Contemplation: Not Tired of Giving

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

I always expound the Dharma.
I do nothing else.
I am not tired of expounding the Dharma
While I go or come or sit or stand.
I expound the Dharma to all living beings
Just as the rain waters all the earth.

I am not tired of giving
The rain of the Dharma to all living beings.
I have no partiality for them,
Whether they are noble or mean,
Whether they observe or violate the precepts,
Whether they live a monastic life or not,
Whether they have right or wrong views,
Whether they are clever or dull.

Lotus Sutra (trans. Murano),  p. 111.

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 5

(All references are to the Murano translation)

In chapter five of the Lotus Sutra, Buddha Shakyamuni explains the meaning of his teaching in earlier chapters through another parable.  Buddha compares his teaching activity to a great cloud that waters the entire world evenly and equally.  Some plants grow only a little; some grow great and tall.  Different plants and trees grow with different characteristics, according to their pattern.  All of them grow in the presence of the nourishment offered by the cloud, but all of them grow differently according to their capacities to grow.  Buddha's teaching is like that:  the Dharma is available to all, and everyone who accepts it makes whatever use of it he or she can, and grows accordingly.

There are different ways to understand this, depending on how you understand the term "Buddha."  Might it mean the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, in the role of a savior to all beings, metaphysically drawing all those who suffer toward the light?  Might it refer instead to the Buddha-nature within each of us?  There are other alternatives.  Reflect on this question and see where it leads you.

This chapter invites all of us to consider our own capacity as students of the teaching.  Here we are, fortunate enough to have an opportunity to learn and to grow; how can we make the best use of this opportunity?  Consider different ways in which you might expand your capacity to practice wisdom and compassion.

Buddhist Movie Night: Sunday, January 13

Let's spread the word!

GREAT RIVER SANGHA

presents

BUDDHIST MOVIE NIGHT

featuring

SHUGENDO NOW, a film by Jean-Marc Abela and Mark Patrick McGuire

EVERYONE IS WELCOME.  THIS IS A FREE EVENT.

Sunday, January 13, 2013, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
Arlington Central Library, 2nd Floor
1015 N Quincy St
Arlington VA 22201

To RSVP, email JikanAnderson@gmail.com or use our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/DCTendai

GREAT RIVER SANGHA is a satellite of the Tendai Buddhist Institute,
based in Canaan, New York.  Tendai is a tradition of Mahayana Buddhism
that includes a diverse array of practices to suit different kinds of
needs and abilities.  The film SHUGENDO NOW by Jean-Marc Abela and
Mark Patrick McGuire gives some insight into one aspect of this
tradition:  rigorous, active, outdoor meditations done in
near-solitude.  Other Tendai practices include seated meditation,
chanting, study of the sutras, and esoteric practices (mikkyo)
analogous to Tibetan Vajrayana.  Great River Sangha meets weekly for
meditation and inquiry into the teachings.  See dctendai.blogspot.com
or contact JikanAnderson@gmail.com for more information.

Everyone is welcome at Buddhist Movie Night, a free event.  We hope to
see you there!

Programming Notice: No Meditation, 25 December

We will not meet for meditation on Tuesday, December 25, 2012; the contemplation will also be on hiatus next week.  Kindly reflect on the four universals of lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity at that time.

Contemplation: Dying of Thirst

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

All living beings are dying of thirst.
I will water them.
I will save them from suffering.
I will give them the pleasure of peace,
The pleasure of the world,
And the pleasure of Nirvana.

The Lotus Sutra (Murano trans.), p. 110.

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 4

(All references are to the Murano translation)

At this point, four of the "'old and decrepit'" members of the assembly--Subhuti, Mahakatyayana, Maha-Kasyapa, and Maha-Maudgyalyayana--decide to speak up.  Speaking as one, they present their understanding of the Buddha's pronouncements in the previous two chapters of this sutra in the form of a parable.  This passage tells us a great deal about the Buddha's way of reaching and teaching people.  Here is a summary of the parable:

Imagine there is a man of great means and a young son set to inherit the entire estate.  The son foolishly wanders away, gets lost, wanders and wanders, finds himself forced to resort to begging, and eventually forgets who he really is (someone with nothing to worry about from birth):  he becomes convinced that the beggar's life is the only one appropriate to him.  His circumstances become, for him, the only possible reality.

Decades pass.  By chance, the father encounters the son, but the son, overwhelmed by the father's social estate, runs in fear from him and does not recognize him as his father.  The father then resolves on a trick to reeducate his son:  he disguises himself and his retainers as beggars only slightly better off than the estranged son, and indicates that at a certain estate down the road (really his own estate), work is available and the pay is above average. 

The son works at shoveling manure for decades on this estate, while the father slowly convinces him that he need not regard himself as someone who is only suitable for such labor--that he has other capabilities as well.  Eventually, the father reveals the whole story at a time when the son is able to accept its truth, entrusts the son with the estate that was his anyway, and all is well.

The Lotus Sutra, the elderly disciples of the Buddha, is like this:  we learn that Buddhahood (the estate) is possible for all of us and always has been, but because we have been too wound up, bound up, and incompetent, we have had to go through this elaborate teaching situation (shoveling manure) in order to accept this reality (the inheritance).

The Buddha accepts this parable and develops its themes in certain ways in the following chapter.  For now, let's explore what the parable tells us about the Buddha's teaching methods.

*The teacher in the parable, the wealthy father, is very patient indeed.  He is willing to give the disciple as much time knee-deep in crap as he needs in order to learn from his experience.  How do you understand this?  Why does he take this approach and not some other, do you suppose?

*If shoveling manure can stand in for meditation practice and study of the teachings in this parable, it suggests that anything can become a form of practice if the context is right and the attitude of the student is positive.  If anything can become a means to the end of awakening, then how does the teacher decide which teaching tool (which method) to use with a particular student?

*What kind of relationship between teacher and student is described here?  Are these people strangers to each other?  Put differently:  What needs to happen between the teacher and student before any kind of meaningful learning can take place?

Contemplation: Great Joy

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

Those who do not study the Dharma
Cannot understand it.
You have already realized
The fact that the Buddhas, the World-Teachers, employ expedients,
According to the capacities of all living beings.
Know that, when you remove all doubts,
And when you have great joy,
You will become Buddhas!

The Lotus Sutra, trans. Murano, p. 49-50.

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 3

Chapter 3

(All references are to the Senchu Murano translation)

 This chapter follows logically from Chapter Two.  If the Buddha's teaching has been characterized by tricks, ruses, and expedients from the start--the Buddha says what he says in any given situation not because it is absolutely and always true necessarily, but because it achieves a certain result in that situation--then does it not follow that the Buddha might be a liar or at least a trickster?

Chapter Three tackles this question on the gap between the content of the Buddha's various and particular teachings on one side, and their impact on people on the other side.  In my opinion, in this chapter seems to say that while the Buddha does use ruses and expedients, and is willing to stretch the truth or roll out a convenient fiction from time to time, the purpose behind these acts is to lead his listeners to an experience that is directly truthful:  a snap-out-of-it, see-for-yourself moment is made possible  by these methods.  This can be seen in the Parable of the Burning House in Chapter Three.

