Great River Sangha: Mission Statement

An inevitable landmark on the road of a sangha's growth and development:  the moment when it becomes necessary to write a mission statement.  That moment has arrived for us, and we are making a meditation of it.  The purpose of this activity is to take stock of where we are, where we have been, and where we would like to go in terms of the Buddha's teachings.  How can we make this a means of promoting the Dharma? 

We are inviting public discussion and comment on our draft mission statement, and comments on the comments too.  Please join the discussion at this link, to see what we have so far and to contribute if this is appropriate.

Thank you for your participation.

Contemplation: Comfort and Rest

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

To offer comfort and rest to those in need.

from the "Specific Objectives and Purposes" of the Tendai Buddhist Institute

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Our sangha is in the process of crafting a mission statement.  If you would like to participate in this discussion, start here. 

Save the Date: 17 May 2014

Our teacher Ven. Monshin Naamon of Tendai Buddhist Institute will be in town to lead a one-day retreat in Northern Virginia on 17 May 2014.  Save the date!  More details soon...

Contemplation: Entering Nirvana

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

One looks at the lion and the gold, yet the marks of both are exhausted and afflictions are not produced. Beauty and ugliness appear before one, yet one’s mind is as calm as the ocean. False thoughts are all exhausted. One has no compulsions, escapes from bondage, is free from obstruction, and eternally renounces the wellsprings of suffering. That is called entering Nirvana.

from the Treatise on the Golden Lion by Fa-Tsang; full text provided by The City of 10,000 Buddhas here

Contemplation: Achieving Bodhi

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

Bodhi means the Path and Awakening. That is to say, at the time one sees the lion, that is just seeing how all conditioned dharmas, even before they are destroyed, are fundamentally still and extinct. Being apart from grasping and rejecting is just the road which flows to and enters the sea of Sarvajna (All-wisdom). Therefore, it is called the Path. To understand that from beginningless time up to now, all upside-downness, from the first, is without actuality, is called Awakening. Ultimate endowment with the Wisdom of All Modes is called achieving Bodhi.

from the Treatise on the Golden Lion by Fa-Tsang; full text provided by The City of 10,000 Buddhas here

Contemplation: The Three Natures

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

The lion that exists for the emotions is called imaginary. The apparent existence of the lion is called dependent. The nature of the gold does not change; therefore, it is called perfected.

from the Treatise on the Golden Lion by Fa-Tsang; full text provided by The City of 10,000 Buddhas here