Inneswoods, Columbus, Ohio

Jianhu Shifu gave some lectures in Columbus, Ohio from 4/13 ~ 4/15. At Columbus we visited a beautiful garden, Inneswoods, which was donated by the Innes sisters, and very well maintained by the City.

Forgetting both the mind and phenomena, still veiled in delusion;
Realizing the non-duality of form and emptiness, the dust remains.
The birds do not visit, spring has gone again,
Who is the person abiding in this hut?

-- Zen Master Xing Kung

心法雙忘猶隔妄 色空不二尚餘塵
百鳥不來春又過 不知誰是住庵人
--性空禪師

Cherry and Plum Blossoms in Seattle

(Updated with a new poem!)

Here are some pictures of the first cherry blossoms at University of Washington last week.
華盛頓大學的櫻花初開。






Also, some plum trees we'll be getting for Buddha Jewel.
佛寶寺將來要種的梅花樹。

Straw sandals treading cloud covered peaks
I sought spring everywhere.
Returning in vain, I stopped
To smell the plum blossom
On the treetops is spring in full glory.
--An enlightenment poem by a bhiksuni

終日尋春不見春 芒鞋踏破隴頭雲
歸來偶把梅花嗅 春在枝頭已十分


And a response from Bessie from East Bay with a beautiful translation of a Zen poem by Master poet-monk Cold Mountain:

Behold the flower amid the leaves
How long can her glory last?
Fearing to be picked today,
Who’ll sweep her away tomorrow?
Pity, loveliness so fragile,
Aging quickly with time.
This life is like the flower’s
Can beauty long endure?
--by Cold Mountain

君看葉裡花 能得幾時好
今日畏人攀 明朝待誰掃
可憐嬌豔情 年多轉成老
將世比於花 紅顏豈長保

--寒山詩

十宗綱要-成實宗02: 介紹及十號品

2009-03-31 & 04-01

這堂課我們講成實要義，課文的內容：二諦、二空、三心，將會由在此摘錄的《成實論--滅三心品》文中解釋。

這次講到前三段，從「論者：滅三種心名為滅諦」至「以世諦故愚者不諍」。

這二諦：真諦（第一義諦）、世諦（俗諦）並存，皆為宇宙人生之真理，是很重要的觀念，希望大家認想一想。了達這二諦，世間所有的爭論就不必要了。

下次我們會繼續研討講義。

Buddha Jewel in featured in Seattle Newspaper

Buddha Jewel Monastery was featured in the local newspaper. We thank Mr. Mike Millon of the South Seattle Beacon for this interview and a nice report, as well as giving the permission to reprint it here and in our websites.

Buddha Jewel Monastery: A new neighbor on the block

By Mike Dillon

■ An old church with a troubled past is now Buddha Jewel Monastery, a Zen Buddhist religious community that is reaching out to the community. photo courtesy of Buddha Jewel Monastery

■ The Venerable Jian Hu left a high-paying job in the aerospace industry to pursue the meaning of life. photo courtesy of Buddha Jewel Monastery

For years the church near the intersection of South Kenyon Street and Rainier Avenue South had been a source of neighborhood concern: in-house financial improprieties, loudspeaker evangelicalism and a deteriorating building.

How things have changed.

Buddha Jewel Monastery, 7930 Rainier Ave. S., opened at the site last September. All it took was an outreach effort from the well-established Chung Tai Monastery in Taiwan and an abbot with a doctorate in computer science who renounced the blandishments of the world in order to explore the meaning of life.

The abbot is the Venerable Jian Hu, 45. Hu lives on the premises with three other brown-robed monks and has reached out to the community with free classes on Zen meditation (see sidebar).

Hu came to the United States as a teenager and graduated from high school in Las Vegas. He went on to earn a degree from the California Institute of Technology and completed his doctorate at the University of California, San Diego. A well-paid job in the aerospace industry followed.

"It was a good job," Hu recalled, "but I felt something was lacking. In college I asked myself questions: What is the meaning of life?"

As an undergrad, his reading delved into philosophy and religion. "When I dug into Zen Buddhism, it made sense to me - not only as a belief but as a practice. When your perspective changes, your world changes."

Hu, soft-spoken, focused, formally polite and quick to laugh, returned to Taiwan to study with the noted Chinese Zen master Wei Chueh.

Zen discipline, which includes meditation, is focused on seeing into the nature of reality or, as the Zen saying goes, not mistaking the finger pointing to the moon for the moon itself.

The practice traces its roots to China, where it flourished around 700 A.D. In this country Zen surfaced in mainstream American culture after World War II. One of its Western pioneers, British citizen Reginald Blyth, traveled to pre-war Japan to study Zen and found himself interned during the war. After the war he tutored the Crown Prince.