This is the situation:  children have foolishly wandered away from home and are playing in an enormous, rotting, and dangerous mansion.  And it is collapsing and burning.  Their father recognizes this as a desperate moment and resolves to save them, first by telling them the truth:  you kids are in danger, so get out of there and come home!  Predictably, this fails.  He considers another option or two before resolving on a ruse:  he promises them three different kinds of wagons (he knows this is exactly what they want to hear) if they just get out of the burning house already.

It works.  They vacate the house.  And what do they find waiting for them?  What appear to be carts; the father had, by magic, conjured these.  But do these carts correspond to the ones he had promised his children?  Or is there a subtle difference?

Assume that the children recognize the danger they had been in at this point.  They see clearly just what the problem was, and why the father took the action he did.  Is the father a liar for spinning such a yarn, when the truth comes out in the end anyway?

The parable is an allegory for our situation.  We live in a phantasmagoric situation, fascinated by and identified with all kinds of temporary things that seem important at the time:  the he-said, she-said world we call samsara.  This is the burning house.  We--you and I and everyone else--are the children.  The "wagons" promised by the father are the different Buddhist vehicles.  Try to connect the rest of the dots from this parable to our everyday lives. 

Contemplation: Only One Teaching

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

There is only one teaching, that is, the One Vehicle
In the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters.
There is not a second or third vehicle
Except when the Buddhas teaching expediently.

The Buddhas lead all living beings
By tentative names [of  vehicles]
In order to expound their wisdom.
They appear in the worlds
Only for the One Vehicle.

Lotus Sutra, trans. S. Murano, page 36

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 2

Chapter 2

(All references are to the Senchu Murano translation)

Buddha Shakyamuni then discourses at some length on the virtues and wisdom of the Buddhas, which are inconceivable to thought and indescribable in words.  This confuses the devotees in the assembly, the laypeople and the ordained ones; Sariputra, speaking on their behalf, asks the Buddha:  Why do you extol the virtuous qualities of the Buddhas in this way?  But the Buddha declines to explain this, because "'If I do, all the gods and men in the world will be frightened and perplexed'" (p. 29).

Recall the introductory chapter of this sutra and the expectations it establishes.  Does the Buddha's teaching so far confirm those expectations, complicate them, or confound them?

Sariputra persists, pleading with the Buddha, who also persists in refusing him.  The way the Buddha refuses is worth a close look:

No, no, I will not say any more.
My teaching is wonderful and inconceivable.
If arrogant people hear me,
They will not respect or believe me (p.30).

The Buddha's concern seems to involve the capacity for some of the members of the assembly to learn.  Because Sariputra repeatedly asks for instruction on this topic, however, showing that at least someone is willing to listen in good faith, the Buddha relents and agrees to explain his words and actions so far.  But before he can do so, "five thousand people" among the monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen "of this congregation rose from their seats, bowed to the Buddha, and retired because they were so sinful and arrogant that they thought they had already obtained what they had not yet, and that they had already understood what they had not yet.  Because of their faults, they did not stay" (p. 31).

It appears that Buddha is intent on teaching something new, and that some among his students actively resist learning what they do not already believe to be true.  Consider this relation between what someone already knows and expects, and the interruption caused by new knowledge, in the rest of the Lotus Sutra.  What does the simple act of learning something new challenge in a person?  What does someone need to give up in order to grow and develop?

Immediately after the assembly is cleared of those who are not willing or able to try to learn, the Buddha delivers a shock:

Sariputra! What is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas, the World-Honoured Ones, appear in the worlds?  The Buddhas, the World-Honoured Ones, appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open [the gate to] the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to purify themselves.  They appear in the worlds in order to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings.  They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to obtain the insight of the Buddha.  They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to enter the Way to the insight of the Buddha.  Sariputra!  This is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas appear in the worlds (p. 32).

This is a central teaching of the Lotus Sutra, and it is a whopper.  It means that all beings have the capacity for Buddhahood, and further, that the one purpose of the Buddha's teaching is to actualize that potential.  This appears to be a direct refutation of the Buddha's previous teaching that the highest aspiration for the practitioner was to become an Arhat or a bodhisattva (depending on the "vehicle" one practices, of which more below).  The Lotus Sutra turns the tables on all these distinctions among vehicles and approaches:

Sariputra!  All the Buddhas in the past expounded various teachings to all living beings with innumerable expedients, that is to say, with stories of previous lives, parables, similes and discourses, only for the purpose of revealing the One Buddha-Vehicle.  The living beings who heard those teachings from those Buddhas finally obtained the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things (p. 32).

Here, the Buddha claims that all his teachings, heretofore divided into distinct vehicles (the sravaka path, the bodhisattva path among them) only serve one overall goal, the "one vehicle" or Ekayana approach.  What does this mean to the ordinary monk or nun or layperson in the assembly, who has committed his or her life to practice with one goal in mind, when that one goal has had the rug pulled out from under it?  What to do now?  "Sariputra and all of you present here!" the Buddha announces:  "Understand the Dharma by faith with all your hearts!  There is no vehicle other than the One Buddha-Vehicle!"

Does this mean the Buddha's teachings so far have only been provisional, only gimmicks to solve immediate problems? If so, is the Buddha asking his disciples to put their faith in a trickster?  If not, where should one put one's faith in the context of this teaching?

To approach the same matter from another perspective:  what is the relationship between the student's potential for Buddhahood and the teacher's capacity for using expedients to help the student learn?

Where do you suppose the Buddha is going with this?

Contemplation: Hells in this world

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

Therefore, individual beings create their own karma by their own acts, but if their karma is the same as other beings' karma, they will all fall into the same hells in this world.  These hells are created by their deluded acts of mind. Apart from those acts, the hells have no independent existence.

Surangama Sutra, page 363

Lotus Sutra Study Questions 1

Chapter One

(All citations refer to the Senchu Murano translation)

This chapter introduces the sutra.  In it, the Buddha remains silent, but demonstrates a supernatural feat that sets the assembly of gathered disciples astir with questions:  "Thereupon the Buddha emitted a ray of light from the white curls between his eyebrows, and illumined all the corners of eighteen thousand worlds..." (page 3).  What could this mean?

One bodhisattva present at that time, Manjushri, remembers a similar event in the remote past, and from this experience makes an announcement:

All of you, know this, join your hands together,
And wait with one mind!
The Buddha will send the rain of the Dharma
And satisfy those who seek enlightenment.

The Buddha will remove
Any doubt of those who seek
The teaching of the Three Vehicles.
No question will be unanswered. (page 22)

Later, we will investigate what the Buddha (that which removes all doubts) represents in this sutra. For now, let's consider how this sutra opens up.

With an introduction like this, what do you expect of the teaching to come?

What is the significance of the Buddha showing his disciples something they have never seen before?

