Blue Sky White Clouds - Zen Mirror Jan-Feb2011

8/6/2019 Blue Sky White Clouds - Zen Mirror Jan-Feb2011

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1-Day Zen Meditation Retreat

and Dharma talk

(Pls register)

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67th Zen Meditation Course for

Beginners - by Ven. Chi Boon

(Pls register)

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Reunion Dinner (Pls register)

Medicine Buddha Repentance

Chanting

27/2

)

Visit Old Folks Home

(Pls register)

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)

Whole year Offering of Lights

(Pls register)

Blue Sky, White Clouds

New Year Fund Raising Dinner

13/2

Futsing Building, Level 2 Auditorium

Please book dinner tickets early

1/1

)Whole year Offering of Lights

(Pls register)

3/2 - 6/2

()New Year Liang Huang Fa Hui

(Pls register)

10/2 - 12/2

()New Year Liang Huang Fa Hui

(Pls register)

Editors note: The editorial team had a rare chance to have a candid talk with our

KYCL abbot. Below is the transcription.

Q : What is the vision of KYCL?

Shifu: To revitalise Zen practice.

Q : What is the teaching of Zen? How to begin Zen practice?

Shifu: To enter this gate, do not attach to your understanding and concepts.

Q : What is your view of the students today? Are they more difcult to teach com-

pared to students, say, 10 years ago?

Shifu: The students 10 years ago saw that the sky is blue, clouds are white. Students

now also see that the sky is blue, the clouds are white.

Q : What is your wish for KYCL?Shifu: My wish is that everybody can always live among blue sky and white clouds,

and nd their correct life.

MICA (P) No. 019/05/2010

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shopping

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TransformingGrief and FearExtracted from No Death, No Fear by Thich Nhat Hanh

In chemistry we would call the ground of beingof water H2O: two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen

atom. From this ground of being, a molecule, many

things can manifest: clouds, rain, snow, water. It is

wonderful to be a cloud, but it is also wonderful to

be the rain. It is also wonderful to be the snow or

water. If the cloud remembers this, then when the

cloud is about to transform and continue in the form

of rain, it will not be so frightened. It will remember

that to be a cloud is wonderful, but to be the rain

falling down is also wonderful.

When the cloud is not caught in the idea of birth and

death, or being and non-being, there is no fear. By

learning from the cloud, we can nurture our non-

fear. Non-fear is the ground of true well-being. As

long as fear is in us, happiness cannot be perfect.

When you practise looking deeply, you see your

true nature of no birth, no death; no being, no non-

being; no coming, no going; no same, no different.

When you see this, you are free from fear. You are

free from craving and free from jealousy. No fear

is the ultimate joy. When you have the insight of

no fear, you are free. And like the great beings, you

ride serenely on the waves of birth and death.

The true nature of all things is not to be born, not to

die, not to arrive and not to depart. My true nature is

the nature of no coming and no going. When there

are sufcient conditions, I manifest, and when the

conditions are no longer sufcient, I hide. I do not go

anywhere. Where would I go? I simply hide.

If your dear one has just died, you may have a difcult

time overcoming your loss. You may be crying all the

time. But look deeply. There is a divine medicine to

help you overcome your pain, to see that your dear oneis not born and does not die, does not come and does

not go.

It is only because of our misunderstanding that we

think the person we love no longer exists after they

pass away. This is because we are attached to one

of the forms, one of the many manifestations of that

person. When that form is gone, we suffer and feel sad.

The person we love is still there. He is around us,

within us and smiling at us. In our delusion we cannot

recognise him, and we say, He no longer is. We

ask over and over, Where are you? Why did you

leave me all alone? Our pain is great because of our

misunderstanding. But the cloud is not lost. Our beloved

is not lost. The cloud is manifesting in a different form.

Our beloved is manifesting in a different form. If we

can understand this, then we will suffer much less.

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What Is It?

When walking, standing, sitting, lying down, speaking, being silent, moving, being still, at all

times, in all places, without interruption, what is this?

One mind is innite kalpas.

1. All times and all places come from where?

2. One mind is innite kalpas. Are innite kalpas inside or outside this one mind?

3. What is one mind?

4. What are innite kalpas?

Commentary:The Avatamsaka Sutra says, If you wish to thoroughly understand all the Buddhas of the past,

present, and future, then you should view the nature of the whole universe as being created by

mind alone. If you have no mind, where can the Buddha stay? Who comes? Who goes? If onemind disappears, where are time and space? Put it down, then everything is clear. The moun-

tain is blue, water is owing.


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Diary of a Zen Workshop

Sentient being are numberless, we vow to save

them all. Zen Master Wu Bong jokingly said we werebeing tricked into saying the vows so now we cannot

eat back our words! When I rst recite these vows four

years ago, I thought that I would not be able keep them;

I probably would not want to keep them as well. How-

ever, after these few years of practise, I came to realize

these vows were actually helping us to relieve our own

suffering. The masters said we must throw away I-my-

me. I realized that when we hold onto I-my-me, any

situation, regardless of whether good or bad, will one

way or another, become a burden that weighs on us.

All this is due to the existence of I-my-me. As we ex-perience difcult situations, this burden becomes even

greater. There will come to a point where the burden

becomes unbearable and we cannot handle it anymore.

