2009 September Dharma School Announcement

2009 September Announcements Dae Yen Sa International Buddhist Temple and Meditation Center The Dharma School Series Greetings to all Sangha members and extended friends. At our last meeting we had many good ideas as to topics that we might cover together in future. We will continue to remain mindful of these offerings to see how we might implement some and also continue our thoughts here. For the time being it seems beneficial to open a study on buddhist fundamentals. To facilitate our study we will be using a very good e-learning tool from buddhanet.net (http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/index.htm). Each week you will receive an email, like this, providing a topic and short summary of the teaching. Please refer to the links posted in these emails and print out these pages for your study and reference. We will make available 3 ring binders for easy organization as we continue our study together. Also to be clear, we will be continuing our format of Meditation, Dharma Talk and Sharing, Tea and Chanting. Namu, Eduardo Chanting/Meditation 7 pm-7:30 pm Dae Yen Sa Dharma School/Tea 7:30 pm -8:30 pm We welcome individuals of all paths and understandings to participate in weekly gathering consisting of meditation, meditative reading and review along with group reflection on Buddhist principles and practices or Dharma. Reqirement - open minds and open hearts. Study Topic for Wednesday 9/2/09: ---- FOUR NOBLE TRUTHSThe Four Noble Truths represent the very first sermon of the Buddha after he attained enlightenment. Paradoxically these fundamental teachings are simple and at the same time profound. They are teachings on both theory and practice. They are teachings on Suffering, the Cause of Suffering, The End to Suffering, and the Way to End Suffering. Please print, "Buddhist teachings and practice paths"(http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/pathmaps.htm)This is a wonderful synopsis, in list form, to which we can refer. For our study of the Four Noble Truths we will be accessing the home page(http://www.buddhanet.net/fundbud.htm) - may want to bookmarkand then click and print the link "Four Noble Truths 1"(http://www.buddhanet.net/fundbud4.htm). Please read these commentaries and bring your insights, reflections and questions to Sangha. It will be good to be with you again. As always the Temple and Sangha is open to all who come seeking freedom from greed, anger and ignorance through wisdom and peace.Consider inviting a "Buddha Buddy" to join you! Donations support operating expenses and programs of Dae Yen Sa International Buddhist Temple. Thank you and Namu. Little Chant: Shine in Life and Health for Yourself and Others OM A-MOGA BA EE-RO CHA-NA MA-HA MUH-DE-RA MA-NI PA-DUH-MA ZUH-BARA PURA BA-UL TA-YA HUM 19 Kinsey Road New Hartford, CT 06057 Telephone: (860) 489-3254 Cell: (860) 459-6255 Fax: (860) 489-5760 Love, light and peace! Donations greatly appreciated!

2009 August Temple Announcements

Dae Yen Sa International Buddhist Temple and Meditation Center 19 Kinsey Road, New Hartford, CT 06057 860-459-6255 Wednesday Temple Regular Schedule: 7:00-7:30 PM Chanting, Meditation, Tea 7:30-8:30 PM Dae Yen Sa Dharma School We welcome individuals of all paths and understandings to participate in weekly gathering consisting of meditation, meditative reading and review along with group reflection on Buddhist principles and practices or Dharma. Reqirement - open minds and open hearts! Study Topic for Wednesday 8/26/09: Chapter 10 - Dedication (Whole Chapter) Way of the Bodhisattva by 8th Century Master, Shantideva. This well-known and loved text focuses on the cultivation and enhancement of Bodhicitta-a quality of completely open, or completely awakened heart and mind. Have you ever received a gift or a gesture of kindness from another that you felt you could never repay? Sometimes this is called grace. How do we receive such gifts of immense generosity and loving-kindness? Of course, the first thing to do is to acknowledge the gift with a “thank you” or a hug or some other expression of gratitude that recognizes our brother’s or sister’s thoughtfulness. In chapter 10 Shantideva goes even further. His thanksgiving for the supreme teaching of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will be his entire self. He knows the only to “repay” the enlightened ones for all their wisdom and love is to be this same wisdom and love for others. Our Sangha has been meditating, praying and practicing these past few months on the wisdom of Buddhist Master Shantideva. Let us gather with this final chapter, in deep gratitude for the sacrifices the Buddhas of all times have made for our well being, even now at this very moment - and let us honor their efforts, and our own, by continuing our practice of mindfulness, helping to free all from the cycle of suffering. Namu. And now as space endures, As long as there are beings to be found, May I continue likewise to remain, To drive away the sorrows of the world. WOB,chapter 10,verse 55. Saturday Temple Regular Schedule: 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM Yoga 10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Tea Break 10:20 AM to 11:00 AM Silent Meditation 11:00 AM to 11:10 AM Walking Meditation 11:10 AM to 11:30 AM Chanting 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Korean Vegetarian Lunch One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?""No", answered Buddha. "Then are you a healer?""No", Buddha replied. "Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted. "No, I am not a teacher.""Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated. "I am awake", Buddha replied. Join DAE YEN SA on Facebook! Donations are always appreciated