Contemplation: Mutual Interaction

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

Through their mutual interaction, there comes into being what does not really come into being, as well as what does not really abide, what is not really the mind, and what are not really phenomena.  From the force of their coming into being, an understanding is created, and its influence leads to activity subject to karma.  Similar karma mutually attracts, and because of the karma of this mutual attraction, there is a coming into being and a ceasing to be.  This is the reason for the distorted phenomenon of beings.

Surangama Sutra, p. 316

If you are interested, you can find our complete and portable Surangama Study Guide at this link.

Portable & Complete Surangama Study Questions

I went ahead and organized the series of study questions we used in recent months in our study of the Surangama Sutra in one document.  It is available for free at this link.  It is my hope that it helps open up the teachings to people who are not familiar with them, and in that way perhaps plants a seed or two.

Enjoy...

The Lotus Sutra: An Overview

In the coming weeks, we will study and discuss the Lotus Sutra after our meetings for meditation.  The Lotus Sutra gives the central, fundamental teaching of our school, Tendai.  It is among the most popular Buddhist texts in the world, particularly in East Asia; it is surely the most popular sutra in Japanese history.  Why so?  Likely because it offers a comprehensive vision of the teachings in language that is accessible; it is structured in such a way as to provoke critical thought, the imagination, and emotional response.  Put differently, there is something for everyone in the Lotus Sutra. 

All you really need in order to participate is an open mind, a little bit of time each week to read and reflect, and a copy of the Lotus Sutra.  Here is some further background that may be of benefit, in order to set the table for the great feast.

Our approach to this sutra will be influenced by the traditional TienTai Ekayana view, as well as the innovative approach taken by the contemporary Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh in his commentary Opening the Heart of the Cosmos.  Most valuable among Thich Nhat Hanh's contributions in this respect is his division of the Lotus Sutra into three dimensions:  concerning the world of historical experience, the ultimate view of spiritual reality, and the "action dimension."  Here, "historical" refers to this world of action in time, the samsaric world of everyday life.  The "ultimate" describes the spiritual reality at work in and of the historical world, accessible to those who put their faith in their practice of Dharma.  The "action" dimension is that of the bodhisattva working in the world of historical action, the world of shortcoming and dissatisfaction, but from the point of view of the ultimate.  The action dimension is the bodhisattva's work, in this world but not of it.

I think this three-dimension approach makes a great deal of sense, particularly from the point of view of TienTai thought.  The great master Zhiyi (Chih-i) taught that there are essentially three truths:  the truth of the samsaric world, or the experience conventional reality by ordinary perception; the truth of emptiness, which reveals the truth of the samsaric world; and the truth of enlightenment, which encompasses both.  Thich Nhat Hanh's three dimensions of the Lotus Sutra seem to map onto these three truths in an interesting way.  (If anyone is interested in learning more about the three truths, Paul Swanson's book T'ien-T'ai Philosophy is recommended.  It is a challenging read, but very much worthwhile.  But I digress.)

We will read and discuss one chapter of the Lotus Sutra each week.  Each chapter, in Thich Nhat Hanh's scheme, primarily articulates one of these three dimensions, as follows:

The Historical Dimension:  Lotus Sutra chapters 1-10, and 12-14

The Ultimate Dimension:  Lotus Sutra chapters 11, 15-19, and 22

The Action Dimension:  Lotus Sutra chapters 20 and 23-28

At night as I recite the Lotus Sutra
The sound moves the galaxies
The earth below wakes up
In her lap suddenly flowers appear

At night as I recite the Lotus Sutra
A jeweled stupa appears resplendent
All over the sky bodhisattvas are seen
And Buddha's hand is in mine.

--Thich Nhat Hanh

***

The Lotus Sutra has been translated into English at least seven times.  I recommend one of three translations as offering a good balance among readability, accuracy, and affordability (in order of preference):

*Kato, The Threefold Lotus Sutra
*Reeves, The Lotus Sutra
*Murano, The Lotus Sutra

The Burton Watson translation is not recommended.  The BDK edition is of great value, but is very expensive indeed.

Contemplation: To Wish for the Real

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

"Neither what comes into being nor what it comes into being from are based in anything, nor are they a basis for anything.  Beings and the worlds they dwell in have no foundation, and yet, despite their having no foundation, beings and the worlds come into being.

"Confusion about the original perfect understanding results in delusion, but this delusion has no essential nature of its own; it is based on nothing.  One may wish to return to what is real, but to wish for the real is already a falsification.  The true nature of the suchness of reality is not a reality that one can seek to return to.  If one were to try to return to it, one would merely experience something that does not have the attributes of reality."

Surangama Sutra, p. 315

Contemplation: The Suchness of Reality Manifests

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

 The Matrix of the Thus-Come One is itself the wondrous, enlightened, luminous understanding, which illuminates he entire Dharma-Realm.  Within it, therefore, the one is infinitely many and the infinitely many are one.  The great appears within the small, just as the small appears within the great.  I sit unmoving in this still place for awakening, and my Dharma-body extends everywhere and encompasses the infinity of space in all ten directions.  On the tip of a fine hair, magnificent Buddha-lands appear.  Seated within each mote of dust, I turn the great Wheel of the Dharma.  Because I have freed myself from the world of perceived objects, I have become one with enlightenment.  Therefore the suchness of reality manifests--the inherent nature that is wondrous, luminous, and awake.

Surangama Sutra, p. 155

Contemplation: The Rain of Dharma

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

I tirelessly rain the rain of the Dharma
Equally on those who are noble or humble,
Superior or inferior, who keep or break the precepts,
Who have good or bad conduct, right or wrong views,
Sharp or dull faculties.
According to their power to understand,
All of the sentient beings who hear my teaching
Dwell in various stages.
The Buddha's equal teaching
Is like the rain of one flavor.
The sentient beings accept it
According to their different capacities,
Just as the grasses and trees
Each differently absorb the rain.
The teaching of the Buddhas
Is always of one flavor
And fulfills the entire world.

from the Lotus Sutra, chapter 5, as recited at the Tendai Buddhist Institute

Upcoming Events: Election Night and More

Here is a summary of Great River Sangha's upcoming activities.  Please spread the word to those who may be interested:

30 October:  Our regularly scheduled meditation & Dharma talk will be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.

6 November:  After voting, join us for Silent Meditation and Contemplation of the Four Universals (lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity) and no partisan politics at all as part of our Election Night Non-Coverage.  De-compress after the intensity of this year's election cycle in a spirit of spiritual unity.  As we recite in our meal prayer, let us come together "for our teachers, parents, nation and all sentient beings."  Everyone is welcome.  7:30pm, Walden Room, Unitarian-Universalist Church of Arlington; beginners, please come at least ten minutes early for introduction and orientation.  Do remember to vote! 

13 November:  After our usual meditation practice, we will conclude our study and discussion of the Surangama Sutra.  Everyone is welcome.  7:30pm, Walden Room, Unitarian-Universalist Church of Arlington; beginners, please come at least ten minutes early for introduction and orientation.