His ground-breaking, quirky, five-volume "Zen and Zen Classics" caught the attention of American students of Zen, like author Allen Watts, Catholic monk Thomas Merton and literary vagabond Jack Kerouac.

Blyth wrote: "What is Zen? Zen means doing anything perfectly - making mistakes perfectly, hesitating perfectly, having stomachache perfectly. 'Perfectly' means that the activity is harmonious in all its parts."

Blyth's words are a perfectly Western permutation, of course. Asian Zen Buddhist practitioners look to their ancient, sacred scriptures and logic-twisting koans to put them on the road to enlightenment.

As Hu noted, enlightenment does not mean "a serene daze, but a clear, quiet mind that allows for kindness and compassion" - qualities that perhaps take on more urgency in the current economic climate.

"Being fully aware of the present," Hu observed, "you can see opportunities. You can explore behind the suffering and fear."

Hu said the home monastery in Taiwan financially supported the creation of its Seattle chapter, but he expects his monastery to be financially self-sustaining.

The monastery and grounds occupy 1.5 acres. Inside, the ambience is one of simplicity with ornate touches. The meditation hall - the main space with a large altar where a statue of Buddha presides - is the site for services and meditation classes.

An upstairs library houses Chinese texts and artwork. In the basement there's a dining hall and - the modern world breaking in on timeless simplicity - a computer room. Hu smiles at the irony, but then irony has a home in Zen practice.

Out in front two lion statues face Rainier Avenue South. Hu said lions figure in Buddhist belief: People are apt to listen to their roar as they would the truth.

A rock garden is under construction, and there are plans under way for a Chinese garden that would be open to the public.

Frank Kliewer, 62, attends services at the monastery. He is also an artist and former Christian preacher who is a consultant on the landscape work.

"People of all faiths come by and are pleased by the building and what's going on," he said. "It brings a totally different spirit to the neighborhood."

DharmoRock

As the Chinese say, "rare is precious", here in Seattle, one can get excited and all cheerful just by seeing sunshine. In California nobody gives a second thought about it. Perhaps it is the same with the Dharma? When it is too accessible, it's easy to forget how precious it is.

Here are a couple of pictures of the DharmoRock we got in front of Buddha Jewel. Doesn't it look like a natural Bodhidharma statue? And it arrived at the local rock center just as a month ago. Must be sent by Bodhisattva Sangharama, the Dharma Guardian of temples.

「物以稀為貴」，在西雅圖，單是見到陽光就能讓人心情開朗無比。而在加州，都不以為意。佛法也是如此嗎？太容易得到了就忘了法之珍貴。

這是佛寶寺前的「達磨石」，不正像渾然天成的達磨祖師嗎？正好在上個月前到達西雅圖的石材中心，肯定是護法伽藍送來的。




Neither give rise to aversion when seeing evil,
Nor be overzealous when seeing good;
Neither forsake wisdom to be ignorant,
Nor reject delusion to pursue enlightenment.
Realizing the Great Way exceeds all limits,
Entering the Buddha Mind is liberation.
Linger with neither the mundane nor the divine,
Transcending all, one is known as a "Patriarch."

亦不睹惡而生嫌，亦不觀善而勤措。
亦不捨智而近愚，亦不拋迷而就悟。
達大道兮過量，通佛心兮出度。
不與凡聖同躔，超然名之曰祖。

雷峰塔與中台

雷峰塔文物將集體赴臺 包括純銀阿育王塔等(圖)

2009-04-02 12:49:13 華夏經緯網

相關專題：

雷峰塔天宮五代鎏金純銀阿育王塔

(Unprecedented join exhibit between China and Taiwan: National treasures such as King Asoka's pagoda and 80 other precious Buddhist artifices related to the famous "Thunder Peak Pagoda" will travel from Zhejiang Art Museum Chung Tai Art Muesum in Puli, Taiwan, when it opens its doors in October 2009)

　　雷峰塔文物將遠行台灣

讓寶島的同胞看看塔裏都有什麼寶貝

　　當吳越國王錢俶將件件寶物盛入雷峰塔時，可曾想到，一千多年後，它們將會承擔一次意義非凡的遠行——今年10月，浙江省博物館館藏的80件(組)雷峰塔文物將遠赴台灣中臺山博物館。昨天，在杭州西湖國賓館，為了這次重量級的文物展，兩館負責人簽下了慎重的承諾。

　　80件雷峰塔文物集體赴臺

　　昨天的西湖國賓館，來了許多遠方的客人。這其中，包括台灣中臺禪寺開山方丈惟覺大和尚。幾天前，他們剛剛為浙博正在展出的雷峰塔天宮阿 育王塔所傾倒。昨天，浙江人就答應他們，更多的雷峰塔寶貝將在今年10月遠赴台灣中臺山博物館，面向更多充滿好奇的觀眾，來一次前所未有的展示。

