Spiritual Conversation is a student group initiated and organized by University of Hawaii students to have a safe place to discuss various religions. They often invite teachers from different faith traditions to share their perspectives and answer questions from people who do not share the same religion. Venerable Jian Dan was invited to offer his take on the unique teachings of Chinese Chan Buddhism.
Venerable pointed out that Chan originated in China and its teaching highlights the quest to uncover our original pure mind. For example, the concept of “dust” and “guest” from the Shurangama Sutra 《楞嚴經》can help illustrate this concept. Buddhist’s quest is to realize what/who is the dust and guest. Guests are those coming and going in a hotel while the owner is the real host. We should observe the impermanence of the world, and recognize that all phenomena are dust and guest where they appear and fade away. This way, we will not waste our lives on pursuing mirage (dust/guest) but to uncover our true host – our pure mind.
Among the attendees were trained teacher in Japanese True Pureland, scholar in Japanese Buddhism, and many other students with different faith traditions. After the detailed and lively talk, many people stayed and took this rare opportunity to ask more questions.
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