Category: Northern Light Zen Center Teachings

Dear Sangha,

The annual Kwan Um School of Zen | Americas (KUSZa) Town Hall meeting is an occasion for us as a Sangha to listen to one another, an opportunity for discussion on topics of practice and community in our local Zen Centers and in the wider Kwan Um School of Zen. During the Town Hall, every participant is given the space to speak from the heart, and all are invited to listen deeply to different perspectives and experiences.

Historically, the Town Hall meetings took place in-person at the Providence Zen Center during one of the sangha weekends. To broaden accessibility and participation, we are taking the Town Hall to Zoom. We will have two sessions in January, and we ask that you register for one of them.

• Saturday, January 11th @ 4:00pm PST/ 7:00pm EST 
• Monday, January 13th @ 12:00pm PST/3:00pm EST

Click here to register for a town hall.

The pandemic forever changed the way many of us engage with practice at our local Zen Centers and with the Kwan Um School of Zen. The virtual platform of Zoom allowed the possibility to continue practicing together during enforced isolation. Zoom also granted the unprecedented opportunity to practice with members who live at a far distance and even on different continents. What has been your experience?

Topics:

• How connected do you feel with your local Zen Center (if you have a local Zen Center)?
• Do you feel connected with any Zen Centers that are far from you physically?
• How connected do you feel with the wider Kwan Um School of Zen?
• What would help you feel more connected to your Zen Center and to the Kwan Um School of Zen?
• Are there any topics you would like to be discussed at the Town Hall?

We would like to make a special invitation to those who have not yet participated in wider Kwan Um School of Zen events. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet and hear from people from different parts of our school, in the past only possible with travel.

Whether you plan to attend the Town Hall or not, please take a moment to answer the KUSZa survey questions. Your feedback will help guide our discussion. Click here to share your thoughts. 

Thank you for your continued dedication to practice and for sharing your voice in this important discussion. Your presence and input will help shape the future of our community and our connection to one another, both locally and globally.

We look forward to seeing you at the Town Hall and hearing your thoughts.

In gratitude,

Kwan Um School of Zen | Americas

On the 11th of August we held a Precepts ceremony at Northern Light Zen Center! Jane Harter and Brian Meldrum were taking their 5 Precepts. The ceremony was followed by a Sangha Day Picnic. The weather that day was beautiful, sun shining, blue sky, and green grass. Wonderful!

Taking 5 Precepts is showing an intention to further one’s commitment to Buddhist practice. It joins you to a Sangha, in this case the Northern Light Zen Center of the Kwan Um School of Zen. The 5 Precepts are as follows;

1. I Vow to abstain from Taking Life.
2. I Vow to abstain from Taking Things not Given.
3. I Vow to abstain from False Speech.
4. I Vow to abstain from Misconduct done in Lust.
5. I Vowto abstain from Intoxicants taken to induce Heedlessness

Check out our Gallery below. Special Thanks to Tari Rowe for the wonderful photographs!

Hey, check it out! We won a ‘best of’ award. Not bad, eh? According to the Town of Topsham, “We are happy to announce that Northern Light Zen Center has been selected as the winner for 2022 Best of Topsham Awards in the category of Religious Organization.”

Come visit us and practice with us! We can share what it is that makes us special.

Our first class on “The Platform Sutra: Hui Neng, the Sixth Ancestor” with Zen Master Dae Kwan will go live tomorrow on Monday, March 7 at 7 PM Eastern. Please note that this is seven hours later than usual. See this event in your time zone Description:  Session One: The Platform Sutra begins with an autobiography of the Sixth Patriarch, who attained enlightenment after hearing just one line from the Diamond Sutra. In this first session, we’ll cover the Sixth Patriarch’s life and connect his teaching of “no-thinking,” “no form,” and “non-attachment” (4.5-4.8) in the Platform Sutra to Zen Master Seung Sahn’s teaching. We’ll then discuss the Sixth Patriarch’s conversation with a novice monk who mistook “non-attachment” as his “original-thing” (8.13-8.15).Preparation: Please read these sections on “no-thinking” as our teaching, “non-form” as our substance, and “non-attachment” as our fundamental principle: 4.5-4.8 (pp. 191-193) and 8.13-8.15. (pp. 246- 247)  Resources:   1. The Platform Sutra, translated by Zen Master Dae Kwang and Zen Master Dae Kwan (Download PDF here) About the teacher: Zen Master Dae Kwan, a Zen nun, was born in Hong Kong. She was previously called Hyang Um Sunim, and her Pali name is Suddhamma. In the 1970s she studied sutras for three years at the Kwok Kwong Buddhist College. In 1981, she ordained at Ajahn Chaa’s International Forest Monastery in Thailand, and she practiced in Chiangmai for ten years including two years of intensive solo retreat in Tu Boo Cave. In 1995, she received inka from Zen Master Seung Sahn. In April 2001 she received tranmission at Mu Sang Sah in Korea. She is now the abbot and guiding teacher of Su Bong Zen Monastery in Hong Kong. She has translated the following books into Chinese: “Dropping Ashes on Buddha,” “Only Don’t Know,” and “The Whole World is a Single Flower.”  If you are interested in attending please email northernlightzencenter@gmail.com for the zoom info, meeting id/passcode   If you have any questions for the session, please email them ahead of time to study@kwanumzen.org so we can make sure to address your question.In the dharma, Tam

