the tree of life sangha

A difference between Honen and Shinran

A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HONEN & SHINRAN

 

Honen was the founder of the Jodo School in Japan. His successor was Bencho. Later, there emerged the Jodoshin School, often called Shin Buddhism, which claimed Shinran as its founder. Jodo and Jodoshin are two of the three most popular forms of Buddhism in Japan, the third being Nichiran. Shinran was, in fact, a disciple of Honen, but in some ways his teaching differs a little from that of his master. For instance, Shinran taught that the Pure Land of Amitabha is identical to nirvana, whereas Honen followed the great Chinese teacher Shan Tao who said that “Reaching there (the Pure Land), our lotus flower will open and we can listen to the 妙 (graceful, marvelous, wondrous) dharma (that Amida preaches). Then the ten (bodhisattva) stages of  vows and practices will naturally reveal themselves clearly.” Shan Tao saw the Pure Land  as a place where one hears the Dharma more clearly and can practise it more easily and so be assured of not falling back, but not as the same as the ultimate goal of nirvana. A Buddhist prays for rebirth in a life in the presence of a Buddha - in Pureland, the Buddha Amitabha - where the conditions for practice will be optimum. Karma is inexorable, so cannot be wiped out in a magical way, but conditions can make a big difference. Even within this life, we pray to be in conditions where there is support for faith & practice, which is why we take refuge in a teacher, a sangha and the great love that has been transmitted from the time of Shakyamuni. Many Japanese do believe that in the next life everybody automatically becomes a Buddha, but this is somewhat at variance with traditional Buddhist teaching. I do not want to become embroiled in a debate between these two great teachers, but reflecting upon their different views can help us to clarify our sense of the Dharma. As a Pureland practitioner, I hope to enter Sukhavati, but I also have a deep sense that it is important to be willing to go wherever and to receive and accept whatever comes. It is all Namo Amida Bu in the end.

 

~ Dharmavidya

Buddha's Rules for Conversation

1/ Listen carefully
2/ Don’t talk to an unwilling audience.
3/ Only say what will be useful or interesting to the other party.
4/ Avoid gossip. Don’t disparage others.
5/ Don’t add to quarrels.
6/ Facilitate peace.
7/ Speak words that inspire faith & confidence.

~ Dharmavidya

Global Sangha

:: Dharmavidya David Brazier:

Global Sangha came into being during the period of the pandemic as a number of people gathered around my presentation of the teachings. Some were already my disciples (shravakas), and we held a small ceremony to allow some others to take this step. Others simply came to receive teachings or participate in events and the life of the sangha. I started sending out five minute podcasts of Dharma teachings of which there have now been well over 200. Around this time the book The Dark Side of the Mirror: Forgetting the Self in Dogen's Genjo Koan came out and this was soon followed by The Oxford Handbook of Meditation (Farias, Brazier & Laljee) and a volume of poems, It Is As It Is (Brazier & Lee). I also wrote a Commentary on the Summary of Faith & Practice for private circulation. So there was plenty to study. I do what I can to provide access to the Dharma for all who are interested. The success of the sangha, however, is primarily due to the core practice of  nembutsu and the extension of the teaching into Buddhist psychology. The sangha now embraces a number of mini-sangha groups formed around particular practices & activities - the Sunday service, the early morning chanting sessions, the Friday service, the tutors' group, some of the peer learning groups of BP students and other buddy groups - all of these act as important supports to faith & practice ~ :: link. If you would like to be more involved, some of these groups are open to new members. If a zoom code is given in the :: Global Sangha Newsletter, do just come along to a meeting. However, not everybody wants to be a member of a group and some practitioners are solitary yogis relating exclusively to me directly or to other teachers within our community. There are many possibilities. Each person is on her or his path and, as in the time of the Buddha, different practitioners need different avenues. 

