當下一念 Daphne Chang
那牽腸掛肚的，永遠是世間裡的事；那最不能原諒的，永遠是自己情感上的牽扯，人生裡，好像常常忘記自己是在演一齣戲，演的太認真太投入了，就忘了要下台。
禪修或許就是一種短暫的中場換幕的休息時間，我們常常演得忘我，越走越遠，而習禪，卻讓一切在當下停止。
那天，在法鼓山的一日禪修裡，脫去俗務的戲服就是和自己在一起，中午，手捧著一碗飯端坐在禪堂中，突然領悟到人生要得不多，手掌裡捧著的一碗飯竟是我當日最大的感動！
我並不需要認識你，我也不需要知道你的故事，我唯一知道的是，在這個禪堂裡你就是我，我就是你，我心裡的感動也是你的，你心裡的掙扎也是我的，我們沒有過去，也不會遇見未來，唯一的，就是這當下的一念！
Sharing David John Burrowes
I had the pleasure of attending a one day Chan meditation retreat on the 15th of January, 2012. I believe this was the first Chan sitting I’ve done with Dharma Drum Mountain in the US.
I’d had a tumultuous time the day before, and I think this made me much less able to focus than I would have liked. Yet, in some ways, this was a blessing for me, for I got to spend a lot of time seeing the impact that the tumult had been having on me. It’s pointlessness was made all the more apparent. So, I feel like the retreat brought a lot of benefit for me, though not in the way I necessarily would have expected.
Though the instruction was in Chinese, and I could mostly follow along, I was also happy with how willingly people, most particularly Warren, were to help me bridge the gaps in my understanding of the things the instructor had to say.
For those that haven’t done either a Chinese-style meditation retreat, or a Dharma Drum Mountain retreat, I’ll offer a couple thoughts on the practice and organization. I’ve been impressed by Master Sheng-Yen ever since I saw him standing at the top of a tall building in a advertisement-like poster in the subway in Taiwan. “How strange,” I thought, “why is there an advertisement with a monk on it here?” Someone explained the couplet in the poster to me, and I realized that this was urging people not to commit suicide.
“Wow” I exclaimed to myself, “now that is what a monk should be doing. Helping people make wise decisions about crucial things. That’s much more practical than urging folks to read sutras or the like.” (much as I like reading sutras). What I’ve read by Master Sheng-Yen since that time has only impressed me more. Practical, but keeping focused on what’s important. One of the interesting things I’ve found with Dharma Drum Mountain meditation groups is that there’s much more of an emphasis on attending to the body. By this, I mean that there are practices of stretches, patting the muscles, etc which I’ve not encountered in other traditions. It sounds like a small thing, but I think keeping the body fit compliments the actual meditation practice very nicely. I’d like to think it actually improves the ability to meditate well.
During this retreat, we seemed to sit in short/medium-length sessions of 30-40minutes each, with breaks between to stretch, pat the muscles. There were also a couple walking meditation sessions, and a silent lunch break (with excellent food!) at the mid-day.
Circling back to what I got out of the retreat, or just how it produced some small increment of change within myself, I found it interesting that during the subsequent week at work I did a much better job of not imposing unneeded stresses on myself. I think watching the pointlessness (and active harmfulness) of the stresses I was feeling during the retreat helped me put the way I treat myself in greater perspective during the week.
I hope I’ll get other opportunities to interact with the good people at Dharma Drum Mountain in the time ahead!