Dzogchen Commentary on The Chain of Thoughts, and upcoming 3 day retreat

"At the time of arising, thoughts support each other like a chain of friends. At the time of dissolving they dissolve evenly in the vastness of openness. The ultimate nature of all phenomena is simply this."

"When thoughts are arising, the text says they 'support each other like a chain of friends'. In old village style if somebody's house is on fire everybody rushes there with their buckets and the buckets are passed up the line. Somebody is filling the bucket and somebody is throwing it on the house but everybody is involved in the chain. That is to say the linked activity of the arising thoughts carries a sense of intentionality and purpose. Then when the purpose, which seemed so vital, is fulfilled the chain dissolves.

"At the time of dissolving they dissolve evenly in the vastness of openness." Each thought in turn vanishes into openness. No matter what impact they made as they arose, each vanishes in the same way.

"The ultimate nature of all phenomena is simply this."  One thought by itself has no meaning. Thoughts need to rest on each other to create the structures of meaning. This is the traditional Buddhist idea of dependent co-origination. If in meditation, you find that one thought leads to another you should not be surprised. That's what thoughts do. Thoughts have an automatic tendency to build up structures of meaning together. But they are each of them devoid of any inherent reality.....But imagine if thoughts didn't come back. What would you do?"...from James Low, Being Right Here, pg. 127.

Also check out these Chan sites of interest:

1. chancommunity.ca

2. How to chan meditate:

http://chancenter.org/cmc/chan-practice/how-to-meditate/

3. Master Sheng Yen in Facebook

4. 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.

Master Sheng Yen: Body, mind and environment, and upcoming 3 day retreat

photo by Patricia Anderson

There is no such thing as the mind. The mind is what arises when the environment interacts with our body. The body, as well as the environment, is illusory. Therefore, the interaction that comes from it---mental activity----must also be illusory. Through mental activities we can perform virtuous or unwholesome actions, but Ch’an cannot be acquired through knowledge, learning, the Buddha’s wisdom, or through one’s own experience and wisdom. If you think the Buddha can bring you to Ch’an, then you are depending on external conditions. If you think your own wisdom and knowledge can bring you to Ch’an, then you are relying on internal conditions. You have to leave behind all dependencies. Only then can you enter Ch’an.” …Master Sheng Yen in Complete Enlightenment, pg. 245. 

Three day Chan retreat

Silent illumination and Huatou Methods

Cost: approximately $230 

Time: 10 a.m. Saturday November 12, 2001 to 2 p.m. Monday November 14, 2001

2 Overnight stays in single rooms

plus vegetarian snacks and meals provided

Place: Bethleham Retreat Centre 

http://www.bethlehemretreatcentre.com/

Bethlehem Retreat Centre

2371 Arbot Rd

Nanaimo, BC V9R 6S9

(250)754-3254

Fax: 250-753-6742

Pre-registration necessary with 

Adrian Symonds

1 250 898 8201

adrian2@shaw.ca

Register ASAP, maximum 15 people.

Check out what the buddhists, the philosophers and the neuroscientists have to say at Columbia University: a Multidisciplinarian Symposium on Consciousness... http://www.mindandreality.org/ 

Also check out these Chan sites of interest:

1. chancommunity.ca

2. How to chan meditate:

http://chancenter.org/cmc/chan-practice/how-to-meditate/

3. Master Sheng Yen in Facebook

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


5. Buddhism in Nanaimo: http://nanaimomeditationgroups.weebly.com/

Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,

email adrian2@shaw.ca

Please notify me if you wish to be removed from the email list.

Master Sheng Yen: What is the self?

"The Buddha elaborates further on the transient nature of the body and mind. The body is a collection of the four elements and the six sense faculties (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind); and the mind is created by the interaction of the six sense faculties with the six dusts, or sense objects (what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted, felt and thought). Everything is in a continual state of change. Thoughts unceasingly come and go; the body and its environment unceasingly interact. Arising, perishing, birth, death—everything changes.

However, we all believe in existence: we exist, the world exists, the Buddha exists. But who is it that senses this existence? It is your self, separate and untouched by the feelings and thoughts of others. Only you have the unique idea of existence that is yours. Who is this self? This self is the mind, and the mind is merely an unending succession of thoughts. Between these separate thoughts there is nothing. Therefore, I ask, “What is the mind?”

