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BSPG News and Meeting (No. 168)
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Edited by Stony Brook Buddhism Study and Practice Group

News
1. We will meet in  room 303 of the Student Activities Center (SAC) this Thursday.
2. Mark your calendar! On March 5th at 7pm, Rev. Madeline Ko-I Bastis, a Zen Buddhist Priest and director of the Peaceful Dwelling Project (http://www.peacefuldwelling.org/) will give a presentation in the SAC auditorium. This is part of a new program called  "Faces of Religion" sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Affirmative Action and some other organizations.

Meeting
303 Student Activities Center
Thursday, 2/14/02, 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Please be on time!

Words from the Suttas/Sutras
"What is ignorance? Virtuous man, since beginningless time, all sentient beings have had all sorts of delusions, like a disoriented person who has lost his sense of direction. They mistake the four great elements as the attributes of their bodies, and the conditioned impressions of the six sense objects as the attributes of their minds. They are like a man with an illness of the eyes who sees an [illusory] flower in the sky, or a second moon."--Sutra of Complete Enlightenment

Quote of the Week
"Live as if you were going to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were going to live forever."-- Gandhi

Book Review: Thich Nhat Hanh's
"Transformation at the Base: 50 Verses on the Nature of Consciousness"
by D. K.

The devoted editors and translators of Plum Village have once again compiled a wonderful book from the lectures of their great teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh.  Living up to the title, this book provides an essential guide for us in understanding and transforming suffering.  Drawing from the Thirty Verses of the Manifestation-Only school, and using additional verses, Thay elaborates on the nature of consciousness and how to mindfully touch the different facets of the body, mind, and environment, in a way that leads to peace and liberation.

Thich Nhat Hanh warns us though; when we study concepts like those of the Manifestation-Only school, we may become trapped.  The often alluring vocabulary and concepts like emptiness, suchness, and consciousness may sometimes distract us and cause us to have a mind of attachment, looking for a gem to attain and show to others.  Thay constantly shows us that to have this attitude is contrary to the practice of the Dharma. The Buddha's teachings, often like a snake, can bite us if we misunderstand how to catch them.  Instead, we can use the words and concepts of the Buddha-in this book, the explanation of the 8 consciousnesses-to go beyond concepts.  Going beyond concepts is to touch deeply the experiences in life, unclouded by the wrong perceptions of the mind.

And so transformation at the Base is a guide on how to recognize and let go of attachment to wrong perceptions.  Thay explains that at the heart of our suffering is attachment to images that manifest in the mind-consciousness.  Held as seeds in the store-consciousness, an image or perception can reappear, and manas-the force of attachment-grabs onto it.  After manas takes this tiny seed as a separate 'self' with a permanent identity, unwholesome mental formations like greed, hatred, and arrogance may arise.  Driven by the habits of manas, we continually live in a world of false perceptions, a realm of images, and we are unable to directly perceive the reality of life that is immediately available in the present moment.  The solution to the problem of ignorance and attachment is direct perception, in its many applications, of which the book explains.

Transformation leads us to an awareness of our misperceptions and shows us how to strengthen our mindfulness in order to recognize suffering and to be liberated.  Infinitely more than a philosophical look at the Manifestation-Only school, Thay's words give us a practice to use in everyday life.  Every page is a fresh expression of how to directly and deeply contact our selves, the world, and the wholeness that underlies every manifestation-clouds, mountains, perceptions, joys and feelings of anger.  Consciousness is the base of everything, and manifestations arise from this.

As Thay says, every phenomenon contains the whole of the universe, and looking deeply at one thing, we can touch this reality.  This book contains equally as much, providing a precious guide to living fully this understanding.
 

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