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A Letter To Christian Friends From A Buddhist Monk At Christmas →

December 25, 2014 · 9:09 am

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Happy Christmas Greetings

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← Samsara As Seen By The Four Schools Of Zen

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OEB a contemporary teaching Order following monastic observances
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We are each unique expressions of the universe. We are not each unique in the universe.
An excellent way to explore more about pragmatic Buddhism is to obtain this book by our founder available through Amazon. All proceeds go to support our community ministry.
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Archieves
Archieves
New York Ordination

Ven. Xi-Ken Shi, Jin-Deng, Ven. D. Kengaku Zezulinski

Exchange of ideas

Mn. Jin-Deng & Dharma Scroll

Shaving of head, becoming a monk

Jin-Deng’s first kesa

New York Sangha arriving for ordination service

Prior reading the Service of Ordination

Xi-Ken Sensei addressing the NY Sangha

Dharma discourse

Sitting in silence

Altar ritual practice

Monk and laity practice together

Xi-Ken Sensei’s teachers remembered during ordination

Taking & Giving of vows

Gift presented to Prior, remembering a dharma lesson
EDIG Recient Posts: Engaged Dharma Insight Group (EDIG)
PANDEMIC AND PRACTICE: CAUSALITY

PANDEMIC AND PRACTICE: IMPERMANENCE

CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC AND PRACTICE

The Inseparable Link Between Motivation and Practice

Monkey Mind, Puppy Mind
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Sensei during Daily Service
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Sensei during Qigong practice
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Sensei with his root teacher
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Outdoor meditation strenghtens insight
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Rev. Brian Kenna’s wedding
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Rev. Shi Yao-Xin, Sub-Prior & European Liaison Director.
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Xi-Ken Shi & Li-Su during daily service
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Ven. Brian Shen-Jin, Prior General
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During a St. Louis retreat
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Ven. Eubanks Sensei, my Dharma Brother Ven. Ren-Cheng Shi, and myself at Place of Peace Temple
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Fr. Thomas Merton & Dalai Lama friends and contemplative monks
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Xi-Ken Shi is member of InterFaith Conference of Washington D.C.
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Ven. Brian Shen-Jin teaching at our NY affiliate
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Where our outer space is, is where are inner space is. Insight will find us there.
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Robes do not have to make a difference
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"Skype Monk" attending a Service
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Conference of Monastic Leaders winter retreat (OPB). Outside sitting. Cold. Wet Grass. Birds. Sun warmth. Bubbling Brook. Quiet. Awake. Remembering...
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Li-Su & Xi-Ken Shi 2009 winter retreat
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Ch'an monk teasing Shen-Xi Sensei with field spider
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Mn. Li-Su during winter retreat
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An awakened being is as clear as glass
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Sensei’s altar Buddha
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Is your practice inside looking out, or outside looking in?
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Contemplation is about looking out the window of our mind to discover the universe looking back at us
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Zen Master Seung Sahn and Trappist monks engaging practice
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Mid America Buddhist Association
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Even a Buddhist priest has a past. Changing the nature of your robes has its own path. (Our Founder at 26yo)
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One view of Indra's Net. Its not all about the sentient.
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Ritual practice is also a meditation form
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Rev. Brian Kenna Prior General & Director of Lay Ministry
Rev. Shi Shen-Yao, Sub-Prior
Sharing The Merit

Showing our gratitude and generosity, practicing the way of awareness which gives rise to benefits without limit, we vow to share these benefits of our practice, service, and gifts with all beings. We vow to extend our hand in an altruistic act to engage our family, our community, teachers, friends, and numerous beings who give us guidance and support or need our help along this path we have chosen. Let us be respectfully reminded that a life of engagement and compassion is supremely important. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to become aware of our connection to others, and not squander the fits of knowing the wisdom of engaging the Dharma. Sva Ha
Daily Litany

May I awake to clarity / and throughout this livelong day sustain mindful awareness.

Let me observe my previous actions / so that I may insert reflection before I speak or act.

May I restrain my natural prejudice and pride / so that I my return to openness, empathy and joy.

Let all beings be as my friends / and let me so care for them.

Let me perceive the Dharma in the life of my teacher / setting aside his personal characteristics.

Let me pay attention to my teacher’s words / even if I lack understanding.

May I train my thinking so that my thought corrects itself / before any harm is done.

Choosing one path with which I feel affinity / let me pursue it with diligence without self-centered picking and choosing.

Let me put all beings before me on the path to awakening / setting aside my own ambition may I sincerely help others on the path.

Let me realize that life is only now.
Bodhisattva Vows

I vow to enable people to be released from the truth of suffering.

I vow to enable people to understand the truth of the origin of suffering.

I vow to enable people to peacefully settle down in the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering.