2009 August Announcements

Dae Yen Sa

International Buddhist Temple

and Meditation Center

19 Kinsey Road, New Hartford, CT 06057

Telephone: (860) 489-3254

Cell: (860) 459-6255

Fax: (860) 489-5760

Wednesday Temple Regular Schedule:

7:00-7:30 PM Chanting, Meditation, Tea

7:30-8:30 PM Dae Yen Sa Dharma School

We welcome individuals of all paths and understandings to participate in weekly gatherings consisting of meditation, meditative reading and review along with group reflection on Buddhist principles and practices or Dharma. The only reqirement for the class is an open mind and open heart!

Study Topic for Wednesday 8/19/09:

Chapter 9 - Wisdom

Way of the Bodhisattva by 8th Century Master, Shantideva (This well-known and loved text focuses on the cultivation and enhancement of Bodhicitta-a quality of completely open, or completely awakened heart and mind.)

First, the topic of Wisdom that Shantideva is revealing in this chapter is that of Emptiness, or Shunyata in Tibetan. Emptiness is the essential teaching found in the Heart Sutra, expounded by the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, (Kwan Seum Posal in Korean). We are familiar with this sutra that says, "emptiness is form and form is emptiness", but what exactly does this mean? It is important to begin the study with a reflection on the Two Truths; the Relative and the Ultimate, or also described as, the rational and suprarational. In Buddhist thought Relative Truth represents the nature of things as they seem to appear, arising from conception, theories and rational thought, etc. Ultimate Truth arises from an understanding of phenomena as it truly is - beyond conceptual identification and thought. Paradoxically, to cultivate bodhicitta is to meditate on these two truths in order to transcend both.

This is the core of Bodhicitta. What do you think of Emptiness?

Relative and Ultimate,
These two truths are declared to be.
The Ultimate is not within reach of intellect,
for intellect is said to be Relative.WOB,chapter 9,verse 2

and

When something and its nonexistence
Both are absent from before the mind,
No other option does the latter have:
It comes to perfect rest from objects free.

WOB,chapter 9,verse 34

---

Saturday Temple Regular Schedule:

9:00 AM to 10:00 AM Yoga

10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Tea Break

10:20 AM to 11:00 AM Silent Meditation

11:00 AM to 11:10 AM Walking Meditation

11:10 AM to 11:30 AM Chanting

11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Korean Vegetarian Lunch

---

Visit the temple to see many examples of Korean spiritual art!

Join DAE YEN SA on Facebook!
Donations are always appreciated.

