Calming the mind to enter the gate of Chan:
21-day retreat in Poland by Venerable Chi Chern
During the period from July 27th to August 17th, Venerable Chi Chern (繼程法師), Malaysian Dharma Heir of late Master Sheng Yen, together with Venerable Guo Yuan (果元法師), Abbot of Dharma Drum Retreat Center in New York, went on their trip to Europe for hosting a 21-day Chan Retreat at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dluzew, urban Warsaw in Poland. Including 7 monastics among all, forty-six practitioners coming from the U.S, Canada, Swiss, Italy, France, Croatia, Poland, Taiwan, China, as well as Malaysia, joined the retreat.
Ever since the year of 2008, Dluzew has become an important site from where DDM propagates Buddhadharma to the rest of Europe. Up until now 12 Chan Retreats have been completed, and this 21-day retreat was in fact the fifth long retreat, longer than 7-day retreat, since 2015. Half of the attendants returned every year, whereas the other half were attracted by the precious instructions available. From the very beginning, the practitioners were able to sit stably through long sessions, thus creating a calm atmosphere in the Chan Hall.
Every evening, Venerable Chi Chern gave a well-organized 70-mins Dharma Talk in which comprehension and actual practice were equally emphasized, fully embodying the method as taught in the Dharma Drum Lineage of Chinese Chan Buddhism. He first cited the gong’an – my mind could nowhere be found – between the First Patriarch Bodhidharma and the Second Patriarch Hui Ke, pointing out Dukkas as the very core of sentient being’s troubled mind. He then proceeded to talk about how to calm the mind in order, as well as the difference between Huatou and gong’an in actual practice, presenting to all the valuable and skillful ways through which Shifu teaches Huatou.
In recent times, most practitioners consider the practice of Buddhadharma as “easier said than done.” The reason for this is that such people haven’t really realized “impermanence” – the essence of Buddhadharma. In view of this, Venerable Chi Chern further expounded the “easy” and “difficult” aspects in practice respectively. When “emptiness” as mentioned in Buddhism still remains something imagined on the consciousness level, rather than a deep and profound experience actually realized, one may find Buddhist practice “difficult”; one may be constantly troubled with physical pain and Dukkha, or fall back repeatedly into old patterns while applying one’s method without being able to make any progress. Whereas when the correct view of “emptiness” is thoroughly understood, one may find it quite “easy” in overcoming previous obstacles. Through his detailed explanation, a secure path to Chan was clearly pointed out for all practitioners.