20 November:  We will begin a chapter-by-chapter series on the Lotus Sutra after meditation.  The Lotus Sutra is the most popular Buddhist text in East Asia (particularly in Japan), and makes for particularly enjoyable and fulfilling reading (the Threefold Lotus Sutra is the recommended translation for this series, for those interested in following along at home).  Everyone is welcome.  7:30pm, Walden Room, Unitarian-Universalist Church of Arlington; beginners, please come at least ten minutes early for introduction and orientation.

And in the planning phase...  A Dharma movie night, and an introductory-level class for beginners to Buddhism and meditation practice.  These two events will be scheduled once appropriate venues are confirmed.  Stay tuned, friends!

If you have any questions, contact Jikan at JikanAnderson@gmail.com

Meditation Cancelled: 30 October 2012

Due to the incoming storm (may it be a "Great Rain of Dharma"), we will not meet for meditation this week (Tuesday, 30 October).  Please stay safe and keep mindfulness at this time.  I look forward to seeing you the week after.

Contemplation: No Hindrance in the Mind

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

With no hindrance in the mind:  no hindrance, therefore, no fear

from The Heart Sutra

Programming Notice

I will be away from the keyboard for well over a week for training.  Hence, there will be no contemplation next week. 

This item describes what I will be up to...

Surangama Sutra Study Questions, Part 10

Back to the heart of the matter...

Part 10:  "Fifty Demonic States of Mind," pags 391-404

*The title of this section evokes the supernatural, a world of demons and spirits.  What are the fifty demonic states described?  How do they emerge, naturally or supernaturally or otherwise?  In what context are they presented?

*Is there a way in which this material follows logically from previous sections in this sutra? If so, how does it follow?

*How does body relate to mind and vice versa in this section?

***

I wish to extend the virtue of these verses to all sentient beings.  Together may we progress along the Buddha path of liberation.
--"Soeko," from the Tendai Daily Service

Contemplation: This Still Place for Awakening

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

"With my wondrous, luminous understanding that neither comes into being nor ceases to be, I am identical to the Matrix of the Thus-Come One.  The Matrix of the Thus-Come One is itself the wondrous, enlightened, luminous understanding, which illuminates the entire Dharma-Realm.  Within it, therefore, the one is infinitely many and the infinitely many are one.  The great appears within the small, just as the small appears within the great. I sit unmoving in this still place for awakening, and my Dharma-body extends everywhere and encompasses the infinity of space in all ten directions.  On the tip of a fine hair, magnificent Buddha-lands appear.  Seated within each mote of dust, I turn the great Wheel of the Dharma.  Because I have freed myself from the world of perceived objects, I have become one with enlightenment.  Therefore the suchness of reality manifests--the inherent nature that is wondrous, luminous, and awake."

Surangama Sutra, p. 155

Surangama Sutra Study Questions, part 9

back to the heart of the matter...


Part 9, "Levels of Being," pages 313-388

*How is Ananda doing at this point?  Is he beginning to ask better questions?

*This section describes two phenomena:  the stages one passes through in the Buddhist path, and the trajectories of individuals' lives according to their habits of body, speech, and mind (samsara).  Some basic questions follow from this:

*How does one develop through these stages?

*Considering the experiences of hells and ghosts worlds and god realms described here:  how do these arise?  Are these real in any way, and if so, in what way?

*Why do you suppose these two topics, the path and the characteristics of samsaric life, described together?  What kind of relation is there between the two descriptions?

Contemplation: The Elements

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

But within the Matrix of the Thus-Come One, space and the world of perceived objects are everywhere throughout the Dharma-Realm.  Movement associated with the wind, the stillness associated with space, the brightness associated with the sun, and the darkness associated with clouds are all present within the Matrix of the Thus-Come One.  Beings, however, suffocated by their confusion, turn their backs on enlightenment and embrace this world of perceived objects.  Amidst the stress of beings' entanglement with perceived objects, the world of condition phenomena appears.

Surangama Sutra, p. 154

Surangama Sutra Study Questions, part 8

 "The Surangama Mantra," pages 279-307.

In this passage, the sutra turns once again:  from exhortations on ethical purity, to the essentially esoteric matters of establishing a ritually pure space, and the recitatin of the Surangama dharani (also called a mantra). 

*Rather than attempting to probe these matters of faith analytically, I would invite you to consider them as means to an end.  These practices, particularly the recitation of mantra and dharani, have a long history as spiritual practices, which is to say, as methods, as means.  The  best way to find out how such practices work is to give them a good-faith try.  How?

*The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, a soto Zen group, has prepared an English translation of the dharani.  It is chantable and elegant, although some of the word choices are unconventional (what exactly is a "daemon" and what has it to do with Buddhism?).  If you are interested, you can find it here.  I have recited and copied this translation myself, and found it beneficial.

Enjoy Thanksgiving Together at Jikan's House

This Thanksgiving, we would like to invite anyone who would like to come for a warm meal together and good conversation. If you would like to bring a vegetarian dish, dessert, or drink, or if you have never been to our home before, please let me know (jikananderson at gmail.com).  You can RSVP to me by email, in person, or at our Meetup group:  22 November 2012 at 5:30pm.

Contemplation: Wondrous, Fundamental, Luminous

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

All in the assembly became aware that their minds pervaded the ten directions and that they could see everything throughout space in all ten directions as clearly as one might see an object such as a leaf in the palm of one's hand.  They saw that all things in all worlds are the wondrous, fundamental, enlightened, luminous mind that understands, and that this mind, pure, all-pervading, and perfect, contains the entire universe.  They looked back on their own bodies born of their parents and saw them to be like minute particles of dust drifting about everywhere in the air, arising and perishing, or like solitary bubbles floating on vast, calm seas, appearing and then vanishing without a trace.  They fully understood that the fundamental, wondrous mind is everlasting and does not perish.

Surangama Sutra, p. 135

Surangama Study Questions, part 7

Back to the heart of the matter...

"Four Clear and Definitive Instructions on Purity," pages 263-276

*How would you characterize the Buddha's ethical teachings in this section?  What is emphasized?  Is there anything one might expect to find here that is not definitely indicated?

*For whom are these teachings given (i.e., monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen...)?  For anyone and everyone under all circumstances?

Contemplation: You Don't Worry

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

You don't worry.  You do your best.

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu

Surangama Study Questions, part 6

Back to the heart of the matter...

Surangama Sutra, part 6:  "Twenty-Five Sages," pages 205-259

*This section opens with another of Ananda's particularities.  What is Ananda after here; what is he trying for?  How does the Buddha respond?

*Once again, Buddha Shakyamuni adjusts his teaching method to suit the needs of his students.  What does he do in this chapter?

*There is a certain symmetry or correspondence  between Part 6 and Part 3, "The Matrix of the Thus-Come One."  How does this later section develop, or reinforce, or recontextualize (choose the verb you like) that earlier section's teachings?

*What are the unique capacities and practices of "the Bodhisattva who Hears the Cries of the World," Avalokiteshvara (also known as Kanzeon, Kannon, Guan Yin, Kwanseum)?  Why does Manjushri recommend this path for Ananda, and for beings in "the Dharma's ending-time"?

