perception, conception, volition, and consciousness whose temporary concatenation forms the individual self.

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a half day or day of silent meditation/contemplation

For this retreat, if you are not a Chan (Chinese Zen) practitioner, you may bring your own silent meditation/ contemplation practice. If you do not presently have a practice, or are interested in Chan meditation practice, please contact Adrian a couple of days before the retreat.

Bring your own cushion; chairs are available. Bring your own lunch, and enough to share with others. Limited seating, please RSVP.
Contact Adrian Symonds: 250-650-9055 or adrian2@shaw.ca

Oct 5, Nov 2, Dec 2:  8:30 a.m to 5 p.m. – Salish House, Lewis Park Recreation Centre, Courtenay

Cost: by donation

-----------------

1. MAIN WEBSITE: Cosmos Chan Zen Community at http://www.cosmoschan.org/

2. Master Cheng Yen in Facebook;

3. Listen to dharma talks with Gilbert Gutierrez http://dharmatalks.riversidechan.org/

4. Listen/download audio talks from the Tallahassee   Chan group at http://www.tallahasseechan.com/talks.html

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

6. Questions?  Adrian at 250 650 9055; adrian2@shaw.ca and this blog http://comoxvalleyzenchan.blogspot.ca/

Meditation in Action: Warfare or Healthcare

An Innovative Canadian Foreign Policy: Hornets or DARTS?

 

The Hornet Strategy: we can protect the lives of thousands of Canadians by bombing the infrastructures and the soldiers of the ISIS into submission. As in any bombing campaign, violence will beget more violence, and as for the innocents, collateral damage will generate a web of new resentments that will be rekindled for generations.

 

The DART Strategy:  we can protect the lives of thousands of Canadians by sending in 40 or 50 Canadian military Disaster Assistance Response Teams to West Africa. At the rate of infection, this disease could easily spread around the world. What kind of reputation would we garner if Canada stopped it cold? And continued to respond to natural tragedies with DART teams throughout the world? Let’s park the Hornets, and change our notion of boots on the ground.

 

I’d love to travel abroad again, anywhere, with a Canadian badge glued to my packsack.

The petition is really important and could use our help. Click here to find out more and sign: 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/justin_trudeau_change_Canadas_foreign_policy_from_warfare_to_healthcare/?mnFwicb

1. MAIN WEBSITE: Cosmos Chan Zen Community at http://www.cosmoschan.org/

2. Master Cheng Yen in Facebook;

3. Listen to dharma talks with Gilbert Gutierrez http://dharmatalks.riversidechan.org/

4. Listen/download audio talks from the Tallahassee   Chan group at http://www.tallahasseechan.com/talks.html

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

6. Audio downloads at Dharma Drum http://www.dharmadrumretreat.org/teachings.php?id=av_changwen

7. Questions?  Adrian at 250 650 9055; adrian2@shaw.ca and this blog http://comoxvalleyzenchan.blogspot.ca/