　　浙博將在這個展覽中展示80件(組)珍貴文物，主要都與雷峰塔相關。其中有十分之一都是極其珍貴的國家一級文物，最具標誌性的兩件是“五代鎏金純銀阿育王塔”和“唐五代鎏金銅釋迦牟尼佛說法像”。

　　“五代鎏金純銀阿育王塔”于2000年出土于雷峰塔遺址天宮，雷峰塔倒塌時，它和塔內供奉舍利的金瓶被嚴重壓扁，去年年底才剛剛成功修復。所以，10月赴臺將是它在修復後的首次公開亮相。

　　而2001年于地宮出土的“唐五代鎏金銅釋迦牟尼佛說法像”，則是一件美輪美奐的藝術品——釋迦牟尼佛跌坐于盤龍托舉的蓮座上，身後是鏤空的火焰紋大背光，靜謐的佛、張揚的龍、升騰的烈焰，三者的精妙組合成就了這件藝術佳作。

　　10月3日，中臺山博物館東院即將開館，來自浙江的文物將與中臺山博物館館藏的佛教文物一起聯合展出。為了迎接珍貴的遠方來客，中臺山 博物館做了許多細緻的準備——安放文物的展廳，將用燈光等設計手段營造出雷峰塔地宮的意象，入口還將用磚土還原一個傾倒的雷峰塔。來到這裡的觀眾，望著這 些空間情境，將陶醉在千百年來的雷峰塔盛景中。

　　赴臺展覽是一次情感的延續

　　昨天，惟覺大和尚拄著拐杖，用“空前的創舉”來形容這次展覽。而浙江省文化廳廳長楊建新也認同，“規模如此之大、精品如此之多的佛教類文物被送出去展覽，這在浙江省博物館歷史上還是首次，對促進兩岸文化藝術交流有著重要的意義。”

　　這個規模空前，氣勢磅薄的展覽，有一個很溫柔的名字——《撫慰心靈的藝術》。為什麼？因為，這是一個飽含了許多情感的展覽。

　　昨天，中臺山博物館館長告訴大家，杭州與中臺禪寺有著深厚淵源——2006年，中臺禪寺與靈隱寺結為同源禪寺，靈隱寺鑄造了一座純銅“ 同源橋”送給中臺禪寺；次年，南投日月潭也與西湖結為“姊妹潭”。為了紀念與杭州的情誼，正在建造的中臺山博物館，在正前方蓋起一個“小西湖”，來自靈隱 寺的“同源橋”守護在邊上。

　　而這次展覽，則是一次感情的延續——2009年元月，省文化廳齊有為巡視員帶領浙江文化藝術演出團至中臺禪寺參訪，提出了兩岸文化 藝術交流的可行性。正巧，擁有25000余件珍貴佛教文物的中臺山博物館將於秋季成立，他們也正在計劃一場轟動的開幕展覽。於是，雷峰塔文物的遠行應運而 生。“那次浙江文化藝術表演團演的，正巧就是《白蛇傳》，看來是來打前站的，今天，雷峰塔文物就跟著去了，這實在是一個機緣。”惟覺大和尚用一句智慧的 話，把大家給逗樂了。

　　另外，他們也用自己的親身感受證明，能親眼看見雷峰塔文物，對遠方的觀眾將是一次多麼重要的經歷。惟覺大和尚說，前幾天首次見到雷 峰塔文物，讓他多年來的懷疑一掃而空——“我之前真不相信雷峰塔裏有這麼多文物，可我看到的文物不會造假，這真是一個歷史的證物。”（林梢青)

來源：今日早報

http://www.zjww.gov.cn:89/gate/big5/www.zjww.gov.cn/news/2009-04-01/173155710.shtml

http://hk.huaxia.com/zhwh/whbh/2009/04/1376963.html

http://218.108.238.136:82/gate/big5/www.zjwh.gov.cn/www/dtxx/zjwh/2009-04-02/77608.htm

Satipatthana 01: Intro & Body: Breathing

2009-04-02

In our first sutra study class on the Four Foundations/Establishments of Mindfulness, review and try to answer the following:

1. What is the importance of this sutra/sutta?
2. What is the meaning of "satipatthana"?
3. Why is this the "direct path"? What does this mean?
4. What does it mean to contemplate the "body as the body" (or "body in and of itself")?
5. What is the difference between "ardent", "mindful" (sati) and clear knowing (sampajanna)?
6. In the first part of the mindfulness of the body, we covered the breathing methods. Is there a progression in these methods?
7. Why should we treasure and cherish this sutta/teaching?