*We will discuss what is meant by the Dharma-ending age, and its relevance to this Sutra and our tradition of Buddhism, Tuesday evening.

Contemplation: Untouched by Conditions

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

When you remain entirely untouched by conditions, whether or not they are present in combination, you bring to an end all the causes of coming into being and ceasing to be.  At that moment, you will awake to perfect enlightenment, which is your true nature and which neither comes into being nor ceases to be.  It is the pure, fundamental mind, the fundamental, everlasting enlightenment.

Surangama Sutra, p. 83

Surangama Study Questions, 5

Back to the heart of the matter...

On Part 5:  "Instructions for Practice," pages 169-201.

*Here, the Buddha seems to shift tactics in teaching the Sangha.  He relies less on elaborate logic than in previous sections, and more on concrete analogies:  objects such as a scarf or the sound of a bell that can be experienced with the senses of those present.  Why do you suppose the Buddha takes this approach at this point?

*What are some of the Buddha's specific instructions for the practice of the Path?  How do these emerge from or relate to the material presented previously?

*This may be a good time to consider the elements of the supernatural that are described in the sutra.  The Buddha's hands are webbed and his skin appears as purple-toned gold; at one point, the light of all the Buddhas in all directions floods the hall.  How does this impact you as a reader?  How do your values, preconceptions, and expectations interact with this spectacle?  By contrast, how might the members of a Chinese farming village in the year 1000 respond to hearing it, do you imagine?

Contemplation: "So it is"

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

Ananda said, "In fact, I do not think that anything I see, as I look around Prince Jetri's Grove, is separate from my awareness.  Why?  If the trees were separate from my awareness, how could I be seeing them?  But if the trees were identical to my awareness, how could they still be trees?  The same is true of every other perceived object and of space as well.  If space were separate from my awareness, how could I be seeing it?  But if it were identical to my awareness, how could it still be space?  Having reexamined this--having considered in detail the myriad sights around us, I realize that not even the smallest of them is separate from my awareness."

The Buddha said, "So it is.  So it is."

The Buddha's words stunned everyone in the assembly who still needed instruction.

from The Surangama Sutra, pp. 67-68

Surangama Study Questions, 4

Back to the heart of the matter...


On Part 4, "The Coming into Being of the World of Illusion," pp. 141-166

*Here, in an exchange with Purna and (again) Ananda, the Buddha resolves many of the outstanding issues from the previous sections.  To do this, he describes the way n which the world that ordinary beings like us experience seems to arise.

*What is meant by "adding understanding to understanding"?

*What is the difference between a Buddha (one who "gets it") and an ordinary being?

*How does experience arise for an ordinary being?

*Ananda gets scolded again:  for what?  What is the Buddha trying to teach him at this point?

PS:  The chapter "The Interfusing of the Primary Elements" (pages 153-158) may make for difficult reading at first, but diligence is rewarded because in this section the teaching of Buddha nature is presented directly in clearly.  All it takes is some patience with the unfamiliar and, to some American readers, seemingly high-flown language.  Enjoy!

Contemplation: Wondrous, Luminous, and Pure

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

"Know then that your mind is fundamentally wondrous, luminous, and pure.  You have confused yourself and lost track of what is fundamental.  Constantly drifting and drowning, you have become submerged in the sea of death and rebirth.  That is why the Thus-Come One says you are to be pitied."

Surangama Sutra (2009), p. 57

Engaged Practice: Arlington Food Assistance Center

Members of our sangha have a longstanding relationship to the Arlington Food Assistance Center.  This is an organization that provides food to many families in Arlington who would not eat otherwise.  You can participate by contacting them directly, donating as appropriate, and in particular volunteering your time.

I strongly encourage anyone who is involved in our local sangha to participate, and for those who are at a distance to find a similar project in your neighborhood and join in.  This is an opportunity to make a meaningful connection in our community, to put the teachings into practice very directly, and quite simply to do the right thing.

Surangama Sutra Study Questions, 3

With the intention of getting to the heart of the Great Matter, another installment of Surangama Sutra study questions:  "The Matrix of the Thus-Come One," pages 89-137

*Context:  "Matrix of the Thus-Come One" in this text translates the Sanskrit term Tathagatagarbha (Tathagata means "Thus Come One" and garbha means something like "matrix," but there are other translations available).  This concept is also translated as Buddha-nature or Buddha-potential in contemporary discourse, and is a familiar doctrine in other materials we have read together such as the Awakening of Faith or the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment.

*The Buddha categorically reviews each part of the known world through several classification systems (the five aggregates and so on).  He argues in each case that nothing apparent comes into being on its own, nor by causes and conditions.  This appears to contradict the Buddhist teaching of dependent origination, according to which everything comes into being and falls away by causes and conditions, so it is important to consider this bold claim carefully.   How is it that the Buddha rejects the idea that things arise and have their being (such as it is) due to causes and conditions?  What is he getting at here?

*Meanwhile, the sutra also claims that all these categories are in themselves the Matrix of the Thus-Come One.  Is there anything that is not so, according to the Sutra?  What does it mean in practical to consider consciousness and objects of consciousness as the space or mind or potential of the Buddha?

*Checking in on Ananda:  by p. 137, he seems to be coming around to the Buddha's way of thinking and practicing.  What has he learned so far, and what does he have left to learn in your view?

Contemplation: What is fundamentally you

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

Your mind makes distinctions about light and darkness and other phenomena, but the essence of your visual awareness does not make these distinctions.  Clearly then, the mind that experiences these conditioned phenomena is not what is fundamentally you.  But what is not these conditioned phenomena must be what is fundamentally you.  If it is not you, what else could it be?

Surangama Sutra, p. 57

Surangama Sutra Study Questions, part 2

I found last night's discussion of the Surangama Sutra's introduction and first few chapters to be engaging, lively, and bright.  It was a joy to peek into the meaning of the Buddha's teachings together.  As before, these questions are intended to promote a thoughtful engagement with the teachings and to get into the heart of the matter.

For Part II, "The Nature of Visual Awareness," pages 41-86:

*General advice:  It helps to approach this section with a gentle sense of humor.

*A sangha member, Kansei, describes this section as being like a Socratic dialogue:  Ananda puts forward a proposition, and the Buddha demonstrates how that proposition is upside-down and backwards.  What does this method tell us about the Buddha's approach to teaching and learning?  How does the Buddha expect people to learn?  Another way to approach this question:  What is it that Ananda has avoided doing in his own practice?  What is the Buddha trying to teach Ananda, and through his example, us here and now?

*The question, "What is the nature of visual awareness?" is considered at length in this section.  Why is this of concern?  What is the purpose behind laboring over this particular point?

*What is the nature of visual awareness, according to the Buddha?  Why does this matter?  Related question:  What does it mean to be "without outflows"?