I vow to enable people to attain nirvana.
Taking Refuge

I take refuge in the Buddha; the consummating personal element.

I take refuge in the Dharma; the consummating methods, teachings, and universal realities.

I take refuge in the Sangha; the consummating social elements.
Three Pure Precepts

I will do no harm.

I will do only good.

I will do good for others.
Ten Grave Ethical & Moral Precepts

I undertake the training of loving kindness; in all possible circumstances, I will abstain from hurting sentient beings.

I undertake the training of generosity; I will abstain from taking that which is not needed for my survival.

I undertake the training of moderation and contentment; I will abstain from sexual misconduct and the abuse of sensory pleasures.

I undertake the training of verbal empowerment; I will abstain from meaningless speech.

I undertake the training of kind speech; I will abstain from harsh speech.

I undertake the training of meaningful speech; I will abstain from frivolous speech.

I undertake the training of harmonious speech; I will abstain from slanderous speech.

I undertake the training of tranquility and patience; I will abstain from cultivating greed, envy and contempt.

I undertake the training of altruism and equanimity; I will abstain from cultivating hatred, prejudice and fear.

I undertake the training of wisdom and knowledge of our world; I embrace lifelong learning and the cultivation of selflessness. I will honor the Dharma.
Community Committment

With the wish to free all beings I will always go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha until the attainment of full enlightenment.

Enthused by Compassion and Wisdom today in our monastic communities’ presence and support, I strive to generate the Mind of Awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings.

For as long as time endures and for as long as living beings remain, until then may we together abide to dispel the unsatisfactoriness of the world.
Heart Sutra

Avalokitesvara, Bodhisattva of compassion, observing deeply the refinement of wisdom, Prajnaparamita, clearly saw the emptiness of personality, thus enduring adversity and pain.

O, Saripurtra, form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form; form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form, the same is true of feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness.

O, Saripurtra, all dharmas are forms of emptiness, not born, not destroyed; not tainted, not pure, not increasing, not decreasing, and so in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no mental formations, no consciousness; no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no color, no sound, so smell, no taste, no touch, no thought, no realm of sight and so forth until no realm of consciousness, no ignorance, no end to ignorance and so forth until no old age and death, and no end to old age and death, no suffering, no desire, no cessation, no path, no wisdom, no attainment.

And so the Bodhisattva relies on the Prajnaparamita with no hindrance in the mind, no hindrance, therefore no fear, far beyond deluded thoughts, this is Nirvana.

All past, present, and future Buddhas rely on the refinement of wisdom and thus attain the cultivated enlightenment.

Therefore, know that the Prajnaparamita is the interdependent mantra, the interconnected mantra, the mantra of world making the mantra which relieves all suffering.

So proclaim the Prajnaparamita mantra, proclaim the mantra and say: Gate! Gate! Paragate! Parasamgate! Bodhi Sva Ha!

Great refinement of wisdom, Prajnaparamita, Heart Sutra!
Litany of Compassion

May all beings be mindful and content.

May all beings be healed and whole.

May all beings have whatever they need.

May all beings be protected from harm and free from fear.

May all beings be in harmony with themselves and others.

May all beings live an awakened life.

May there be peace in this world and throughout the entire Universe.
The Kesa Chant

Upon putting on the Kesa

Vast is the robe of liberation,
A formless field of benefaction.
I wear Siddhartha Gautama’s teachings,
To enable all beings to attain nirvana.
Ancestors Recitation

The great Buddhist ancestors of our lineage who’s karmic energy continues to resonate in the actions through our practice, we humbly offer our thanks for the many lessons they have given. We extend our compassionate thoughts and gratitude for the unsatisfactoriness they have endured so that we may not suffer as greatly. We honor the legacy of their teaching. We take this moment to invoke their memory to further guide us to a higher understanding of the Dharma and a more encompassing dedication of compassion for all beings. May their wisdom guide us to a greater unity and stronger understanding of Buddhist thought and values that leads us to awaken to Universal realities. Our practice stands on the heritage and legacy that they have left us to uphold and sustain as we continue our monastic practice for the liberation of ourselves, and all beings.
Gatha On Hearing Dharma Discourse

The Dharma, incomparable profound and infinitely subtle, is rarely encountered, even in millions of ages.

Now we see it, hear it, receive and maintain it.

May we completely realize Siddhartha Gatama's true meaning.
Daily Affirmation

Harmony is my mantra. All things reside in the ceaseless flow of balanced becoming: they are impermanent and selfless.

Knowledge of interdependence is made know through my mindfulness of the dependent origination of all things. I sit in watchfulness. The Universe is limitless; my awareness is manifest.

Knowledge of interconnection is made know through my mindfulness of the dependent origination of all things. I sit in awareness. The Universe is infinite; my practice is expanding.

