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Category Archives: Zen Thoughts

The Inexhaustible Lamp

I was recently going through books in my office and discovered “The Vimalakirti Sutra.” Vimalakirti, according to legend, was a lay person of some wealth who resided in the city Vaishali in northern India. He had great wisdom and understanding of the Buddha’s teachings and lived his life according to those principles. This sutra is a little humorous in that Vimalakirti appears to be ill so that the officials of the region would come to visit him and he could talk to them about Buddhism. Buddha heard about this and was trying to get his disciples and the bodhisattvas to go, but one by one they all refused because Vimalakirti had sort of put them in their place at one time or another. In one part of the sutra, Buddhas asked the bodhisattva, Upholder of the Age, to go see Vimalakirti , but Upholder of the Age also refused to go and told the Buddha a story about a devil coming to see Vimalakirtki with thousands of “heavenly women” and the devil offered them to Vimalakirti. Vimalakirti accepted the women, taught them the Buddhist teachings until they were all enlightened and then asked them to go back to the devils palace.

And what Vimalakirti said to these women really struck me. “Sisters,” he said, “there is a teaching call the Inexhaustible Lamp. You must study it. This Inexhaustible Lamp is like a single lamp that lights a hundred or a thousand other lamps, till the darkness is all made bright with a brightness that never ends. In this same way, sisters, one bodhisattva guides and opens a path for a hundred or a thousand living beings, causing them to set their minds on attaining enlightenment. And this desire for the Way will be never be extinguished. By following the teaching as it has been preached, one keeps adding until one has acquired all good teachings. This is what is called the Inexhaustible Lamp.”

In this time of great sorrow and anger remembering the first of the 4 Great Vows, “Sentient beings are numberless; we vow to save them all” is taking on the vow of the Inexhaustible Lamp – each of us living our lives in such a way that we can light the lamp of compassion in our selves and in others.

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Waiting for the Hit of the Chugpi

Most of the zen centers (if not all) in the Kwan Um School of Zen have shut their doors temporarily to maintain social distancing in response to the pandemic.  It’s been gratifying to see how sanghas have begun ways to reach out in virtual community to practice together.  Now we can live stream on YouTube,… Continue Reading

Basic Forms We Follow

In our zen practice we have basic forms we follow. We bow when we enter the dharma room and before we sit down. We bow 108 times in the morning. We chant mantras and dharanis and sutras. We do seated meditation with our hands in a certain form. When we do walking meditation there is… Continue Reading

Dwelling nowhere, let that mind come forth

Where are you dwelling right now?  No – not just your house, but in your head.  Where are you?  We dwell many places during the day.  Today I was dwelling with my grandson and worrying about him.  At meditation tonight, I was dwelling in “What am I going to say when meditation is over?”  So… Continue Reading

Saying Yes

My sister is a wise woman.  She always is working on herself and although she has a different religious tradition than my own, I always value her spiritual work and advice.  A couple of years ago she made a resolution to say “yes” to whatever invitations came her way.  She had kept to herself quite… Continue Reading

Getting Something

The practice of Zen meditation is multi-faceted and actually not easy to put into words. Each person must find their way in this practice on their own. Simply put, this practice places our lives in the very forefront of humaness – of being fully alive right here, right now. Zen Master Seung Sahn says that… Continue Reading

Sangha

Zen Master Seung Sahn taught that this “don’t know” mind is the same for everyone. When one is not thinking than your don’t know mind and my don’t know mind and the don’t know mind of all things in the universe are the same. I read a quote the other day – “I am like… Continue Reading

Prairyerth Zen Center

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Practice is held at:
First Congregational Church
1701 SW Collins
Topeka, KS 66604 Map