2009 August Announcements

Dae Yen Sa International Buddhist Temple and Meditation Center 19 Kinsey Road, New Hartford, CT 06057 860-459-6255 Wednesday Temple Regular Schedule: 7:00-7:30 PM Chanting, Meditation, Tea 7:30-8:30 PM Dae Yen Sa Dharma School We welcome individuals of all paths and understandings to participate in weekly gathering consisting of meditation, meditative reading and review along with group reflection on Buddhist principles and practices or Dharma. Reqirement - open minds and open hearts! Study Topic for Wednesday 8/12/09: Chapter 8 - Meditative Concentration (Verses 140-end chapter) Way of the Bodhisattva by 8th Century Master, Shantideva (This well-known and loved text focuses on the cultivation and enhancement of Bodhicitta-a quality of completely open, or completely awakened heart and mind.) Do you remember the last time you compared yourself to another? What did you feel? Did you envy their good qualities? Or maybe resent their lifestyle? Or maybe you felt a sense of inadequacy or a feeling of "less than"? Ever notice how our mind, in it's desperate attempt to maintain control and comfort, spins fantastic story lines based on perceptions of reality, rather than truth? Left unchecked, this ego mind can not only ruin meditative concentration, but can cause terrible and unnecessary misunderstandings and in some cases terrible violence. Some people dedicate their whole lives, in a spirit of self-righteous anger and retribution, trying to ruin the lives of others. But as practioners on the Bodhisattva Way, both Buddha and Shantideva urge us to dedicate ourselves to improving our life and the lives of others through conscious awareness, understanding and loving kindness. Isn't it a true blessing that we have Buddha potentiality already within us? Isn't it a gift to be able to ponder Dharma Wisdom so present to us in these readings. And isn't it a grace to be able to grow together in Sangha? Thus to banish all obscuring veils I'll bend my mind from the mistaken path; And constantly upon the perfect object I shall rest my mind in even meditation. WOB CH8,V.187 May we press our palms together in gratitude. Namu. Saturday Temple Regular Schedule: 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM Yoga 10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Tea Break 10:20 AM to 11:00 AM Silent Meditation 11:00 AM to 11:10 AM Walking Meditation 11:10 AM to 11:30 AM Chanting 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Korean Vegetarian Lunch True nature is always elusive, Only the heart of no-heart can grasp-it. Up in the mountain, the burning jade stays brilliant. And in the roaring furnace, lotus blossoms keep their fragrance. ---Ngo An, Korea, (circa 1090) Mind Moon Circle Quarterly, Summer 1984, pp.7 Join DAE YEN SA on Facebook! Donations are always appreciated

2009 August Announcements

Dae Yen Sa International Buddhist Temple and Meditation Center 19 Kinsey Road, New Hartford, CT 06057 860-459-6255 Wednesday Temple Regular Schedule: 7:00-7:30 PM Chanting, Meditation, Tea 7:30-8:30 PM Dae Yen Sa Dharma School We welcome individuals of all paths and understandings to participate in weekly gathering consisting of meditation, meditative reading and review along with group reflection on Buddhist principles and practices or Dharma. Reqirement - open minds and open hearts! Study Topic for Wednesday 8/5/09: Chapter 8 - Meditative Concentration (verses 72-139) Way of the Bodhisattva by 8th Century Master, Shantideva (This well-known and loved text focuses on the cultivation and enhancement of Bodhicitta-a quality of completely open, or completely awakened heart and mind.) Chapter 8 Meditative Concentration In this next section Shantideva continues focusing our attention on how craving and attachment can keep us distracted from the one-pointed practice of bodhicitta. In one verse he illustrates how we can get caught up in chasing property and goods, he says in v. 79, “The pain of gaining, keeping and of losing all! See the endless hardships brought on us by property…” Have you ever found yourself straining to gain something, then to keep it, and still then to keep from losing it — maybe a home, a job, a relationship, a hope, a dream, or even enlightenment itself? All these things are part of life, but if we are grasping, spinning and suffering for them how does this bring freedom and peace to our lives and to the lives of those around us? We’re once again reminded that our concentrated effort in seeing clearly is chiefly for the benefit of others – the way of the Bodhisattva All the joy the world contains Has come through wishing happiness for others. All the misery the world contains Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself. WOB,chapter 8,verse 129 Saturday Temple Regular Schedule: 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM Yoga 10:00 AM to 10:20 AM Tea Break 10:20 AM to 11:00 AM Silent Meditation 11:00 AM to 11:10 AM Walking Meditation 11:10 AM to 11:30 AM Chanting 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Korean Vegetarian Lunch Special Announcement! "A Night of Tibet" Wednesday, August 5, 2009 7PM to 10PM. A special presentation featuring a Screening of the film "Tibet's Cry for Freedom" by Australian filmmaker Lara Daniani. Including a talk by film-maker Lara Damiani and Tenzen Choegyal's Mystical Tibet Concert. Tenzen Choegyal is the australian based Tibetal singer and musician whose voice has been described as "Heaven on Earth" in an engaging and charismatic performer! Litchfield Community Center, 421 Bantam Road, Litchfield, CT. $15 Waged, $10 Unwaged For more information call Lara at (917)545-5531 or the Litchfield Community Center (860)567-8302. A Tea Prayer "This cup of tea in my two hands, Mindfulness is held uprightly. My mind and body dwell In the very here and now. "The entire universe came together To bring us this tea. May we be worthy to drink it. Namu A note from Edwardo thanks to Lorein. Join DAE YEN SA on Facebook! Donations are always appreciated