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BSPG News and Meeting (No. 195)
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Edited by Stony Brook Buddhism Study and Practice GroupNews
1. A regular attendee of our Thursday meeting has a Pentium 2 computer to give away. If you are interested, please e-mail buddhism@ic.sunysb.edu. If more than one person express an interest in it, we'll have a drawing in the meeting.
2. The meditation workshop last Saturday was very successful. About 65 people from the university and the local communities participated. As a response to the enthusiasm of the participants, we are bringing a new program, tentatively named "BSPG Monthly Meditation Talk" to the community. Please send an email to buddhism@ic.sunysb.edu if you have a better and more spirited name. We plan to bring experienced meditators to share their insights with us. The first talk will be held on Thursday, October 24 and we are honored to have Rev. Madeline Ko-i Bastis, the founder of Peaceful Dwelling Project at Bellport as the speaker. The Peaceful Dwelling Project provides "comfort companion" and loving care to terminally ill patients and their caregivers. For more information about Rev. Ko-i Bastis, please visit her website at: http://www.peacefuldwelling.org/ The second talk will be held on November 7. Mr. Bob Festa, a Buddhist representative on the board of the Long Island Multi Faith Forum (MFF) will be our honor speaker. Mr. Festa is also a member of the Educational Committee of the MFF. He is an experienced meditator.Meeting
Thursday, 9/26/2002, 7pm to 8:30pm
Room 311, Student Activities Center
Please be on time!Words from the Suttas/Sutras
"Great enlightening beings, when performing religious practice, should attentively contemplate ten things objectively: the body, physical action, speech, verbal action, mind, mental action, Buddha, the Teaching, the religious community, and the precepts. They should contemplate this way: Is the body religious practice? And so on, down to: Are precepts religious practice? ... If verbal activity were religious practice, then religious practice would be greetings, summary explanations, extensive explanations, metaphorical explanations, direct explanations, praise, criticism, definitions, explanations, ... If the mind were religious practice, then religious practice would be consideration and pondering, discrimination, various discriminations, conception, various conceptions, thoughts, various thoughts, acts of illusion and dreams. ..."Having contemplated thus, having no attachment to the body, no clinging to practice, no dwelling on doctrine, the past gone, the future not yet arrived, the present empty, ... what thing is therein to be called religious practice? Where does religious practice come from? Where is it? Who is the body? By whom is it performed? ... Is it sensation? Is it not sensation? Is it conception? Is it not conception? Is it action? Is it not action? Is it consciousness? Is it not consciousness? ..." -- Avatamsaka Sutra, Book Sixteen: Religious Practice.
Quote of the Week
"Look upon the body as unreal,
An image in a mirror, the reflection of the moon in water.
Contemplate the mind as formless,
Yet bright and Pure.Not a single thought arising,
Empty, yet perceptive; still, yet illuminating;
Complete like the Great Emptiness,
Containing all that is wonderful."
--Han Shan Te Qing (1546-1623)
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