Meeting Tomorrow

Hey Everyone,

There is a meeting tomorrow, Tues Feb. 16th, of the Mason Buddhist Association. We are meeting at 8pm in Hanover Hall. It is in the Commons Housing area located behind Southside.

With Palms Raised,

Mason Buddhist Association

No Meeting This Week

Hey Everyone,

Just letting you all know that because of the snow, we are once again NOT meeting this week. More information about the retreat will be coming soon.

Below I posted half of a poem by Wang Ming, a Chinese master from the 6th century. Please take a look at your leisure. I can post the second part in next weeks email and maybe we can talk about it or read it again at the meeting. I am looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Stay warm.

With Palms Raised,

Mason Buddhist Association

Too much knowledge leads to overactivity;
Better to calm the mind
The more you consider, the greater the loss;
Better to unify the mind'

'Excessive thinking weakens the will
The more you know, the more your mind is confused
A confused mind gives way to vexation
The weakened will obstructs the Tao.'
Don't say there is no harm in this;
the ensuing pain may last for ever.
Don't think there is nothing to fear;
the calamities churn like bubbles in a boiling pot.
Water dripping ceaselessly
will fill the four seas.
Specks of dust not wiped away
will become the five mountains.
Protect the branches to save the roots;
though a small matter it is not trivial
Close the seven orifices,
shut off the six senses.

Pay no heed to forms;
Do not listen to sound
listening to sounds you become deaf,
You become blind observing forms.

Literature and art
Are but busy gnats in the air;
Technique and ability
A solitary lamp in the sun.

Those able and talented ones
Are really stupid fellows.
Discarding the pure and simple
They drown in too much beauty.

TBC in Next Weeks email=)

If you want to read the rest, it is available on Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=dgiy0VoAWeMC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=calming+the+mind+wang+ming&source=bl&ots=BV6ljuxprW&sig=TAJgzR-G3n6vxeejfwTbg5UmxKA&hl=en&ei=QOdxS5yPEs7R8Qab3fGtCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=calming%20the%20mind%20wang%20ming&f=fals

Meeting Canceled

Sorry for not updating the blog but please note:

Hello Everyone,

Due to the snow, the meeting tonight has been canceled. Mason is also closing at 7pm so everyone get home safe. We will be meeting again next week on Tuesday at 8pm.

Since we are not meeting maybe try this:

"TRY: Recognizing the bloom of the present moment in your daily meditation practice if you have one. If you are up early in the morning, try going outside and looking (a sustained, mindful, attentive looking) at the stars, at the moon, at the dawning light when it comes. Feel the air, the cold, the warmth (a sustained, mindful, attentive feeling). Realize that the world around you is sleeping. Remember when you see the stars that you are looking back in time millions of years. The past is present now and here.

Then go sit or meditate lying down. Let this or any time you practice be your time for letting go of all doing, for shifting into the being mode, in which you simply dwell in stillness and mindfulness, attending to the moment-to-moment unfolding of the present, adding nothing, subtracting nothing, affirming that 'This is it'."

Taken from the book "Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life" by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Most of the book is available on google books. Enjoy!

With Palms Raised,
Mason Buddhist Association