
Chinese Dragon Heads (preparations for TET)
Deer Park, Day Thirteen
(written on Thursday January 23rd)
7:00pm.
We had our weekly Thursday community day of mindfulness today. Around 20 or 30 friends attended I would guess. During meditation this morning there was a cricket that began chirping 20 or 30 minutes into our sitting. He was inside of the large hall. When I heard his call I smiled, it was a bell of mindfulness bringing me back to my in breath and out breath. Then I felt badly for the poor trapped cricket. I felt that he might be confused, scared, and lonely. I hoped that he would be able to find his way back outside and be able to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. I hoped that, once outside, his lovely chirping sound would unite him with his friends.
At 9:00am the day of mindfulness starts, both on Thursday and Sunday. On Thursdays we start by listening to a dharma talk. Today we watched a video of Thay giving a talk from January 9th, 2014. Here are some notes I wrote down:
What is the dharma body? There is the physical body and the dharma body. The physical body can be destroyed, the dharma body cannot. The teaching body = the dharma body. There is the living dharma and the dharma that has been recorded or spoken. When we walk with peace and joy that is the living dharma. We practice so our dharma body shines brightly. Everything around is giving a dharma talk – on impermanence, non-self, and interbeing. The dharma body is the beauty of the whole universe.
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