Experience sharing
DDM Sydney Tea Meditation Personal reflection
On 1 April 2024, DDM Sydney held tea meditation at St Leonard's Library. The monastics had posted custom-made cups from Taiwan in preparation for the event. Tea leaves were lovingly placed in each cup. As one of the three tea servers, we wore black robes and did slow walking meditation in harmony with each other and poured hot water into our dharma friends' cups. Our dharma friends were invited to observe and be aware of the changing taste, smell, temperature, and sight of their ...
DDM Sydney 3/29 Reciting meditation session personal recount
On 29 March 2024, DDM Sydney held a recitation meditation session at The Buddhist Library. The session was guided by three DDM monastics visiting from Taiwan. The full day meditation was done in noble silence, apart from guided explanations by the monastics. It was grounding to be able to take time out of our usual schedules to spend time with ourselves and be aware of our minds. There was a combination of different paces during walking and chanting meditation, from slow walking to joggi...
Personal reflection of 29/3 reciting meditation
Thank you sincerely to Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) Sydney for organising the all-day Nian Fo reciting meditation. Through this event, it really enabled me to gain a greater understanding and awareness of how Nian Fo (Recitation of the Buddha's name) can be a form of meditative practice. I had the chance to gain first-hand experience of the benefits of Nian Fo recitation in the process. This means, understanding it is a dharma method of practice, how it can also assist in enabling o...
DDM Sydney 2024 March 23 & 24 Beginners Meditation Workshop Personal Recount
On 23 March 2024 and 24 March 2024, DDM Sydney Chapter welcomed three Venerables from DDM Taiwan to lead and teach a two-day beginner's meditation workshop at St Leonard's Library, Sydney, Australia. Both days were structured and packed with practical gems of wisdom. After explaining the 6 years of disciplined training and 3 years of practicals required to become Chan monastics teaching meditation classes, Venerables began the day explaining various sitting meditation postures fo...
2024 Lunar New Year Great Compassion MantCeremony - Personal recount
I had the opportunity to attend the Lunar New Year Great Compassion Mantra (Da Bei Chan) Ceremony organised by DDM Sydney with fellow devoted practitioners on Sunday, 2024 February 11. It was a wonderfully auspicious occasion, enabling us to reflect on ourselves and collectively pray for blessings, good health, and happiness for all sentient beings in the process. Through this event, participants had the opportunity to reflect, extend, and improve upon their spiritual practi...
Reflection on the IMG Two-Day Retreat at Degui Academy, January 2024
By Ferdinand 20240128 I attended the retreat as an international, with very limited knowledge of the Chinese language. Nevertheless, I never had any problem understanding any instructions of Venerable or following the teachings, since everybody involved had an excellent command of the English language. Venerable master and Volunteers would help in this retreat, which was very useful because it made it much easier to understand instructions and the general structure of the retreat...
Personal Reflections on IMG Two-day Retreat on 1/27 & 28, Leah
It was beyond my expectations to be one of the retreatants of this two-day retreat, as I initially identified myself as a helper. However, since there were many experienced volunteers taking care of everyone, I had the opportunity to practice moving and sitting meditation. With the transition of my roles, I could not settle my mind at first, worrying my inexperience could cause problems for myself and others. Yet, under the gentle guidance of Ven. Guo Chii, I gradually immersed mysel...
5-Day Winter Retreat 2023 at DDMLA - Written by Deborah
I have been getting to know the DDMLA Chan community for about a year now, mostly through hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains together, but also through the English language meditation group and through other activities. For the hikes we take together, which my partner and I loosely lead, I have a few objectives. One: I want to introduce and deepen the knowledge of the local mountains and the plant and animal life they support to people who, like me, did not grow up with these particular plan...
DDM Beginners' Meditation Class reflections
"Should I travel to Taiwan from Singapore to attend a mediation class?", "What will the experience be like?", "Will I get a watered down version of the class because it's conducted in English?"—these were questions I asked myself when I saw that there was an opening for a two-day Beginners' Meditation Class conducted by the Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) International Meditation Group (IMG). But first, why was I looking for a class in Taiwan when the...
Personal Reflections on the 2-day Meditation Class Oct. 28-29 2023
I often trouble myself with others' opinions that sometimes actually exist nowhere but in my own imagination, which might come from some unhealthy obsession with a perfect self image and the constant discrimination between desirable and undesirable. During the retreat, the Venerable reminded us to relax, be aware of our own bodily sensations, observe our own thoughts, and let them come and go. I tried to be a good student and follow her instructions, but I ended up getting even...