Contemplation: Whatever Moves is Like Dust

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

Then the Thus-Come One told everyone in the assembly, "All beings need to understand that whatever moves is like the dust and, like a visitor, does not remain.  Just now you saw that it was Ananda's head that moved, while his visual awareness did not move.  It was my hand that opened and closed, while his awareness did not open or close.  How can you take what moves to be your body and its environment, since they come into being and perish in every successive thought?   You have lost track of your true nature, and instead you act out of delusion.  Therefore, because you have lost track of your mind's true nature by identifying yourself with the objects you perceive, you keep on being bound to the cycle of death and rebirth."

Surangama Sutra, p. 45-46

A little bit on vipashyana...

A few weeks ago, I posted a gatha from the Vajrasamadhi Sutra here and elsewhere online.  This brief verse opens onto many different kinds of meaning.  One of them has to do with the practice of seated meditation.

There are two aspects to meditation in our school:  shamatha and vipashyana, or "calming the mind" and "discerning the real" respectively.  Calming the mind is just that, you take up an object and concentrate on it until the mind is stilled.  Much of the contemporary discourse around "mindfulness" is actually about this kind of calming function.  The point of calming the mind is to come to some understanding of the nature of mind, which is to say, you calm the mind in order to discern the real:  to recognize one's real condition.  I think this gatha gives excellent advice on vipashyana:

Objects that are produced by causes and conditions,
Those objects are extinguished and unproduced.

 Take thoughts for example.  Thoughts are objects of mind that are produced by causes and conditions.  If you recognize them as empty in their nature, then they resolve into emptiness without effort.  You do not have to force it or get involved in it.  Simple recognition is all it takes.  Even scary or painful thoughts and feelings arise and resolve, and there is no problem at all.  And this is so for all objects (objects of sight, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching too), any kind of life situation, not merely objects of thought.  What happens when you do get mixed up in it, trying to actively put out the fire?  The second half of the gatha tells you:

Extinguish all objects subject to production and extinction,
And those objects will be produced and unextinguished.

If you take the phantasmagoria of emotions and thoughts in your mindstream as real and actively engage with them, pushing them away for instance, then all you do is create problems for yourself.  The point is not to negate or deny or transcend somehow the world of the senses, thoughts, and feelings.  The point is to understand their nature as the movement of mind.  To do that, it really helps to relax.  That is why we have calming the mind in tandem with discerning the real. 

Contemplation: The Practice, 8

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

Though he attains Buddhahood, turns the wheel of the Dharma, and enters nirvana, in fact he never forsakes the bodhisattva way--such is the practice of the bodhisattva.

Vimalakirti Sutra, p. 74, translation altered slightly

Surangama Sutra Study Questions, part 1

Our sangha is reading the Surangama Sutra, in the 2009 Buddhist Text Society edition.  These questions are intended to promote a meaningful discussion of the most important aspects of the text.  I will post more as we advance through the sutra.

For pages 5-28 (including the Prologue, "The Request for Dharma," and "The Location of the Mind"):

*What is going on with Ananda?  What is he up to?  What is his problem?

*How would you describe Buddha Shakyamuni's teaching style in this section?


For pages 29-38 ("The Conditioned Mind and the True Mind"):

*What is the difference between the conditioned mind and the true mind?

*Does this distinction shed any light on Ananda's present situation and his attempts at spiritual practice?

Contemplation: The Practice, 7

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

Though he practices concentration and insight as methods to aid one to the way, in the end he does not sink into tranquil extinction--such is the practice of the bodhisattva.  Though fully aware that all things are without birth or extinction, he adorns his body with auspicious features--such is the practice of the bodhisattva.

Vimalakirti Sutra, p. 74

Programming Note:  There will be no contemplation posted next week, as I will be out of town and away from the computer.  Continue with this one until I return.

Contemplation: The Practice, 6

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

Though he practices the four states of mindfulness, in the end he does not long to remove himself from the objects of such mindfulness, the body, sensation, the mind, and things--such is the practice of the bodhisattva.

The Vimalakirti Sutra, p. 73

A Gatha from the Vajrasamadhi Sutra

I hope this brief verse (gatha) makes the same impression on you as it does for me:

Objects that are produced by causes and conditions,
Those objects are extinguished and unproduced.
Extinguish all objects subject to production and extinction,
And those objects will be produced and unextinguished.

This is from the Vajrasamadhi-Sutra (published as Cultivating Original Enlightenment, by Robert Buswell, which includes a brilliant exposition of the text by the great Korean master Wonhyo).

At this link, you can find a version of this gatha that you can print, cut down to size, and pin to your cubicle wall or the space just above the kitchen sink, for reflecting at regular intervals.

Contemplation: The Practice, 5

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

Though he moves in the realm of emptiness, he plants many roots of virtue--such is the practice of the bodhisattva.

The Vimalakirti Sutra, p. 73

Office Hour: Falls Church Edition

This Sunday, July 8 2012 starting at 8:00am, we will assemble at a Starbucks in Falls Church for an Office Hour.  Everyone is welcome.  You can find out more on the whys and hows of this event at our Meetup page.

Some members of the group are interested in taking a trip to the Smithsonian in order to experience the Masters of Mercy exhibition at the Sackler Gallery.  This is strongly encouraged.  If anyone would like to drift over there after the Office Hour, or at any time really, the benefit will be to take in some truly inspiring artwork. 

Contemplation: The Practice, 4

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

Though he longs to be far removed from the passions, he does not seek this through the elimination of body or mind--such is the practice of the bodhisattva.

Vimalakirti Sutra, p. 72.

Contemplation: The Practice, 3

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

Seeking comprehensive wisdom, yet not seeking it when the time is not right--such is the practice of the bodhisattva.

Vimalakirti Sutra, p. 72

Contemplation: The Practice, 2

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

The practice that is neither that of common mortals nor that of worthies and sages--such is the practice of the bodhisattva.

Vimalakirti Sutra, p. 72

Contemplation: The Practice, 1

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

To be in the realm of birth and death without following its tainted ways, to dwell in nirvana while not seeking eternal extinction--such is the practice of the bodhisattva.

Vimalakirti Sutra, p.72

Contemplation: Great Mirror Wisdom

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

When delusion is overcome, understanding is there,
And store consciousness is no longer subject to afflictions.
Store consciousness becomes Great Mirror Wisdom,
Reflecting the cosmos in all directions. Its name is now Pure Consciousness.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation at the Base, p. 11.

Contemplation: Same and Different

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

Store consciousness is neither the same nor different,
Individual nor collective.
Same and different inter-are.
Collective and individual give rise to each other.

from Transformation at the Base by Thich Nhat Hanh, p. 11

Contemplation: All and One

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

Seeds and formations
Both have the nature of interbeing and interpenetration.
The one is produced by the all.
The all is dependent on the one.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation at the Base, p. 11

Contemplation: Seeds and Formations

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

Seeds can produce seeds.
Seeds can produce formations.
Formations can produce seeds.
Formations can produce formations.

from Transformation at the Root by Thich Nhat Hanh, p. 11.