Faith is a tricky word. For me, I have to bring Great Question to the word faith, because it’s not, traditionally in Western religion when we think of faith, like faith in God, faith in some supernatural thing, or experience outside of ourselves.

Faith in Buddhism has nothing to do with anything outside of ourselves. It does not necessarily have to do with something supernatural or esoteric. In a sense, it’s faith in our own true nature. It’s faith in a sense that if I can be willing to let go of that certainty. And if I am willing to have the courage to meet the moment, something authentic, real and natural can emerge. Something that I may not understand. Something that may look nothing like I may expect. But there’s a faith that if I just continue on, true nature will reveal itself. It’s already present in all things. In the sense, you can say it’s faith that using great question and great courage is enough. Not needing the certainty of an answer, but trusting the question.

By Zen Master Bon Soeng

This was orginally posted at Empty Gate Zen.

Forwarded to us from the Plymouth Zen Group/

Trying to find a Buddha or enlightenment is like trying to grab space. Space has a name but no form. It’s not something you can pick up or put down. And you certainly can’t grab it. Beyond this mind, you’ll never see a Buddha. The Buddha is a product of your mind. Why look for a Buddha beyond this mind?

To find a Buddha, you have to see your nature. Whoever sees his nature is a Buddha. If you don’t see your nature, invoking Buddhas, reciting sutras, making offerings, and keeping precepts are all useless. Invoking Buddhas results in good karma. Reciting sutras results in a good memory. Keeping precepts results in a good rebirth. And making offerings results in future blessings. But no Buddha.

– Bodhidharma’s Bloodstream Sermon, translated by Red Pine

The Heart Sutra has been chanted in Buddhist temples and monasteries worldwide for centuries and continues to this day. The clarity and simplicity of this teaching is that moment by moment, everything is changing, everything is impermanent.

This truth is self-evident throughout the entire universe, from large galaxies and solar systems to the smallest life forms that are barely visible under a microscope.

I have taken the liberty to further abbreviate this short, powerful treatise. The following is a concise, non-scriptural personal representation of this time-honored text. Ultra simplicity was my singular motivation.

“By quieting the mind, letting go of all obstructions and distractions, we realize that the five senses: hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, and smelling are empty of any permanent substance or value.

The same can be said of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness. All life situations, conditions, and experiences are characterized by this same emptiness. They do not appear or disappear, increase or decrease, are not tainted or pure.

Everyday life, as it manifests through our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind are no more than passing phenomena including old age and death, ignorance, suffering, origination, and cognition.

When not attached to the past, present, and future, we are free of stagnation, everything then flows effortlessly.

Without subjective views and judgments, all mental hindrances eventually subside. Living in peace, tranquility, and equanimity is then possible.”

Ji Haeng – The Desert Dragon

Postscript: The sixth ancestor Hui Neng commented “not adding any thoughts of good or bad to what we perceive externally, and not being moved around by thoughts and emotions appearing within.”

My teacher, Zen Master Seung Sahn, often said “No meaning is great meaning.” Allowing thoughts to come and go effortlessly you become internally quiet and in that quietness this place of clarity reveals itself.

I “borrowed” this from the Zen Center of Las Vegas. It is a teaching of Zen Master Ji Haeng and I liked it for its simplicity. You can find the original and many others if you follow this link. https://zenlasvegas.com/12-the-essence-of-the-heart-sutra/