Contemplation: Always Recollect Emptiness

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take this as your object of contemplation:

"In brief, samadhi is explained
as being the complete satisfaction of the mind.
Great Being, listen attentively
to the explanation of the distinctions:
The samadhi of all the Buddhas
is said to be emptiness by the Jina.
It is attained through complete knowledge of the mind,
and from nothing else.
The complete abandonment of both
is said to be the samadhi of Perfect Buddhas:
It is called the Great Emptiness,
and perfects the All-knowing Awareness.
Therefore you should always recollect
emptiness in all situations."

The Maha-Vairocana-Abhisambodhi Tantra, trans. Stephen Hodge, pp. 123-124.

Jikan's Office Hour: Harrisonburg & Staunton Outreach Edition

I am hosting an Office Hour in Harrisonburg, Virginia on August 20, 2011, at 3pm, particularly to answer questions about starting a practice group and offer support in doing such a thing. You can find more details here, at our Meetup page.

Contemplation: Ordinary Things

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take this as your object of contemplation:

To seek the character of reality outside of ordinary things is like running from the space in one place to look for space elsewhere. The ordinary is the true; there is no need to abandon the ordinary and strive for the holy. Scripture says, "Life and death is nirvana; each form, each scent, is all the Middle Way." This is called arousing the aspiration for enlightenment by thinking of the uncreate four truths, seeking above and teaching below.

Chih-i, Stopping and Seeing, p. 16

Contemplation: Shoyage

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take this as your object of contemplation:

I expound to sentient beings and others
the early evening verse of the non-eternal: Listen!
Attachments are deep enough, having no bottom,
And the ocean of birth and death is without limits.
The ship that takes us to the other shore
From this suffering world has not yet arrived;
Therefore, we should not rest
Until we discern the Absolute.

Shoyage, as recited at the Tendai Buddhist Institute

Programming Notice: Now Meeting Each Week

I am pleased to announce that Great River Ekayana Sangha will now be meeting each week on Tuesday evenings, at 7:30pm in the Walden Room of the UUCA. I will be there on the first and third Tuesdays of each month for more formal practice, teachings, and discussion; on alternate Tuesdays, practice will be led by senior students.

Jikan's Office Hour: District of Columbia Edition

This is an ongoing event I lead at different locations, this time in the heart of Washington, DC by popular request. The idea behind it is to give a venue for Dharma discussion beyond what we have time or space for during our Wednesday night sangha meetings, and to help build sangha connections. Everyone is welcome. Here is the format:

I will meet with whomever shows up and has an earnest question about Buddhism, and offer whatever help I can, on a first-come, first-served basis, or as a group discussion. Students, if you are interested in this, please come prepared with at least one good question.

Practically speaking, if only one person is around, then I will work with that person until time is up or I am out of coffee. But I would really prefer to make sure everyone with a question gets heard. The format should be dialogic. If you feel you need to speak with me privately, that can be arranged at another time and in another venue. If you need help understanding something you are reading, please email me in advance what you would like to ask me about, so I can come prepared.

Please meet me at 1pm on Saturday, July 30, 2011, in the Kogod courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

Contemplation: Wear the Robe of the Tathagatha

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take this as your object of contemplation:

How should the good men or women who live after my extinction expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to the four kinds of devotees when they wish to? They should enter the room of the Tathagatha, wear the robe of the Tathagatha, sit on the seat of the Tathagata, and then expound this sutra to the four kinds of devotees. To enter the room of the Tathagata means to have great compassion towards all living beings. To wear the robe of the Tathagata means to be gentle and patient. To sit on the seat of the Tathagata means to see the voidness of all things. They should do these [three] things and then without indolence expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to Bodhisattvas and the four kinds of devotees.

from The Lotus Sutra, trans. Senchu Murano, p. 177