The mind is an illusion. There is no such entity called mind. This is the correct view. But if this is true, then who is reading these words. Who is thinking these thoughts and claiming that there is no-mind, no-self? If I ask you to tell me if your mind is true or false, you will be in a quandary. You might say that the mind is true, or real, or enduring, but if your mind is following these words, then it is moving. If your mind is moving and changing, then it is not real, and if the mind is not moving, how can you read these words and think about what I am saying? On the other hand, if you say the mind is false, that it does not exist, then who is reading these words?" ...Master Sheng Yen in Complete Enlightenment 

Also check out these Chan sites of interest:

1. chancommunity.ca

2. How to chan meditate:

http://chancenter.org/cmc/chan-practice/how-to-meditate/

3. Master Sheng Yen in Facebook

4. 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.

The result of a vexatious mind...

"External phenomena arise because of the mind of vexation. Although it seems that we all share the same objective reality, actually the world I experience is quite different from the world you experience. Each one of us has different feelings and experiences which are reflected in the so-called objective reality around us. The tree I see is not the tree you see. Even those who share the same family or lifestyle may have markedly different perceptions about the world. The world varies as vexations vary. For some, the mind is in constant motion; their heads are filled with ideas, worries and preoccupations. For others, the mind is calmer. Buddhanature, however, does not move at all. It is utterly quiescent.

Buddha-nature, which is also known as Tathagatagarbha, contains the seed of Buddha-hood. It is not that a Buddha arises when someone becomes enlightened, for the Buddha-nature has never been separate from that person. Tathagatagarbha never increases or decreases. It is better to say that with Buddha-nature there is the potential to realize Buddhahood. "Coming and going, arising and perishing" are viewpoints of ordinary sentient beings."...from Master Sheng Yen in Complete Enlightenment, pg. 100.

The Woodcutter's Buddha and Meditation Stool by
Nancy Desjarlais http://nancydesjarlais.blogspot.com/

Also check out these Chan sites of interest:

1. http://chancommunity.ca/home.php

2. How to chan meditate:

http://chancenter.org/cmc/chan-practice/how-to-meditate/

3. Master Sheng Yen in Facebook

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

AND in Nanaimo http://www.bodhipeacecollective.org/ and http://nanaimomeditationgroups.weebly.com/

Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,

email adrian2@shaw.ca

Please notify me if you wish to be removed from the email list.

Allowing is Presence or Pure Awareness, and upcoming retreat this wkend

"By allowing the mind to fluctuate, basic unity shines through. These fluctuations are fluctuations of awareness, movement of awareness of to awareness and back; or from focused to unfocused awareness. Allowing is presence or pure awareness, neither focused nor unfocused, neither contracting nor expanding. This pure awareness is, so to say, what fluctuating awareness is 'made of', it is the substance of fluctuating awareness. It is lost sight of through the fluctuations from which content and experience arise. Allowing is a shift from the content away from experience to experiencing itself.

The danger of misunderstanding is great here, because it is a condition that is very similar in appearance to pure awareness but is quite different. It is the condition of awareness of awareness. Many people practice what they consider to be shikantaza, but they are really doing something quite different. Shikantaza, done properly, is to allow the mind to fluctuate. However, instead of alowing the mind to fluctuate, these people sit aware of being aware. It is a form of staring, of staring at the reflection of the mind in the mirror of the mind.

Zen masters call this sitting, because often a torpid, listless state of mind accompanies it, dead void sitting or 'sitting in the cave of phantoms'. The practice, awareness of awareness, can, if done intensely and with dedication, lead the mind to high states of samadhi through a marriage of the opposites, and many ascetic practices are devoted to enhancing the marriage of the opposites. However, in Zen practice, samadhi by itself is a dead end."...in The Butterfly's Dream, in search of the roots of Zen, by albert low, pg. 149-50.

"Zen is not a form of relaxation. Nor is it a direct road to peace. many find that after practicing Zen for a while they begin to experience agitation, fears and anxiety, sometimes anger and depression, that they did not have before. This happens because the inertia of the mind begins to crack. However, with the opening of the mind also comes a deep joy and a faint but real bubbling of new life". ...from the same title, pg. 156.

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

1. PLEASE NOTE WE ARE MOVING BACK TO COURTENAY 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 2ND FLOOR FOR 

THE FALL/WINTER SESSIONS.

2. Chan (Zen) Lecture

Topic: Zen Life of True Peace & Happiness

September 23, Friday 07:00pm - 09:00pm

Activity Room 1, Bowen Complex

500 Bowen Rd, Nanaimo

Silent Illumination method

September 24, Saturday 10:00am-5pm

The Kin Hut, 2730 Departure Bay Rd

Huatou method

September 25, Sunday 10am-4pm

The Kin Hut, 2730 Departure Bay Rd

Lecture and Workshops are free, donations are welcome;

please register with adrian.

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

Also check out these Chan sites of interest:

1. http://chancommunity.ca/home.php

2. How to chan meditate:

http://chancenter.org/cmc/chan-practice/how-to-meditate/

3. Master Sheng Yen in Facebook

4. 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.