:: Dharmavidya

:: Global Sangha Newsletters

UNDERSTANDING THE DHARMA

 

Dharmavidya David Brazier:

 

Buddhism has many scriptures (sutras). These derive from the teachings and conversations of the Buddha Shakyamuni. The texts have been passed down through some eighty five generations and along the way many different interpretations have emerged. With the arrival of Buddhism in the West, we see a further generation of new interpretations. Arguably, some of these take us further away from the original intention of the founder and some closer. I have myself advanced some proposals for how best to understand the Dharma and some of these differ from what is commonly read and taught these days.

 

Four Truths for Noble Ones:

At the heart of Buddhist teachings are what are generally called the Four Noble Truths. Commonly these are presented as a road to the ending of suffering. In my book The Feeling Buddha and elsewhere I suggest that this is a misinterpretation. Dukkha is such situations as  birth, aging, disease and death, separation, confinement and failure and we have to suffer these. What counts is how one does so. The "eightfold path" is not a route toward enlightenment, it is the path that issues from awakening to the real situation. The correct interpretation is that there are basically two ways to respond. One, the path of ego, just goes round in circles, generating more dukkha situations. The other, the way of nirodha - basically faith & practice - opens onto the (eightfold) spiritual path. Noble practitioners meet adversity in ways that are wise and compassionate. Worldly people meet them with selfishness, distraction and bitterness. Practise nirodha and the path opens naturally. This is the meaning.

 

Mindfulness:

The noble option of nirodha involves keeping Buddha & Dharma in mind, which is to say, in one's heart, in all situations. To do so is mindfulness in the true Buddhist sense. This is not a psychological technique of staying in the present moment. It is, rather, protection against what may happen if, in the present moment, one meets corruption, adversity or temptation. In this true sense, mindfulness is faith & practice. In Japanese it is called nembutsu, literally "keeping the Buddha in mind". If, in all situations, one sustains one's refuge in Buddha, one will not go far wrong.

 

Dharma:

It is often taught that the term Dharma has two (or more) meanings and these are often distinguished in translations by using upper or lower case initial letters which do not appear in the original language. It is said that Dharma is the teaching of Buddha and dharma are the manifold things in this world. I suggest that dharma, with or without a capital, has but one meaning and that is "fundamental truth", or, we could say, what is really real. Buddha's "teaching" is him pointing out reality and what we need to know about the phenomenal world is to discern whatever is fundamental. Much Buddhist teaching is concerned with the fact that ordinary experience is often based upon mere appearance that often turns out to be fake news. To live a spiritual life, one needs to address what is actually so, rather than superficial forms.

 

When we take these (and some other) key terms in this way, we receive a Buddhism that is coherent, clear and practical yet profound. It is fundamentally true that life for a sentient being includes many unavoidable dukkha situations and it is also fundamentally true that in this very existential situation a noble life is possible if one meet those situations mindfully in the above sense of the word. Doing so constitutes nirodha and the outcome of doing so is marga, the eightfold path, a truly spiritual life. The great diversity of Buddhist practices and teachings are all designed to assist and contribute to this.

 

Namo Amida Bu.

Summary of Faith and Practice

SUMMARY OF FAITH & PRACTICE

(Dharmavidya, inspired by Honen’s Ichimai Kishomon)

 

For those having a karmic affinity with Amitabha Buddha wishing to practise a religious life in truly simple faith, freeing themselves of sophistication and attachment to all forms of cleverness, the method of opening oneself to Amitabha’s grace is the practice of Nien Fo with body, speech and mind, particularly verbal recitation of “Namo Amida Bu”. This is not something done as a form of meditation, nor is it based on study, understanding and wisdom, or the revelation of deep meaning. Deep meaning is indeed there for the nembutsu is a window through which the whole universe of Buddha’s teaching can be perceived in all its depth, but none of this is either necessary or even helpful to success in the practice. Rather such study cultivates secondary faculties to be held separate from the mind of practice itself.

The primary practice requires only one essential: realise that you are a totally foolish being who understands nothing, but who can with complete trust recite “Namo Amida Bu”; know that this will generate rebirth in the Pure Land, without even knowing what rebirth in the Pure Land truly is. This is the practice for ignorant beings and ignorance is essential for its accomplishment. This practice automatically encompasses the three minds and the mind of contrition as a fourth. To pursue something more profound or more sophisticated, or to have a theory, or to think that understanding will yield greater enlightenment than this is to be mislead and to fall back into self-power whereby the whole practice is spoilt. However wise, learned or skilled you may be, set it aside and be the foolish being completely in the performance of the practice. Nothing else is required and anything else is too much. Faith and practice cannot be differentiated.

