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