However, the magical thing is that when we throw

away I-my-me, the burden in our life just fall away and

disappear immediately as there is nothing for the bur-

den to settle on. Just like what the Sixth Patriarch said,

Originally there is nothing, where does dust settle?

To throw away I-my-me, we have to completely stop

thinking of ourselves, the purpose behind our actionswill then only be for others. The other thing I realized

is that we do not need to wait for enlightenment before

we do this. We can do it right now! Previously, my

thinking has been, If we cannot save ourselves, how

can we save others? But right now, it is, When we

have the correct direction in life, saving ourselves and

saving others go hand in hand. When we try to save

others we are actually saving ourselves. If we really

want to save ourselves, we will eventually realize that

we must save others rst, which also means throwing

away I-my-me. So to me, these vows are amazinglynot a sacrice at all; it is really a remedy to relieve

us from our own suffering. Hahaha! I nd this really

funny.

There was one common message that all the mas-

ters persistently trying to get across to us; Just Do

It!Which means to start our Zen practice now. That isto keep a clear mind moment to moment. So I wish

we can Just Do it, try, try, try for ten thousand years,

gain enlightenment and save all beings from suffering.Cheers!

During my rst 7-day retreat at Pengerang, Ven. Chi

Boon said that even a child can answer kong-ans. I wassceptical about this. After the retreat, immediately upon

stepping into the house, I asked my 3-year-old daugh-

ter, What is Buddha nature? I was sure she could not

even understand the word nature, so for her to be able

to answer the kong-an correctly would be next to im-

possible. But without hesitation, she turned to her right,

pointed to a toy on the table and said, The toy is blue.

My jaw almost dropped to the oor. So today during the

Zen Workshop, when Zen Master Dae Bong said that

when we grow up, we lose our childs mind, I totally

agree!

The Zen Workshop was a success in every way.It was a success because everyone was ONE with the

talks and practice. It was also a success because of the

number of young participants in the workshop and how

the Dharma talks triggered big questions in them. It was

heart-warming to see young people having such good

karma to have the opportunity to hear Dharma talks by

keen-eyed teachers. I remembered when I rst read Zen

Master Seung Sahns book, I said to myself, This isit! This is the essence of the Buddhas teaching. It is so

simple! I have read many books, went to different cen-

tres, heard the teachings of other religions, but I could

not nd answers to real life problems. When I nally

read his teaching, my thought was that if only I had

found it earlier. So it was really wonderful to see many

young participants at this Zen Workshop. They do not

need to waste years searching before they have the op-

portunity to hear the teaching.

The Dharma talks were powerful and come invarious favours.We have four great masters givingsimple, clear and complete Buddhist teachings, each

approaching it from different angles. As the Dharma

talks progressed, I thought to myself that these could

easily be the best Dharma talks ever! But it also made

me sad; if only there were more people attending this

workshop to hear these talks. So when I reached home

after the rst day of the workshop, I spoke very strongly

to my father, urging him to attend the workshop on the

second day. Somehow I manage to penetrate his usually

strong cage, and he agreed without too much difculty.

- Charles

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The construction of the new Zen Centre involves three

elements of Zen practice: Great Faith, Great Question

and Great Courage. Great Faith is the strong faith that the

building can be constructed despite great difculties and

that it will benet many people when completed. It gives us

a clear direction in the construction project. Great Question

is the question If other much more costly temples can be

constructed, why not our new Zen Centre? It provides

New Zen Centre

Building Progress

us with a single-mindedness, a not-moving mind that is focused on one thingcompletion of the building

construction. Great Courage involves everyone focusing their energy on activity after activity to propagate the

teachings and to raise funds. It is the courage to overcome the many obstacles faced during the construction.

Of all the obstacles, the most pressing is that of funding. Right now, the sixth storey of the 8-storey Zen Centre

is being constructed. Our funds will be depleted by the middle of this year. We are still in need of $1.5 million

to complete the project.

We earnestly invite you to join us in the great effort to complete the construction of the new Zen Centre. Many

activities are lined up for the year to propagate the teachings and to raise funds. We require many volunteers

to help in the organisation of these various activities. Above all, we appeal for your continuous and generous

support of this meaningful project that will benet people in the years to come.

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Bi-monthly Issue / Issue No. 61

Spiritual Leader : Zen Master Seung Sahn

Abbot : Ven. Chi BoonEditor : Leow Wee Kheng

Printer : Qiantai Printing &

Publishing Pte. Ltd.

(T) 6743 0478

Publisher : Kwan Yin Chan Lin

[email protected]://www.kyclzen.org

Kwan Yin Chan Lin203C Lavender Street, Singapore 338764(T) +65 6392 0265 (F) +65 6392 4256

Pengerang International ZenMeditation Centre

Lot. 109 Telok Ramunia, 81620Pengerang Johor

(T) 0207 826 4848

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SHARES

3650 Kerk Sock Leng/Abner Low Mao ZeTan Chong Sing

Teo Ji Mung (Deceased)Ang Kim Siew

Tan Kok HuaTan Sioh Leng

Sponsors for Commencement of Construction of New Zen Centre

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Wong Sou Hwa

Tan Choon Huat

PolyQuid (S) Pte Ltd

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Blue Sky White Clouds - Zen Mirror Jan-Feb2011