The Abbot President Visits Dharma Drum Mountain San Francisco Bay Area Center, With Dharma Talk on the Importance of Chan Practice and Its Methods

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of DDM San Francisco Bay Area Center, DDM Abbot President Ven. Guo Huei made a special visit to the Center on September 28 and held a Dharma Talk for thirty and more Chan practitioners and volunteers of the "Thursday Night Meditation" event.

As usual, the meditation group practice started off with the "Eight-Form Moving Meditation". The "Eight-Form Moving Meditation" was developed by DDM founder Master Sheng Yen as an easy-to-learn yet relatively beneficial meditation method to help balance body and mind, based on his numerous years of personal practice experience, integrating the essence of Chan meditation into a series of simple physical exercises. These physical exercises help us relax the muscles of the body prior to sitting down for meditation, thereby effectively preventing or alleviating muscle aches in our legs. Moreover, through focusing on the body movements and being fully aware of the shifts of our body's center of gravity or the stretching in our muscles while moving, we can cultivate the basic Chan practice of "where the body is, there is the mind", and eventually apply this practice to our daily lives. The Eight-Form Moving Meditation is also a series of exercises to collect the mind, in preparation for the subsequent sitting meditation.
The layout of the Chan hall, meditation methods and duration of each meditation session are all in accordance with DDM's Chan style. Each session lasts approximately thirty minutes, with a short interval between sessions to stretch out or use the washroom, thus making it easier for beginners to adapt and follow. The preparation for sitting meditation is to adjust the body to assume a proper meditation posture. Upon coming out of meditation, a series of massage practices can allow the body to better transition from meditation back to our daily life activities, thereby avoiding discomfort caused by sudden physical activity. Therefore, the "Eight-Form Moving Meditation" is the procedure suitable for most people who are learning and practicing sitting meditation.

In his Dharma talk, the Abbot President began with current affairs in America, bringing up the Philadelphia flash mob incident of over a hundred teenagers robbing commercial stores as well as the deteriorating public safety issue in the Bay Area of Northern California, followed by his introduction to the importance of Chan practice and its methods. Regarding the methods needed for all Chan practitioners when practicing sitting meditation, the Abbot President maintained that "Silent Illumination" is a practice method relatively simpler and safer than "Huatou". Both methods are most commonly utilized in seven-day Chan retreats at the Dharma Drum Mountain and its branch monasteries and practice centers worldwide in recent years. The Abbot President also indicated that with the "direct contemplation" method taught by Master Sheng Yen, "no comparison", "no description", "no labeling" are the keys. Practitioners merely need to be clearly aware of their bodily sensations while sitting in meditation. At the same time, regardless of comfortable or uncomfortable sensations, one should refrain from distinguishing and labeling them. Abbot President used his teachings to encourage the practitioners to apply the "direct contemplation" method in their meditation practice. The Abbot President had compiled his personal experiences and acquired knowledge in sitting meditation and Chan practice over the past decades and authored the book "The Chan Practices of Zhi and Guan: A Key to Opening Up Our Spiritual Mind", thereby illustrating to practitioners the abundant benefits to be reaped in carefully reading and diligently applying these methods to their Chan practices.

The Abbot President not only educated everyone with a giving of Dharma teachings, but, at the conclusion of the meditation group practice, he also presented each participant with a wooden bookmark ruler carved with the Six Paramitas: "giving", "precepts", "patience", "diligence", "concentration" and "wisdom". Doing so signified his warm expectation towards the Chan practitioners.



Text: Dharma Drum Mountain San Francisco Bay Area Center
Photos: Dharma Drum Mountain San Francisco Bay Area Center
Translation: Cheng-yu Chang (張振郁)
Editing: Keith Brown, YKL