Enjoy the Bliss of Chan and Mindfulness on Mother's Day 10 May 2015
Many of us today lead an intense lifestyle. How can we then remain with our natural lightheartedness within our highly-strung and fast-paced lives? This Mother's Day from 11:00AM to 05:00PM on 10 May 2015, DDM has organized a range of Chan practice activities aiming to and themed "Protecting the Spiritual Environment - Stop, Relax, Enjoy" at the plaza of the National Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. This is a free event inviting the public to come along with family and friends to experience the calmness and mindfulness of Chan practice. The range of activities include living Chan, scripture transcription, eight-form moving meditation, "dragon bowl" and bathing the Buddha. As a token of appreciation for the participation, a beautiful souvenir headscarf will also be presented to all attendees.
Chan can very much be practiced as we carry out our own daily life, be it walking, resting, sitting, sleeping, working or any other activities. Due to the positive response received over the years, DDM has expanded on the range of living Chan activities and games this year in hoping for all to have some fun whilst drawing out for oneself the subtle and inherent bliss of Chan. Such activities and games include clamping beans with chopsticks, "number guessing", stacking screw nuts to form the Taipei 101 Tower, balancing a Ping-Pong ball on a fan, object guessing through drawings, object guessing solely through touch, "spotting the difference" and "dragon bowl". DDM encourages everyone to practice and experience the very simple yet often difficult Chan teaching of "wherever lies the body lies the mind; relaxing the whole body whilst fully aware of this relaxation", experiencing the subtle changes to the mind and the environment through this settled mind, and thereby increasing self-awareness, concentration, relieve pressure and therefore enjoy the peace and ease of the body and the mind.
On this joyous day, DDM especially invites the public to attend with mothers or older family members to transcribe scriptures for which the blessings can be shared with family and friends, hoping that through the precise execution of every stroke wholeheartedly and mindfully that the heart be filled with the purity and energy of happiness.
In conjunction with the celebration of the Buddha's Birthday, there is a session of the eight-form moving meditation, followed by the water-bowl-holding meditation leading to bathing the Buddha in the afternoon. Apart from strengthening participant goodwill, it is also an act of expressing our gratitude to all our mothers, the Buddha and mother earth whilst making vows for and dedicating the day's merits to the country and the whole world.