Contemplation: Seeds

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

Although impermanent and without a separate self,
Store consciousness contains all phenomena in the cosmos,
Both conditioned and unconditioned,
In the form of seeds.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation at the Base, p. 11

Contemplation: Unobstructed

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

Unobstructed and indeterminate,
Store consciousness is continuously flowing and changing.
At the same time, it is endowed
With the five universal mental formations.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation at the Base, p. 10

Jikan's Office Hour: 12 May 2012

I have scheduled an Office Hour for 12 May 2012 starting at 10:30am.  You can find out more of the wheres, whens, and whys of this event here, at our meetup page.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Contemplation: Individual and Collective

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

All manifestations bear the marks
Of both the individual and the collective.
The maturation of store consciousness functions in the same way
In its participation in the different stages and realms of being.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation at the Base, p. 10

Contemplation: Manifestations

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

Manifestations from store consciousness
Can be perceived directly in the mode of things-in-themselves,
As representations, or as mere images.
All are included in the eighteen elements of being.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation at the Base, p. 10

Contemplation: Habit-energies

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

The function of store consciousness
is to receive and maintain
Seeds and their habit energies,
So they can manifest in the world, or remain dormant.

from Transformation at the Base by Thich Nhat Hanh, p. 10

Contemplation: Seeds

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

The quality of our life
Depends on the quality
Of the seeds
That lie deep in our consciousness.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation at the Base, p. 10

Contemplation: Just This

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

Just this...
...from birth to death

--Zen poetry spraypainted to a rail trestle in Minneapolis

Contemplation: Birth and Death

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

Birth and death,
You have been crushing me.
Now you can no longer touch me.

Tue Trung, quoted by Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart, p. 99

Contemplation: Four Inverted Views, 6

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

Virtuous man, what is the sign of life? It is the mind of sentient beings that illuminates purity, in which they are aware of what they have realized. Karmic [consciousness] and wisdom cannot perceive themselves. This is comparable to the root of life. Virtuous man, when the mind is able to illuminate and perceive enlightenment, it is but a defilement, because both perceiver and perceived are not apart from defilement. After ice melts in hot water, there is no ice to be aware of its melting. The perception of the existence of the self enlightening itself is also like this.

The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, p. 51

Contemplation: Four Inverted Views, 5

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

Virtuous man, what is the sign of sentient beings? It is the experience which is beyond self-awakening and it is that which is awakened to in the minds of sentient beings. Virtuous man, if for example a man sans, 'I am a sentient being,' we know that what he speaks of as 'sentient being' refers neither to himself nor to another person [only]. Why is he not referring to his self? Since this self is sentient being, it is not limited to his self. Since this self is sentient being, therefore it is not another person's self. Virtuous man, the experiences and awakenings of sentient beings are all [traces of] the self and the person. In the awakening beyond the traces of the self and person, if one retained the awareness of having realized something, it would be called the sign of sentient beings.

From The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, p. 51

Tendai in Deutschland

Some readers of this blog are in Germany and Austria. For you, there is now a venue to discuss the teachings: Tendai in Deutschland. Enjoy!

Contemplation: Four Inverted Views, 4

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

Virtuous man, what is the sign of the person? It is that which is experienced in the minds of sentient beings. Virtuous man, he who awakens to the self no longer identifies with the self. This awakening, which is beyond all experience, is the mark of the person. Virtuous man, both what is awakened to and the awakening are not the self. Thus, even if this man's mind were perfectly awakened to nirvana, it would not be the self [because] as long as there is even the slightest trace of awakening or striving in the mind to realize the principle, it would be the sign of the person.

Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, pp. 50-51.

Sangha Photo Archive

You can get a peek into the world of our sangha events here and here.

Contemplation: Four Inverted Views, 3

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

Virtuous man! What is the sign of the self? It is that which is experienced in the minds of sentient beings. Virtuous man, for instance, when a man's body is well coordinated and healthy, he forgets about its existence. However, when his four limbs are sluggish and his body unhealthy and unregulated, then with the slightest treatment of acupuncture and moxa he will become aware of the existence of the self again. Therefore, the self manifests when experience is felt. Virtuous man, even if this man's mind experienced the real of the Tathagata and clearly perceived pure nirvana, it would be but the phenomenon of the self.

The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, p. 50

Contemplation: Four Inverted Views, 2

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

"Why is this? Because the original-arising ignorance has been [falsely perceived as] one's own master since beginningless time, therefore all sentient beings are unable to give rise to the wisdom-eye. The nature of their bodies and minds is nothing but ignorance. [This ignorance which does not eliminate itself may be illustrated] by the example of the man who does not take his own life. Therefore, you should know that people get along with those who like them and resent those who contradict them. Because like and dislike nurture ignorance, sentient beings always fail in their pursuit of the Path.

Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, p. 50

Contemplation: Four Inverted Views, 1

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

Virtuous man, since beginningless time all sentient beings have been deludedly conceiving and clinging to the existence of self, person, sentient being, and life. They take these four inverted views as the essence of a real self, thereby giving rise to dual states of like and dislike. [Thus], based on one delusion, they further cling to other delusions. These two delusions rely on each other, giving rise to the illusory paths of karma. Because of illusory karma, sentient beings deludedly perceive the turning flow [of cyclic existence]. Those who detest the turning flow [of cyclic existence] deludedly perceive nirvana, and hence are unable to enter [the realm of] pure enlightenment. It is not enlightenment that thwarts their entering; rather, it is the idea that 'there is one who can enter.' Therefore, whether their thoughts are agitated or have ceased, they cannot be other than confused and perplexed.

from The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, p. 50

Study Group: Online Tendai Buddhism Class

There has been some interest in forming an informal study group that will take a free online class in Tendai Buddhism together. You can find more information on that here. Everyone's welcome to join in!

Retreat Photos...

I posted some photos of our recent retreat at the Tendai Buddhist Institute here, at our facebook page. Enjoy...

Contemplation: Harboring

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

With the mind harboring love and hatred,
and thoughts carrying flattery and crookedness,
one is full of confusion and perplexity,
and cannot enter the citadel of enlightenment.
To return to the realm of enlightenment,
desire, anger, and delusion must first be eliminated.
When attachment to the dharma [of nirvana]
no longer exists in the mind,
one can gradually reach accomplishment.

from The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, p. 53

Introduction to Practice Night & Potluck: March 3, 2012

With the influx of new people we have had in recent months, it seems appropriate to offer a night of instruction and fellowship for beginners, and experienced people who would like a review.

You can find details on the wheres, whens, and what-to-do's at our Meetup page.

Here are some thoughts on why it matters to practice with others. It is, in our view, the heart of practice.

Contemplation: All Tasks Well Performed

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

When something has been planned and started on,
Attention should not drift to other things.
With thoughts fixed on the chosen target,
That and that alone should be pursued.

Behaving in this way, all tasks are well performed,
And nothing is achieved by doing otherwise.
Afflictions, the reverse of vigilance,
Can never multiply if this is how you act.

Santideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva, p. 68

Issues of Community, Continued

My rather utopian idea yesterday that it might be possible for Buddhist groups of different stripes to organize around a common space in order to build positive connections and save expenses and time in our region has sparked a conversation on cooperation and conversation among sanghas more broadly. Find it here on the DharmaWheel discussion board.

