Zen Poem: Song to Awaken the World

by Luodian, Ming Dynasty Scholar (who became a monk)
(Transl. from Chinese original)

With zeal and toil you seek in haste,

Warm and cold, spring fades into fall.

Work for a living day and night,

Blind and clueless we’ve turned grey.

Who’s right or wrong—can it ever end?

When will worries ever cease?

The Path ahead is clear and straight,

Yet few are those who’ll cultivate.

Zen Poem: 醒世詩 明．狀元 羅殿

急急忙忙苦苦求，寒寒暖暖度春秋，朝朝暮暮營家計，昧昧昏昏白了頭；

是是非非何日了，煩煩惱惱幾時休，明明白白一條路，萬萬千千不肯修。

Zen Poem: Rice Sprout Song

by Chan Master Gaofeng
(trans. from Chinese original)

Plant the rice field with green sprouts

Bow down and see in water the sky

To purify the six roots is the Way

To retreat is to go forward.

Zen Poem:《插秧偈》 高峰老人

手把青秧插滿田，低頭便見水中天；六根清淨方爲道，退步原來是向前。

Excerpts from The Platform Sutra of Hui-Neng

The Body is a bodhi tree,

The Mind, a standing mirror bright,

At all times polish it diligently

And let no dust alight.

~Shen-Xiu, Fifth Patriarch’s head disciple

Bodhi is no tree

Nor standing mirror bright;

There is nothing to begin with,

Where can the dust alight?

~Six Patriarch Hui-Neng

Upon realizing that "All dharmas are inseparable from the inherent nature." He exclaimed,

“How amazing that the original nature is originally pure!

How amazing that the original nature is unborn and undying!

How amazing that the original nature is inherently complete!

How amazing that the original nature neither moves nor stays!

How amazing that all dharmas come from this original nature!”

~Six Patriarch Hui-Neng

Pure Mind, Pure Land

Pure Mind, Pure Land

- Presented by Ven. Jian Hu, the abbot of Chung Tai Chan Center of Sunnyvale, at the Parliament of the World's Religions, Melbourne.

A great presentation that integrates the environmental issues

with the Buddhist practice.

http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale/enUS/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Quotes in the class

This is here because that is here. This exists because that exists. When that is gone, this is gone. When that perishes, this perishes.

-- Buddha's words on inter-dependence ~ Agama Sutra

Mind precedes all mental state, mind is the chief; they’re all mind-wrought. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow

~ Dharmapada

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments is the scroll,

I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.

~ Invictus,William Ernest Henley