Chan Master Sheng Yen, from His Book, Hoofprint of the Ox
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ur mind is the same as Bud- “Odha. Therefore, for our mind to seek the Buddha is as unneces- sary as the Buddha seeking for the Buddha. Likewise, our mind is iden- tical with the Dharma. To use our mind to seek the Dharma is like the Dharma seeking the Dharma—also unnecessary. Buddha, mind and sentient being are not different. There is no Buddha outside of the mind, no Dharma outside of the mind, and no sentient beings out- side of the mind .” – Chan Master Sheng Yen, from his book, Hoofprint of the Ox. Spring 2006 Chan Magazine 1 Chan Magazine Volume 23,26, Number 42 Autumn,Spring, 2006 2003 Chan Magazine is published quarterly by the Institute of Chung-Hwa BuddhistBuddhist Culture, Culture, Chan Chan Meditation Meditation Center, Center, 90- 90-5656 Corona Corona Avenue, Avenue, Elmhurst, Elmhurst, NY NY 11373. 11373. The The magazine magazine is isa non-profita non-profit venture; venture; it accepts it accepts no advertisingno advertising and isand sup- is supportedported solely solely by contributionsby contributions from frommembers members of the of Chan the ChanCenter Center and the and readership. the readership. Donations Donations to support to support the maga- the magazinezine and otherand other Chan Chan Center Center activities activities may maybe sent be sentto the to theabove above address address and and will will be begratefully gratefully appreciated. appreciated. Please Your donationmake checks is tax-deductible. payable to Chan For Meditationinformation Center;about Chanyour Centerdonation activities is tax-deductible. please call (718)For information 592-6593. Forabout Dharma Chan DrumCenter Publicationsactivities please please call call(718) (718) 592-6593. 592-0915. For DharmaE-mail theDrum Center Publications at [email protected], please call (718) or 592-0915. the magazine E-mail at [email protected],the Center at [email protected], or visit us or online the magazine at: at http://[email protected], or visit us online at: http://www.chancenter.org. Founder/Teacher Founder/TeacherChan Master Ven. Dr. Sheng Yen Chan Master Ven. Dr. Sheng Yen Editor-in-chief Editor-in-chiefDavid Berman David Berman Coordinator CoordinatorVirginia Tan Virginia Tan News editor PhotographyBelia Pena John Feng, Jerry Roach Photography ContributingDavid Kabacinski editors (Chang Wen) Ernie Heau, Kevin Mathewson, Virginia Tan, Wei Tan, ContributingSheila Sussman editors Ernie Heau, Chris Marano, Virginia Tan, Wei Tan Contributors ContributorsRikki Asher, Lynda Holland, Jeffrey Kung, Rebecca Li, RikkiCharlotte Asher, Mansfield, Berle Driscoll, Mike Morical, Jeffrey Kung, Bruce RebeccaRickenbacker, Li, Char- lotteWei Tan, Mansfield, Tan Yee Mike Wong Morical, (Chang Bruce Ji Shi) Rickenbacker, Wei Tan, Tan Yee Wong (Chang Ji) Administrator AdministratorChang Wu Shi Guo Chen Shi Chan Magazine Spring 2006 Spring 2006 Chan Magazine 2 3 Chan Magazine Volume 23, Number 4 Autumn, 2003 Chan Magazine is published quarterly by the Institute of Chung-Hwa Buddhist Culture, Chan Meditation Center, 90-56 Corona Avenue, Elmhurst, NY 11373. The magazine is a non-profit venture; it accepts no advertising and is From the Editor 4 supported solely by contributions from members of the Chan Center and the readership. Donations to support the magazine and other Chan Center activities may be sent to The Four Foundations of Mindfulness 6 the above address and will be gratefully appreciated. Your donation is tax-deductible. For information about Chan The first of two lectures on the mindfulness Center activities please call (718) 592-6593. For Dharma practices by Chan Master Sheng Yen Drum Publications please call (718) 592-0915. E-mail the Center at [email protected], or the magazine at [email protected], or visit us online at: Hold Steady, Swirling 13 http://www.chancenter.org. Poem by Mike Morical Founder/Teacher Chan Master Ven. Dr. Sheng Yen Hung-chou Chan 14 Editor-in-chief An article on the origins of Chan Buddhism’s unique David Berman style of practice and discourse by Dale S. Wright Coordinator Virginia Tan Retreat Reports 20 Reports from the retreats at DDRC News editor Belia Pena The Past 24 Photography News from the Chan Meditation Center and DDMBA David Kabacinski (Chang Wen) Contributing editors The Future 34 Ernie Heau, Chris Marano, Virginia Tan, Wei Tan Retreats, classes, and other upcoming events Contributors Rikki Asher, Berle Driscoll, Jeffrey