Conclusion of Summer Classes

Five weeks went by as quickly as a summer afternoon thunderstorm. Friday night’s Dharma Assembly on Universal Door Chapter and Sunday afternoon’s lectures on The Eight Great Awakenings Sutra l (both conducted in Chinese) came to a conclusion today.

Through weekly chanting, prostration, meditation and short dharma talks, participants gained insight into Universal Door Chapter and the spiritual powers of Guanshiying Bodhisattva. Total of 52 people attended this class, of which 13 achieved perfect attendance and additional 11 attended four times, totaling 25 people to receive a graduation certificate today. This dharma assembly was so well received that at the last class participants eagerly requested that Master should continue the assembly.

Similarly, the lecture class on The Eight Great Awakenings Sutra was also a success. Detailed class notes can be found here. Many participants asked the Master to slow down the class or extend the class to more weeks so students can better digest the content. This was the first time that students were required to memorize the sutra. Each week, participants would memorize assigned passages and the Master would randomly select a couple students for examination. To the Master’s delight, participants were all diligent and memorized the sutra well. Forty two (42) participants attended this class, including 12 perfect attendees and 5 who attended four times. These 17 people received a certificate of accomplishment today as well. It is worth noting that both classes drew different people even though about ten people participated in both classes.

As part of the celebration, we watched a movie - Running on Karma (Hong Kong, 2003). Dinner was offered by the Master afterward. Stay tuned for new class information in the fall.

English Dharma Group speech - Freedom in Buddhism

Master Jian Dan was invited to give a talk at the English Dharma Group, Jade Buddha Temple, exploring what freedom means in Buddhism.

Master introduced the three levels of freedom – personal, relationship, and environment. In order to achieve personal freedom, we need to be awakened from our wondering thoughts and attachments. When our mind is like a mirror that reflects indiscriminately of the truth presenting, we have eradicated our afflictions and attachments and therefore achieving personal freedom. For cultivating better relationship, we need to be flexible, as illustrated by the story of the little river (please refer to this talk about the story). When your mind is awaken, you know when and how to change your current form – attitude and intention – to better fit the present situation. Lastly, Master referred to the concept of Pure Land where people are in harmony with everyone else, with animals, and with the environment. The concept of Pure Land is that of harmony, in the present moment. In order to achieve the ultimate level of freedom, we have to start from ourselves, therefore the practice of meditation.

Meditation helps us see our mind more clearly. We can observe and detect its change; we are more aware of its current state. Through continued practice, we control our emotion instead of letting our emotion controls us. Some Q&A followed.