DDM Sydney Hosts Dharma Talk and Movies and Mind

DDM Sydney hosted a Dharma talk on “Protecting the Spiritual Environment” with Venerable Chang Xu as the speaker on 14 April 2012 at the Hornsby Centre.

The Venerable presented a number of short film clips and probing questions for the seventeen participants. The audience was asked to reflect on the question that if life is a “journey”, where does that journey begin and where does it end? More and more questions were rolled out for us to discuss in small groups and then sharing our points of view as a big group. The questions delved deeper, “What has been polluted? The environment or our mind?” “How much control do we have on our environment? How much control do you have on your own life?’
Aided by power point and graphic presentation, Venerable Chang Xu skilfully explained the concept of Protecting the Spiritual Environment, that a pure mind will bring purifying actions and a purifying environment. Hence, we should not let the environment affect our mind, but rather we should start from within ourselves.

On the following day, 15 April 2012, Venerable Chang Xu and Venerable Chang Qi led a discussion on the movie “The Five People We Meet in Heaven”. Divided into small groups the eighteen participants were instructed to discuss about any two of the people that Eddie, the main character, meets. They heartily shared their views on the various characters, the movie, the interconnectedness of people, the karma each character created and the consequences that they have to bear with and so on.

The Venerable highlighted how the main character started out by seeing things only from his own point of view, then learned to perceive things from the other person’s perspective and finally from a third person’s perspective. By doing so, Eddie was able to forgive himself by forgiving his father, become grateful for being shot in the leg rather than be killed in the war. He was able to let go of his beautiful wife who left him too soon, cleansed himself when he cleansed the burnt marks of Tala, the girl who he had unknowingly killed in a fire. He realised that the simple, mundane things that he did every day was a contribution to others and finally he was at peace with himself.

It was a very enjoyable and inspiring session which broadened everyone’s perspective.


(by DDM Australia)