The Buddha-body is delineated by the precepts. How deficient we are by comparison! By our daily difficulty in the preceptual life, we awaken to the presence of the myriad karmic obstacles without which we would already perceive the land of love and bliss, we would be as the vow-body of Buddha. Thus we know in experience that we are foolish beings of wayward passion. This knowledge of our condition is part of the essential basis when it gives rise to contrition. Thus all obstacles become impediments to faith unless we experience contrition and letting go. Saving grace, as was made clear by Shan Tao’s dream and advice to Tao Cho, only comes through the sange-mon.

If you can perform the practice in this simple minded way, Amida will receive you and you may fear for nothing since all is completely assured. Dwelling in this settled faith you may then use your secondary faculties, your knowledge and skills and accumulated experience, as tools for helping all sentient beings. But do not then think that anything of relevance to your own salvation is thereby accomplished, nor that you are making something of yourself.   Whatever merit there may be in your actions of this kind, immediately and totally dedicate it to the benefit of others, that they may enter the Pure Land and that you yourself may not be encumbered by consciousness of virtue which will only contaminate the practice. As Honen says, “without pedantic airs, fervently recite the Name.” *

*****

:: An essay about the Ichimai Kishomon 

 

and :: another link

*****

The Three Minds

 In the Contemplation Sutra it refers to the three minds. The three minds are

# sincere mind

# deep mind

# longing mind

These correspond, respectively, with the mind of nei quan, the mind of chih quan and the mind of nembutsu.

Sincere mind means being free from hypocrisy. This is the mind that is willing to look at oneself as one actually is. It is the willingness to face and admit to one's bombu-nature. People with this first kind of mind are not too certain about themselves. This does not mean that they are ineffective in life - often the reverse - but they know that they have many limitations and so are able to empathise easily with others. They are not full of themselves. They know that their life is caught in a matrix of conditions and that this can bring good and bad alike. Sometimes it results in harm. None of us is innocent or pure. The person of sincere mind does not feel superior. This, therefore, is the mind of nei quan: the mind that looks into the dependently originating state of all aspects of oneself and one's world.

 

Deep mind means willingness to trust in a deep support under-pinning one's existence. There is a lttle poem by the myokonin Saichi:

The great ocean is full of delusion;

It has the seabed to support it.

Saichi is full of bad karma;

There is Amida to support it.

This is the mind of chih quan: the mind that is willing to give everything into the hands of the Buddha and enjoy the Buddha's blessing and peace in a condition of complete entrustment.

 

Longing mind is, in Japanese, eko-hotsu-gan-shin. This means the mind that reaches out toward the Pure Land and also the mind that relies upon Amida's vows. It is the mind of faith. When each incident in life occurs, one says Namo Amida Bu. This brings the thought of Amida into each incident. In such a single moment one gives up self-power and  accepts other-power; one longs to be with that Buddha as one might long to have one's beloved present. The Pure Land is wherever Amida is. If the Beloved is present then that very place is a Pure Land. So although we do not fully enter the Pure Land in this life, every time that we say the nembutsu we do connect with that land. This is all through the  power of the Buddha's vow connecting with the openness created by our longing.

 

 

 

meditation on a leaf

Meditation on a leaf  ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

 

I asked the leaf whether it was frightened because it was autumn and the other leaves were falling.  The leaf told me,

“No.  During the whole spring and summer I was completely alive. I worked hard to help nourish the tree, and now much of me is in the tree. I am not limited by this form. I am also the whole tree, and when I go back to the soil, I will continue to nourish the tree. So I don’t worry at all. As I leave this branch and float to the ground, I will wave to the tree and tell her, ‘I will see you again very soon.”

