*********************************************************************** BSPG News and Meeting (No. 201) ***********************************************************************
Edited by Stony Brook Buddhism Study and Practice Group News
A reminder that Mr. Bob Festa, a very experienced practitioner of Zen Meditation and a representative of the Buddhist faith in Long Island Multi Faith Forum, will be giving a talk entitled "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" this Thursday, Novermber 7. He will talk about the similarities and differences of "Zen Mind" and "Beginner’s Mind", as well as the practice of zen in everyday life. He will also share techniques to improve meditation with the audience. The talk is open to the public. Everyone is welcome!
Meeting
Thursday, 11/7/2002, 7pm to 8:30pm
Room 305, Student Activities Center
Please be on time!Words from the Suttas/Sutras
"The Buddha knew of his thought and said to Sariputra: 'Are the sun and the moon not clean when a blind man does not see their cleanliness?' Sariputra said: 'World Honored One, this is the fault of the blind man and not that of the sun and the moon.' The Buddha said: 'Sariputra, because of their (spiritual) blindness living beings do not see the imposing majesty of the Tathagata's pure land; this is not the fault of the Tathagata. Sariputra, this land of mine is pure but you do not see its purity.'" --Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra
Quote of the Week
Book Review: Master Sheng-yen's "Getting the Buddha Mind"
"The greatest happiness is the happiness of abandoning desire rather than the happiness of indulging desire. The most important realization is understanding properly the meaning of one thing, rather than understanding many words. The most important help is the help of the Dharma rather than the help of material gifts. The most important fear is to fear the misery of future lives rather than the misery of this life. The most important decision is to cease internal wrong concepts rather than merely to cease wrong concepts about external things." --Geshe Puchungwa
by D.K.
Have you heard of term 'Buddha Mind?' In reading Buddhist literature, you may have come across the words 'true mind' or 'Mind' or 'Buddha-nature.' Still, what are these words referring to; what is the Buddha Mind and how can we come to know it? Do only the Buddhas possess this mind? Where does it exist? Is it outside of us, within us, in between? Do we have to do something to attain it?
If you have a strong desire to know the mind of the Buddhas, to have a mind of great wisdom and compassion, then you will deeply appreciate Getting the Buddha Mind by Master Sheng-yen. In this book, he provides essential guidelines to meditation practice-sitting and walking, gongan and huatou methods, the method of silent illumination, the requirements for successful practice, and the attitude one must have to gain results. He also vividly and clearly describes the stages of meditation that one may experience, the range of mental and physical experiences that we may have as our minds become calm, stable and open, or firm and concentrated. Master Sheng-yen provides close explanations about how to handle ourselves as various obstacles arise during the course of meditation practice.
Ven. Sheng-yen stresses that we should not be attached to any of our experiences pleasant or unpleasant, and that non-attachment to anything and everything is the key to realizing the mind. This mind is one of selflessness, where there is no grasping at an 'I or me' at the center of experience.
"To find yourself you must lose yourself," (page 31).
In realizing the mind, we must put aside and abandon the habit of attaching to our thoughts and ideas about our self. These thoughts of anger, greed, and ignorance arise and center around the desire for pleasures of the body or can be a result of deep rooted viewpoints about life. "A bodhisattva has no particular point of view. Like a mirror, he is only a reflection of sentient beings," (page 48). A bodhisattva is one who is unattached, not regarding the body or mind as self, and acts spontaneously in response to other people's needs. We can all make use of the mind of non-attachment.
"If the mind had fixed characteristics, it would not be changeable, and there would be no point in practicing. But the mind is always changing. The mind of an ordinary person is characterized by vexation, and the mind of a sage is characterized by wisdom; otherwise, they are the same," (page 62). So we begin practicing with our ordinary minds, our everyday selves, with scattered thoughts and emotional ups and downs; we dream, we become furious, we have strong wishes and desires for personal fulfillment, we may feel comfortable, or pained and irritable. It is important to see these changes. Ven. Sheng-yen explains that we should always recognize these thoughts and see how they are merely delusions, false, changing, with no substance, no lasting or solid nature. By seeing this wandering and grasping state of mind-where we are lost in the past, future, or reacting to the present-we can safely let go of this attachment and gain an insight into the emptiness of the mind. When we can relax and let the mind settle and clear itself of the impurities of deluded thought, we can 'see the nature' of mind, the Buddha mind.
The great Chan Master Han Shan said:
Look upon the body as unreal,
An image in a mirror.
Or 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.
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