Kung, Rebecca Li, Char- Chan Center Affi liates 35 lotte Mansfield, Mike Morical, Bruce Rickenbacker, Wei Tan, Tan Yee Wong (Chang Ji) Administrator Guo Chen Shi Chan Magazine Spring 2006 Spring 2006 Chan Magazine 2 3 From The Editor It is fascinating to me that I don’t know ex- on my back, I don’t know why, but what I actly what happened. Not that I’ve forgotten feel behind me is the hood of a car, I’m mov- – I didn’t know at the time. ing, I know that I’ll fall and that when I do I could be run over, I am set down and I spin to I live on the Lower East Side and teach at meet the oncoming car which of course has a studio on the Upper West – for those who stopped, further back than I’d expected, a cab, don’t know Manhattan that’s one of the long everything has stopped. diagonals, in this case almost six miles. I have to allow close to an hour to go to work I think I’m ok. Then I think that that’s un- by public transportation, and can get there likely – I was just hit by a cab. I look for ob- on foot in less than an hour and a half, so vious problems, blood, limbs that don’t func- a couple times a week, weather permitting, tion, anything going on with my head...then I walk, and use the time to practice walk- the driver is coming, and I feel I have to try ing meditation. The method is simple – I just getting up, I can, I do, and the driver is ap- keep track of my experience in the present as proaching saying “I’m so-o-o sorry” over I move through what is, especially on the way and over but coming at me with outstretched to my 7 pm classes, a crowded, hectic, unpre- arms, why?, he wants to hug me! Are you dictable environment. There’s lots to observe, crazy? “Do not hug me!” “Ok, I’m so-o-o both in terms of the body responding to sorry.” I’m sorry, but I’m a little shocky, and I physical conditions and the mind responding still have no idea how badly hurt I am and I’m to all the sensory inputs – practicing Chan in not giving my body to anyone just now, and the busy intersection, as we say, to the extent certainly not to him. that I can. At this point I see that the cab had a passen- We had a little break in the bad weather in ger, a young blonde woman who’s now get- the middle of last week, so on Wednesday at ting out, she’s on a cell phone, but not talking about 5:15 I started uptown, up Avenue B, to a 911 operator, she waves at the driver to catty-corner across Tompkins Square Park, let him know that he’s not getting paid, not and through Stuyvesant Town to First Av- for a ride like that, she doesn’t look at me and enue, which I’d follow past the hospitals and she leaves the scene to get another cab. I take the U.N. all the way to 57th before cutting a moment to resent the hell out of her before crosstown. I’m taking it easy – a hamstring’s finding my own cell phone and dialing 911. been bothering me, so I’m not pushing the pace – there’s 39th Street, the walk light, the The operator doesn’t speak clearly, I can’t hear familiar construction site across the street, her, and she seems to have to ask me lots of the sidewalk covered by scaffolding that irrelevant questions before getting to busi- would lead out onto U.N. Plaza at 42nd, I’m ness, and I can’t remember my own cell phone Chan Magazine Spring 2006 Spring 2006 Chan Magazine 4 5 number, which worries me, but it worries me home by myself when I should be going to the more that she’s making that a sticking point, hospital. so I start saying “I don’t know!” louder and louder until she finally says “Ok sir, just wait I tell her what has happened. I mess it up. I there, somebody’s coming.” mean to say “I’m ok” first and “I’ve been hit by a cab” second, but I mess it up. Her voice And come they do. Two police officers, fol- goes deadly serious, clear and careful. “You lowed by a couple dozen firemen (probably wait for EMS, you make sure they check you four or five). They’re great, positive, helpful, out thoroughly, and then you do exactly what but they seem to have some trouble under- they say.” standing what’s happened, though I think I’m saying it clearly; I finally realize that my By the time I step up into the ambulance, I standing there relatively unbroken does not know that my right ankle isn’t right. It’s not make it self-evident that I, a pedestrian, not I broken but it’s not right. The med tech knows in a vehicle, have been hit by a cab. where to look for injuries, and she finds some – outside my right knee, my right elbow...my So then they ask me, “Do you want to go to left hand is bleeding a little.