Venerable Guo Xing leads "Living Chan" day at DDM Vancouver
What is Chan meditation?
On 28 February, 2010, Dharma Drum Mountain Vancouver (DDM Vancouver) in the hope of attracting more non-Chinese speakers to get to know Chan (Zen), offered a one-day program, “Living Chan”, led by the Abbot of Dharma Drum Retreat Center in New York, Venerable Guo Xing.
The program began with an introduction to Chan, followed by the Venerable teaching students methods of calming the mind. Through the use of relaxation techniques and following the breath, he led the students into sitting meditation.
Venerable Guo Xing explained that our mind is often subject to our senses, for example, our senses of hearing and sight. That is why our mind seems to function so easily in this wild manner; likened to a running horse with no rein. However, it does not have to be this way with Chan practice one could develop a more peaceful and calmer mind - a mind at ease.
In addition, students also leaned a set of exercises unique to DDM, called Eight Form Moving Meditation. Through this mediation, the practitioner trains the mind to be aware of sensations and to relax through and through as they do each form of exercise.
In the afternoon, the students were assigned to different groups to practice observing the changes in their mind and cognitive process. In this session, the group members were encouraged to observe and record their own reactions in hearing one person from each group share their own reflections on a happy or unhappy experience from their own life to the group. This was followed by a group sharing of what they have observed.
The one-day program concluded at 4:30 in the afternoon, with every student appreciating this wonderful opportunity to get to know Chan. They expressed their warmest gratitude to both Venerable Guo Xing and the monastics from DDM Vancouver.
(translated by Jin Yang/edited by DDM Australia Editing Team)