 

That day there was a wind blowing and, after a while, I saw the leaf leave the branch and float down to the soil, dancing joyfully, because as it floated it saw itself already there in the tree. It was so happy. I bowed my head, knowing that I have a lot to learn from the leaf.”

 

” … So please continue to look back and you will see that you have always been here. Let us look together and penetrate into the life of a leaf, so we may be one with the leaf. Let us penetrate and be one with the cloud or with the wave, to realize our own nature as water and be free from our fear. If we look very deeply, we will transcend birth and death.

 

Tomorrow, I will continue to be. But you will have to be very attentive to see me. I will be a flower, or a leaf. I will be in these forms and I will say hello to you. If you are attentive enough, you will recognize me, and you may greet me. I will be very happy.

the five remembrances

Sr Thuận Nghiêm talked about the Upajjhatthana Sutta (Subjects for Contemplation) otherwise known as the Five Remembrances during the Spring Retreat. :: link

1. I am of the nature to grow old, I cannot escape old age.
Plum trees need to be trimmed so that their sap energy does not get dispersed into growing lots of branches and leaves, but instead can be directed to produce more fruits. We are the same, with the practices of mindfulness, we can grow old beautifully, bearing many fruits of happiness and peace. Who are our role models for growing old gracefully? Thầy, Sr Chân Không, Sr Chân Đức can be our source of inspiration for how to age with wisdom and beauty.
2. I am of the nature to get sick, I cannot escape sickness.
The Buddha taught that sickness comes from the way we consume and what we consume through edible food, sense impressions, volition, and collective consciousness. How is your consumption in daily life affecting your body and mind? Depression and loneliness are very prevalent in our society now. Fostering a community connection can alleviate these maladies because it brings the warmth of being in a family. Eating a vegetarian diet, organic food, meditation, exercise, relaxation and friendship are other important factors in the healing process.
3. I am of the nature to die, I cannot escape death.
We can remember the fact that each day that passes we have one day less to live, so we can do and say things to appreciate and cherish our loved one’s presence. When our parents have passed away, instead of regretting and lamenting their loss we can contemplate on what aspirations they had and we can continue to realize it for them. This is one way we continue them. How can we overcome feelings of resentment towards a loved one before they die? Try to look at the positive things they have done, and see the bigger picture, or the conditions that have made them the way they are.
4. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
Life can be full of unexpected events, earth quake, tsunami, people we live with can die the next day. Do we take time to recognize the preciousness of our relationships?
5. I inherit the results of my actions of body, speech, and mind. My actions are my continuation. The echo in the mountains is our life. What we give out through the three actions of body, speech and mind comes back to us, even very little things in our thinking. If we have received positive things from a good environment, like a sangha, then we are more inspired to give back positively by sharing our peace and joy to others.

no escape retreat

Here's a moving article from Sr Tam Muoi, recently shared by Plum Village. It is such a beautiful and honest account of taking care of her elderly parents during the pandemic - the difficulties, the joys and the many aspects of our practice that have supported her.

 

https://plumvillage.org/articles/no-escape-retreat/

embracing anger

We can embrace all of our feelings, even difficult ones like anger. Anger is a fire burning inside us, filling our whole being with smoke. When we are angry, we need to calm ourselves: "Breathing in, I calm my anger. Breathing out, I take care of my anger." As soon as a mother takes her crying baby into her arms, the baby already feels some relief. When we embrace our anger with Right Mindfulness, we suffer less right away.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

yesterday evening (26 April 2022)

We looked at diagrams of the seeds in our store consciousness, different ways to maximise the positive seeds and minimise those less helpful

Teachings on Mindfulness and Gratefulness

 

 

A Cloud Never Dies

 

 

Our gathering on 21 February 2022

Last night four of us gathered via Zoom - one person who has been a member of the sangha for nearly 20 years, another for 7 and a new person. The format for the meeting was the one we have been following for almost a year. We started with a quick check in - 'internal weather, external weather', followed by a guided mindfulness meditation. Then time for walking (or sitting quietly or tea-drinking meditation). Then guided Metta meditation and, finally, the opportunity for speaking from the heart.

