Gratefully Bathing the Buddha and Practicing Living Chan, DDM Hopes Mother’s Day Becomes Spiritual Environment-Protecting Day
Through sharing the gratitude in bathing the Buddha and practicing simple but relaxing Chan in the hope of making Mother’s Day the Spiritual Environment-Protecting Day, DDM launched a Chan event themed “Protecting the Spiritual Environment - Stop, Relax, Enjoy” at the plaza of the National Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall (S.Y.S. Memorial Hall) on 11AM, 10th May, 2015 when Taipei mayor, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲); the commissioner of City Affairs Department, Lan Shi-cong (藍世聰); the director-general of S.Y.S. Memorial Hall, Wang Fu-lin (王福林); the general program coordinator in promoting Eight-Form Moving Meditation, Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄); the SRE family representative, Lin Wu-xiong (林武雄), and guests from all sectors were present along with Abbot President of DDM, Ven. Guo Dong; President of Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, Ven. Hui Min, and thousands of attendees. In gratitude of thinking of its source when drinking water, they’d practiced water-bowl-holding meditation leading to bathing the Buddha as an act of expressing gratitude to all mothers, the Buddha and mother earth whilst making vows for and dedicating the day's merits to the country and the whole world.
“Because today is Mother’s Day as well as Buddha’s Birthday, it should be regarded as double gratitude,” said Ven. Guo Dong in the very beginning when expressing congratulations of “Happy Mother’s Day” to every mother on the spot, and showing gratitude to the Buddha for instructing sentient beings methods to cease sufferings, he continued explaining, “For Buddha found the root of sufferings of sentient beings is actually self-center, DDM proposes ‘Protecting the Spiritual Environment –StopRelaxEnjoy’ slogan in this year in the hope that the general public may take gap between each other away through Chan, and draw out clarity, relaxation, calmness within, so they can transform sufferings into peace, health and happiness.”
“In the midst of my numerous official business, I gain much calmness and tranquility from Ven. Master Sheng-yen’s teaching, aka ‘When faced with any difficulty of life, resolve it by following these four steps: face it, accept it, deal with it, and then let it go.’” mayor Ko said when encouraging the public with this useful Dharma motto, followed by bathing the Buddha, transcribe scriptures and experiencing dragon basin at Emerald Pond. In addition, he successfully used a pair of iron chopsticks to deliver a green bean to a designated place in relaxed but focused physical and mental status, too. On the spot, apart from eight-form moving meditation, the living Chan area covered 9 other activities, inclusive of striking the miniature Lotus Bell (from “Lotus” Sutra), stacking screw nuts to form the Taipei 101 Tower, "spotting the difference", etc.
Additionally, this Mother’s Day, a little boy, Chen, who is studying in an elementary school, invited his family for experiencing Living Chan under the guidance of DDM’s Dharma teachers. Trying to experience ease and comfort in every move, they’d played clamping beans with chopsticks, object guessing solely through touch, object guessing through drawings, "number guessing", and other Chan games in an easy mood. His mother said, “Without pursuing what everybody purses, without comparing what everybody compares, our mind naturally returns to relaxation, and we do have much fun in playing these games, which makes our family more harmonious. I’ll expect to have another pleasant and unforgettable Mother’s Day like this one in the upcoming years.”
The SRE family rep, Lin Wu-xiong, who has practiced Chan since 1990 and deeply knows its power to settle our body and mind down, not only offers his house for group practice, but also leads his whole family to practice Eight-Form Moving Mediation or to participate in group practice periodically. Today, his family of thirteen were present there to experience living Chan by taking part in moving meditation, scripture transcription and beans delivery game as well. His daughter, Lin Chun-ru (林純如), said, “To relax may sound easy, but to practice that is another thing. The SRE activity DDM proposes in this year is a very good reminder in my life. For example, when I disciplined my children in the past, my mood would easily get angry, but now, I’ll stop midway to take a deep breath prior to communicating with my children. While my body and mind become stable, all my tempers disappear. Our relationship becomes closer, too.”
A German couple, Steven and Lina, who came here for visiting and ran into living Chan activities DDM organized, showed their happiness. As they were following Dharma teacher’s guidance in Moving Meditation, they felt relaxed in their whole body, and were surprised at hearing no external noise at the moment though noisy sounds came back again subsequently. The feeling was obvious. Then, the couple tried dragon basin. Linda felt especially joyful to experience such unique oriental culture, saying, “How amazing it was that the basin could produce splashing sprays by just rubbing the basin’s both ears.”
Preparing a gift by transcribing a sutra for our mothers in person is the most touching act. Along the corridor of S.Y.S. Memorial Hall lay scripture transcription area, where the public were encouraged to transcribe Life-Extending Ten-Line Kannon Sutra《延命十句觀音經》before inserting it inside a omamori (a kind of Japanese amulet) tied up with a blessing card of DDM’s “Great Light” slogan, which could be the most sincere gift for Mother’s Day. For that reason, a tour guide from Northeast China respectfully demanded to have three copies of Kannon Sutra for his mother, mother-in-law and himself. The blessing power conveyed via transcribing scripture helped form the tranquil, calm ambiance at S.Y.S. Memorial Hall, crowded with visitors on that day. DDM hopes Mother’s Day can become the warm and happy Spiritual Environment-Protecting Day, as the most caring gift for all parents in the world.
(Translated by Navi Chen/ Edited by Tom Hsieh)