Join the BoWZ-Westchester Sangha via Zoom at 10:00 Eastern every Saturday morning:
https://zoom.us/j/2898507899
Audio Only: telephone 646-876-9923 & Enter Meeting ID: 289 850 7899
Home Practice
- Light a candle or stick of incense, or both
- Three bows to Buddha
- Opening: Gatha of Atonement or the Three Refuges; Dedication; Opening Verse (use Sutra Book and audio below)
- Zazen (15-30 mins)
- Sutra Service Readings (use Sutra Book and audio below)
- Dharma Study (book or podcast, 15-30 mins)
- Closing: Closing Verse; Four Bodhisattva Vows or Save All the Beings (use Sutra Book and audio below)
Odd Days: Jun 9, 11, 13
Opening: Gatha of Atonement, p. 1; Dedication 1, p. 1; The Flame of Practice, p. 3.
Audio player below or CLICK HERE.
Even Days: Jun 8, 10, 12, 14
Opening: The Three Refuges, p. 1; Dedication 1, p. 1; The Flame of Practice, p. 3.
Audio player below or CLICK HERE.
All Days
Zazen (15-30 mins)
Sutra Service Readings 12.A.: The Essence of Atonement, p. 30; Sharing of Blessings, p. 30, Dahui's Dim and Dull, p. 31, Taego's Days Like Lightning, p. 31.
Audio player below or CLICK HERE.
Dharma Study (book or podcast, 15-30 mins)
Closing: The Necessity of Great Doubt, p. 36; The Four Bodhisattva Vows, p. 38.
Audio player below or CLICK HERE.
This Week's Reading for Sat Jun 6
- Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, "Beyond Consciousness." Reading Schedule HERE. NEXT BOOK (starts in July): Taizan Maezumi, Appreciate Your Life. Order a copy now.
- #126: Watch Out! ☙ Raven Index.
This Week's Practice: Tonglen.
Adapted from Pema Chodron, "How to Practice Tonglen," Lion's Roar.
Tonglen practice, also known as “taking and sending,” reverses our usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure. In tonglen practice, we visualize taking in the pain of others with every in-breath and sending out whatever will benefit them on the out-breath. In the process, we become liberated from age-old patterns of selfishness. We begin to feel love for both ourselves and others; we begin to take care of ourselves and others.
Tonglen can be done for those who are ill, those who are dying or have died, or those who are in pain of any kind. It can be done as a formal meditation practice or right on the spot at any time. If we are out walking and we see someone in pain, we can breathe in that person’s pain and send out relief to them.
Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us. Use what seems like poison as medicine.
We can also do tonglen for all the people just like ourselves — all those who wish to be compassionate but instead are afraid, who wish to be brave but instead are cowardly. We can use our personal stuckness as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against all over the world. Breathe in for all of us and breathe out for all of us.
When you do tonglen as a formal meditation practice, it has four stages:
1. Flash on Bodhichitta. Rest your mind for a second or two in a state of openness or stillness. This stage is traditionally called flashing on absolute bodhichitta, awakened heart-mind, or opening to basic spaciousness and clarity.
2. Begin the Visualization. Work with texture. Breathe in feelings of heat, darkness, and heaviness — a sense of claustrophobia — and breathe out feelings of coolness, brightness, and light—a sense of freshness. Breathe in completely, taking in negative energy through all the pores of your body. When you breathe out, radiate positive energy completely, through all the pores of your body. Do this until your visualization is synchronized with your in- and out-breaths.
3. Focus on a Personal Situation. Focus on any painful situation that’s real to you. Traditionally you begin by doing tonglen for someone you care about and wish to help. However, if you are stuck, you can do the practice for the pain you are feeling yourself, and simultaneously for all those who feel the same kind of suffering. For instance, if you are feeling inadequate, breathe that in for yourself and all the others in the same boat and send out confidence, adequacy, and relief in any form you wish.
4. Expand Your Compassion. Finally, make the taking in and sending out bigger. If you are doing tonglen for someone you love, extend it out to all those who are in the same situation. If you are doing tonglen for someone you see on television or on the street, do it for all the others in the same boat. Make it bigger than just that one person. You can do tonglen for people you consider to be your enemies—those who hurt you or hurt others. Do tonglen for them, thinking of them as having the same confusion and stuckness as your friend or yourself. Breathe in their pain and send them relief.
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