NoVA House of Dharma: It Just Might Work...

What follows is a set of speculations in response to a concrete problem in our region for Buddhists and Buddhist groups. I put it forward in the hope that some good may come of it.

Arlington, Virginia and its surrounding suburbs hosts many Buddhist groups. Several of them, including ours at the moment, rent space in one of three different Unitarian churches; others meet in private homes, or in yoga studios or dance halls or art galleries. We sometimes meet at Starbucks. This is OK as a stopgap measure, but does not offer the benefits of a long-term, stable location that people feel they can count on, and is often not supportive of meditative practice due to distraction and inconsistency. However, if you have fifteen groups of five or ten or twenty meeting once per week, you do not have a core around which building can be purchased or leased. This is where we are now: a thousand flowers are blooming but their future is uncertain in isolation.

One solution would be to organize several of these practice groups around one location, one building that is committed to hosting Dharma activities of many kinds. To give an example of what I am referring to, consider Ekoji in Richmond, Virginia: six or seven sanghas meet at different times under one roof, and share in the upkeep. Speaking practically, this means that a pan-Buddhist community can build up around the temple, there is less confusion in organizing Buddhist activities because people know where to go to find the Buddhists (instead of fussing over the Meetup site to find out if it really is 7:30pm on Tuesdays at the Unitarian Church or...?), and conditions and supports for practice can be improved. Sanghas would not need to compete for space with choir practice or stragglers from the previous yoga class. Instead, they would build the kinds of connections and habits that support Dharma activity. Call it a House of Dharma. The People's Dharma Hall.

So, what is needed? Oh, not much: just a big pot of money, a plan, a leader, a suitable location, and the cooperation of several Buddhist groups in the area. Can these conditions arise at once in a harmonious and productive way? It may not be likely, but it is possible: it can be done.

I would like to know from others if there is any interest in trying.

The Awakening of Faith: A Study Guide

A revised version of our sangha's study guide for The Awakening of Faith is available for free download at this link. This should be enough to get us going for a while.

Contemplation: Clear Observation 8

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

It is as the sutra says: 'If a man meditates wholly on Amitabha Buddha in the world of the Western Paradise and wishes to be reborn in that world, directing all the goodness he has cultivated [toward that goal], then he will be born there.' Because he will see the Buddha at all times, he will never fall back. If he meditates on the Dharmakaya, the Suchness of the Buddha, and with diligence keeps practicing [the meditation], he will be able to be born there in the end because he abides in the correct samadhi.

The Awakening of Faith, p. 102

The Awakening of Faith

For the next several weeks, our post-meditation Dharma discussions will center on a text called The Awakening of Faith. It is canonical in East Asian Buddhism, and for good reason: it gives a clear map of the concepts and categories of Mahayana practice, with an eye toward practice. That is, when it explains how these bits of doctrine fit together into an elegant whole, it does so in order to give a grounding and motivation for practice. This slim volume pulls more than its own weight, and is very much worth the time it takes to dig into it on its own terms.

Two concerns about this text have been expressed to me. The first is that the text may not be authentic, because even though it is attributed to the Indian pundit Asvaghosa, it is probably of later Chinese composition. The second is that it seems weird to contemporary Americans to talk about faith in a Buddhist context, because isn't Buddhism some kind of ancillary to humanistic psychology or cognitive science and not really a religion? And isn't faith just a cipher for cultish behavior? Hm. These questions should be taken seriously.

On Authenticity: It is true that the Awakening was probably written by a Chinese author (or authors). This does not make the text any less authoritative or useful, however. There is an entire canon of Chinese-authored Buddhist materials that are by contemporary standards apocryphal, but from the point of view of practice, make a real contribution in that they present the Buddhist teachings in a way that is tangible to the community it reaches. Some examples of this would include the Surangama Sutra, the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, and the Brahma Net Sutra. I do not think it is plausible that the historical Buddha actually gave these texts orally. I do not need to think he did in order to accept the premise that they may have something to offer contemporary readers. They do. The Awakening is like that: it is a text designed to reach people with the Mahayana message.

On Faith: It is true that Buddhism is a religion. There are matters of faith. But what is meant by "faith" here? The premise of the Awakening (and of our school of Buddhism generally) is that meaningful practice begins when someone trusts his or her capacity for awakening, or Buddha-nature. You have to believe in yourself. This is part of the meaning of taking refuge. The world is screwed up and sorrowful, so we take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha: we put our faith in the enlightened mind, in the teachings of liberation, and in the community of those who are committed to the good work. Faith in a Mahayana context connotes an attitude of devotion, commitment, respect, trust, and openness to learning. It is not the same as accepting a doctrine at face value because you are told to do so; it is not doctrinaire. At the risk of over-generalizing, in my experience Buddhists are better debaters than believers.

If you would like to follow along with the discussion, purchase a copy of the Hakeda translation of The Awakening of Faith at a bookseller of your choice, or find it at the library. I recommend checking for used copies through Bookfinder.

Contemplation: Clear Observation 7

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

Next, suppose there is a man who learns this teaching for the first time and wishes to seek the correct faith but lacks courage and strength. Because he lives in this world of suffering, he fears that he will not always be able to meet the Buddhas and honor them personally, and that, faith being difficult to perfect, he will be inclined to fall back. He should know that the Tathagatas have an excellent expedient means by which he can protect his faith: that is, through the strength of wholehearted meditation on the Buddha, he will in fulfillment of his wishes be able to be born in the Buddha-land beyond, to see the Buddha always, and to be forever separated from the evil states of existence.

From The Awakening of Faith, p. 102

Jikan's Office Hour: Cherrydale Redux

Our sangha began in an Arlington neighborhood called Cherrydale. So it feels right to meet there still from time to time. The next installment of Jikan's Office Hour will be held on 22 January 2012 (Sunday) at 1pm at the Starbuck's at 3125 Lee Highway. For more information, check out our meetup page. I look forward to seeing you there!

Contemplation: Clear Observation 6

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

The practice of 'cessation' will enable ordinary men to cure themselves of their attachments to the world, and will enable the followers of the Hinayana to forsake their views, which derive from cowardice. The practice of 'clear observation' will cure the followers of the Hinayana of the fault of having narrow and inferior minds which bring forth no great compassion, and will free ordinary men from their failure to cultivate the capacity for goodness. For these reasons, both 'cessation' and 'clear observation' are complementary and inseparable. If the two are not practiced together, then one cannot enter the path to enlightenment.

The Awakening of Faith, pp. 101-102

A note on terminology: here, "cessation" refers to shamatha or "calm abiding," and "clear observation" refers to vipashyana or "insight." Together, the two practices form Shi Kan meditation: "calming the mind, discerning the real." Second, in this context, "hinayana" refers simply to the mistake of taking up Buddhist practice for selfish reasons, such as an escape from one's problems, rather than the proper motivation of bodhicitta. This is not a polemic against any particular school of Buddhism, but a warning to those who aspire to the Mahayana to check their motivations.