It's a troubling time just now - in the world and in people's lives. So we were grateful to share a time of peace, friendship and tranquility, bringing us back to our True Home.

 

The Story of a River

'The Story of a River' by Thich Nhat Hanh

 

"Born on the top of a mountain, the little spring dances her way down. The stream of water sings as she travels. She wants to go fast. She is unable to go slowly. Running, rushing, is the only way, maybe even flying. She wants to arrive. Arrive where? Arrive at the ocean. She has heard of the deep, blue , beautiful ocean. To become one with the ocean, that is what she wants.

 

Coming down to the plains, she grows into a young river. Winding her way through the beautiful meadows, she has to slow down. "Why can't I run the way I could when I was a creek? I want to reach the deep, blue ocean. If I continue this slowly, how will I ever arrive there at all?" As a creek, she was not happy with what she was, she really wanted to grow into a river.

But, as a river, she does not feel happy either. She cannot bear to slow down.

 

Then, as she slows down, the young river begins to notice the beautiful clouds reflected in her water. They are of different colors and shapes floating in the sky, and they seem to be free to go anywhere they please. Wanting to be like a cloud, she begins to chase after the clouds, one after another.

Learning True Love: Practicing Buddhism in a Time of War by Sister Chan Khong

Learning True Love: Practicing Buddhism in a Time of War by Sister Chan Khong

 

"In January of 2005, after nearly 40 years in exile, Sister Chân Không was able to return on a 3-month visit to Vietnam. In this fully revised edition of Learning True Love she movingly describes the return to her homeland, the reunions with many old friends and fellow activists, and shares her impression of the “new Vietnam,” where Buddhists still struggle for religious freedom and the re-establishment of their own organizations.

 

Learning True Love is a moving personal memoir, an introduction to the mindfulness teachings and life of Thich Nhat Hanh and his community in exile, an overview to the development of the European and American peace and human rights movement, and an introduction to the engaged and practical style of Vietnamese Buddhism. It documents the process that brought an end to the US Vietnam war, and gives a lively summary of Vietnamese history from 1945 to the current political, social and spiritual climate in Vietnam. Learning True Love also portraits some of the many remarkable people that shared Sister Chân Không ‘s path.

 

Foremost however it is the remarkable and impressive story of a very courageous woman, whose journey from an accredited biologist at the University of Paris to a Buddhist nun, gives her unique insight into life’s central questions and the ability to address them in an unflinching and straightforward manner."

 

:: link

I Am Not Different From You: A portrait of Sister Chan Khong

 

 

I Am Not Different From You:

A portrait of Sister Chan Khong

By Eveline Beumkes

 

"Sister Chan Khong, meaning "True Emptiness." Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Chan Khong started Plum Village together in 1982. That Plum Village has become what it is today and that people all over the world have been inspired by Thay's teachings is to a great extent a result of Sister Phuong's enduring support and untiring initiative. Feeling grateful for having come in contact with Thay's teachings is feeling grateful to Sister Chan Khong in the very same breath.

 

I first met Thay and Sister Chan Khong (Phoung) in 1984 during a meditation weekend in Amsterdam. In the evening there was a special program with Vietnamese music. At one point the music stopped abruptly and Sister CK began to sing. I was deeply touched by her voice. Never had I heard someone sing like that. She sang my heart open and I cried and cried, not understanding what was happening to me.

 

During the first summer I spent in Plum Village, Sister Phuong wasn't yet a nun; she was simply called "Phuong." She had lovely long black hair that, in her way, she would casually put up in a bun by sticking a pen through it. She warmly welcomed the few Westerners that visited Plum Village in those days and she did what she could to make us feel at home. At that time she was the only person able to translate from Vietnamese into English or French. When Thay gave a Dharma talk or when there was an event in Vietnamese, she would sit next to us and translate for hours on end without ever appearing to get tired. Sister Phuong's way of translating was so expressive that even after having translated for hours, her voice sounded as colorful as it did when she began.