My awareness, thoughts, words and actions arise and fall by the dictums of causality. Emerging from the process of dependent origination, I am an expression of the Universe.

I have no fear, for I can never be separated from anything. Mutability is the foundation upon which I am build. Seeing the need wherever it may be, I am here to fulfill it.

My obligation is to all sentient beings. My altruistic hand embraces everyone with equanimity. I am a Social Self.

I reside in the present and embrace liberation. Honoring my Bodhisattva vows in working to promote human flourishing, I dedicate my life to help realize the best world for all sentient beings. I walk the path of awakening.
Thoughts for Evening Meditation

Sitting in silence we open ourselves to all of life. Open your creative energy to the activity you undertook today, from that basic opening quietly and introspectively move through the actions you performed being conscious of the effects they had on others. Refrain from the tendency to become negative in any respect. Allow that power of creative energy to work around you in silence. Project positive feelings outward without thought only being aware of your breath.
Closing Day Gatha

Let me respectfully remind you, life and death are of supreme importance.

Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.

Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken. Take heed.

Do not squander your life.
Healing Recitation

Just as the soft rains fill the streams, pour into the rivers, and join together in the oceans, so may the power of every moment of our goodness flow forth to awaken and heal all beings. Those here now, those gone before, those yet to come. By the power of every moment of our goodness, may our good wishes be soon fulfilled as completely shining as the bright full moon. By the power of every moment of our goodness, may all dangers be averted and all disease be gone. May few obstacles come across our path. May we enjoy fulfillment and a productive practice.
Blessing of Compassion

With the wish to free all beings I will always go for refuge to the Buddha, dharma, and Sangha until the attainment of full enlightenment. Enthused by Compassion and Wisdom today in our monastic communities presence and support I strive to generate the mind of awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. For as long as time endures and for as long as living beings remain, until then may we together abide to dispel the unsatisfactoriness of the world.
Benediction

Let us continue searching for that place in our very being for the purity and integrity of the spirit that is the result of the understanding of the union of our Universal expression that is interconnected with all things. Go and be at peace. Show compassion to all beings and especially to the true Buddha nature which is each of us.
Place of Peace Temple Furman University where Rev. David Shen-Xi Sensei was ordained

David Shaner faces the Shomen inside the Place of Peace Buddhist Temple on the Furman University campus in Greenville, S.C. ( AP Photo/Patrick Collard)

Contemplative Thoughts
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Bodhi mind has no tree. The mirror also has no stand. Buddha nature is always clear and pure. Is there room for dust?

The barn's burned down; now I can see the moon.

It is when we are near the end of a book that we enjoy it and begin to sense its loss. Guests whom we anxiously expect often fail to come. So the world runs always contrary to our wishes. How rarely in a hundred years do we encounter the Dharma. Look up and look out the window.

When a man's inner observer is hidden from him, he loses sight of how he is. He is lost in a world that seems to be his. Where is the mistake?

Contemplation does not arrive at reality after a process of deduction, but by an intuitive awakening in which our free and personal reality becomes fully alive to its own existential depths, which open out into the mystery of the Universe.

The contemplative is not merely a person who likes to sit and think, still less one who sits around with a vacant stare. Contemplation is not and can't be a function of this external self.

Contemplation can't be taught, or even clearly explained. To describe reactions or feelings one experiences as contemplation is considering a state of consciousness that does not exist. It is not the static awareness of metaphysical essence or abstract ideas. Contemplation is a sudden experience of awareness, an awakening to the reality within all that is real including our own Universal expression. It is a brief moment in connecting the dots, where the dots are only sensed but not defined. If you do not understand that, it can't be explained.
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Thomas Merton
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(The Trappist Monk, Fr. Thomas Merton, was a spiritual and contemplative monastic who explored Buddhism's valued history of the inner journey. He was a friend of the Dalai Lama and other spiritual leaders regardless of their traditions. What mattered most to him was their enlightened worldview.)

The most wonderful moment of the day is that when creation in its innocence asks permission to "be" once again, as it did on the first morning that ever was.

My worship is a blue sky and ten thousand crickets in the deep wet hay of the field. My vow is the silence under their song.

The reality of now --- the unreality of all the rest.

Although we know no hills, no country rivers, here in the jungles of our waterpipes and iron ladders, our thoughts are quieter than rivers, our loves are simpler than the trees, our prayers deeper than the sea.

It becomes very important to remember that the quality of one's night depends on the thoughts of the day. Still, the quality of one's nights depends on the sanity of the day. I bring there the sins of the day into the light and darkness of truth to be adored without disguise -- then I want to fly back to the disguises.
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Order of Engaged Buddhists · A contemplative teaching Order

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