Upcoming workshops, and Zen Master Albert Low comments on the Vimalakirti Sutra

"Dwelling on the disgusting aspects of the body is sometimes recommended as a meditation procedure. But Vimalakirti says that we do not have to do this. Whether one prizes or rejects the body, it is in principle the same. In both cases we are attached to the body by judgements about it, through the belief that it is something enduring and real.

Vimalakirti says that one should remind the sick person that the body is the cause of misery but should not encourage him to find relief in liberation. We much recognize the first noble truth of Buddha, that life is suffering. By dwelling with that we begin to find the strength to release our grip. It is as the hymn of Jesus says, "If you knew how to suffer, you would have the power not to suffer." To seek liberation from suffering is to deny that life is suffering; this search for liberation comes from the secret belief that the suffering is an accident, that it is not an intrinsic part of life. To see thoroughly into the truth that life is suffering is already liberation; it is liberation from all the suffering that we endure in our attempts to escape suffering.

One should remind the sick person that the body is without a self-entity, but, even so, living beings must be saved. One should also remind him that the body is without substance, but that he ought not to look for peace outside. He should be urged to confess his sins, but not so that he feels he does not have to bear their consequence. He should be encouraged to have compassion for all who suffer, knowing the meaning of suffering from his own experience, now and in the past. He should be encouraged not to give way to depression. He should but use the illness as another way to practice, to rid himself of the need to be something special, and the cravings this need generates. In this way he will be able truly to fulfill the first of the bodhisattva vows, to save all sentient beings."...from Albert Low, The Vimalakiri Sutra in Zen and the Sutras, pg. 109-109

1. http://chancommunity.ca/home.php

2. How to chan meditate:

http://chancenter.org/cmc/chan-practice/how-to-meditate/

3. Master Sheng Yen in Facebook

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

Chan (Zen) Lecture

Topic: Zen Life of True Peace & Happiness

September 23, Friday 07:00pm - 09:00pm

Activity Room 1, Bowen Complex

500 Bowen Rd, Nanaimo

Silent Illumination method

September 24, Saturday 10:00am-5pm

The Kin Hut, 2730 Departure Bay Rd

Huatou method

September 25, Sunday 10am-4pm

The Kin Hut, 2730 Departure Bay Rd

Lecture and Workshops are free, donations are welcome;

please register with adrian.

Call Adrian at 250 898 8201,

email adrian2@shaw.ca

Please notify me if you wish to be removed from the email list.

Montreal Zen Master Albert Low on the koan 'MU'

"Mu* is not a recent experiment that someone is trying out. It is not a shot in the dark in the hope or expectation that something might come of it. It is not simply for beginners or advanced people. for iron ladies or men of steel. Millions have worked with Mu over more than a thousand years. Chinese. Koreans. Vietnamese. Japanese. Americans. French. English men and women. artists. professors. businessmen. farmers. homemakers. emperors. soldiers. airmen. monks. nuns. All have swallowed the red hot iron ball of Mu. have perished in the Great Death while rejoicing in the Awakened life. Some have flung themselves into the furnace of Mu: some have impaled themselves on the point of Mu: some have drilled through emptiness and despair with Mu: some have dropped into the chasm of Mu. But all have found Mu to be home. to be that which they had sought since time began. but that which is more close than one's own skin. Some have gnawed at Mu like a rat that sharpens its teeth while gnawing through the wood of the vat to the butter beyond. Some have sat like a cat outside a mouse hole. to all appearances asleep. relaxed. indifferent. but all the while like a steel trap sprung open and ready to shut at the mere appearance of a whisker. Some have wooed. embraced. loved. and adored Mu. like a lover yearning and yearning and yearning. Some have held on to Mu like a lion at the neck of its prey. like a bulldog with jaws bred to clamp. to hold. never to yield. Some have penetrated Mu like a thread penetrates the eye of a needle so small that the point of a needle could never find it. Some have found Mu in the midst of pain in the legs made a burning fire of agony by an accident. and some have found it in the despair of forgetfulness when everything is finally lost in a samadhi of no hope and no tomorrow. But all have worked steadily, consistently. All followed finally what their teacher had been saying patiently, insistently. repeatedly. There is just Mu! Only Mu! Become One with Mu!"...Albert Low in The Iron Cow of Zen, pg. 162-163.  *Mu is a Japanese translation of the Chinese huatou Wu

1. http://chancommunity.ca/home.php

2. How to chan meditate:

http://chancenter.org/cmc/chan-practice/how-to-meditate/

3. Master Sheng Yen in Facebook

4. 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.