 

Three years later when I moved to Plum Village I was often the only one during the winter season that needed translation during Thay's talks and at the dining table at the end of the meals. There were about ten of us by then, and after dinner, as we were enjoying countless cups of tea, there was usually a lot of conversation, all in Vietnamese. During those moments I felt so left out, but when Sister Phuong was around she would always come sit next to me and, while participating wholeheartedly in the conversation, she would translate for me at the same time. I savored those moments in her presence. A couple of years ago I noticed she had taken on a new habit; while translating she would keep her hands in a certain position, a mudra. When I asked her about it, she explained she did it in order to remind herself to stay mindful while she was talking.

this evening's meeting

We started the evening with a  quick check in, then listened to the introduction to Thich Nhat Hanh's book about Pureland Buddhism: 'Finding Our True Home', followed by silent sitting or chanting, as each participant preferred. This was followed by a reading of  Thay's translation from the Chinese of the Smaller Amitabha Sutra. Following this we had the opportunity to take turns sharing from the heart.

The Tannisho

This work contains the sayings of Shinran (1173-1263), the founder of Jodo Shinshu or Shin Buddhism, which claims the largest following in Japanese Buddhism. Compiled several decades after his death by a disciple named Yui-en, this work consists of 18 sections. The first ten sections are the words of Shinran as remembered by Yui-en, and the next eight, preceded by a special preface, contains points of controversy current among the followers of Shinran. The prologue and epilogue to the 18 sections were written by Yui-en about whom little is known historically.

The Tannisho is one of the most widely read works in Japanese Buddhism, known not only as a religious but literary classic. It is impossible to translate such a work into English adequately and fully, but I have attempted to transmit some sense of its flowing style, religious content, and spiritual flavor. Among those who have guided me in my enterprise, I should like to gratefully acknowledge the comments and suggestions offered by two late teachers, Yoshifumi Ueda and Masao Hanada, whose words remain a constant source of inspiration.

Taitetsu Unno

Northampton, Massachusetts January 1, 1996

***

Prologue

In reflecting upon my foolish thoughts and thinking of the past and present, I deeply regret that there are views deviating from the true entrusting (shinjin) which was taught orally by our late master, and I fear that doubts and confusions

 

 

:: continue reading

 

The Way of Jodo Shinshu

About 'The Way of Jodo Shinshu'

The website began its life in 2000 under the title Notes on the Nembutsu. Its purpose is to celebrate, as well as possible, the Hymns of Shinran. Shinran is the founder of the great Jodo Shinshu school of Buddhism.

The hymns form a part of daily observances and are sung in Jodo Shinshu temples and homes, but they commonly also provide the basis for Dharma talks, as they do here.

The original reason for developing this website as a series of essays on each of Shinran's hymns was with a view to encouraging other fellow-Australians to consider Jodo Shinshu for themselves. But the website has had a very broad readership around the world and continues to do so.

:: link

the tree of life in buddhism 3

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

The Tree of Life is used in art, literature, and religion to illustrate the concept of interconnectedness within our universe. It is a timeless symbol of our connections to everything around us, and a powerful reminder that our own happiness and health are inextricably intertwined with the happiness and health of all living things. The Tree of Life appears in many different cultures under many different names, but here is a look at three defining features of this legendary icon:

1. Leaves

The individual leaves depicted on the Tree of Life represent the uniqueness of all earthly creations, including ourselves. Like the leaves of a tree, we are all different shapes, colors, and textures, yet the Tree of Life reminds us that we can coexist peacefully.

2. Branches

The branches reaching outwards represent our human need for expression- in arts, science, and spirituality, among other outlets. In this way, the Tree of Life is also symbolic of our potential to improve and expand our notions of the human condition through compassionate action (literally reaching out our hands and arms).

3. Trunk/Roots

Above all else, the trunk and roots are the anchoring image of the Tree of Life. The solid trunk is a symbol of strength, a place we can always return and remember what we are made of, while the roots remind us not only where we originate and to stay grounded, but also imply that our actions in this life have deep meaning, even if we cannot see it right away.

The Tree of Life can also serve simply as a sign of inner strength in all that you do.

:: link