In recent years the practice of meditation has spread from the East to all parts of the West, and expanded from being confined to the cloistered halls of the monastery to the lay community. Meditation allows us to make our busy lives tranquil and refreshed. For people living in today’s hectic society, being able to sit in meditation a few minutes each day and occasionally participate in meditation retreats at a Buddhist temple can help to find the energy to keep moving forward.
Some Buddhists trace the origins of the Chan School, the Buddhist meditation school, to the assembly on Vulture Peak when the Buddha held a flower aloft and his disciple, Mahakasyapa, smiled. Though this event shows the transmission of the wordless teachings of Chan to Mahakasyapa, the Buddha did not only give the gift of Chan to him, but to each and every living being. Chan is not some mysterious and obscure phenomenon, nor is it unique to Buddhism. The human world is filled with the subtleties of Chan, and there is nothing in nature that does not reflect its wondrousness.
Meditation is a light for all humanity. It can connect each of us to one another and the outside world. Meditating is social and humanistic, with each Chan practitioner connected through transmission of the teachings with every other. Throughout the history of the Chan School there are thousands of stories of people and their transmission of the Dharma.
Modern life is complex and disordered; we need the power of meditative concentration to calm our restless minds and bodies. The wave of industrialization that has swept across the globe since the twentieth century has quickened the pace of life, and increased production has stimulated people’s desire for enjoyment. With technology people are now frenetically engaged in making a living all the time and have forgotten to stop for awhile and look at themselves. The competitiveness of life has made the sense of alienation between people more and more severe; and excessive sensual enjoyment has anesthetized the spirit. The words “nothingness” and “loss” are now commonplace in our modern era. Meditation is truly the best medicine to mend the abuses of our times.
Some Buddhists trace the origins of the Chan School, the Buddhist meditation school, to the assembly on Vulture Peak when the Buddha held a flower aloft and his disciple, Mahakasyapa, smiled. Though this event shows the transmission of the wordless teachings of Chan to Mahakasyapa, the Buddha did not only give the gift of Chan to him, but to each and every living being. Chan is not some mysterious and obscure phenomenon, nor is it unique to Buddhism. The human world is filled with the subtleties of Chan, and there is nothing in nature that does not reflect its wondrousness.
Meditation is a light for all humanity. It can connect each of us to one another and the outside world. Meditating is social and humanistic, with each Chan practitioner connected through transmission of the teachings with every other. Throughout the history of the Chan School there are thousands of stories of people and their transmission of the Dharma.
Modern life is complex and disordered; we need the power of meditative concentration to calm our restless minds and bodies. The wave of industrialization that has swept across the globe since the twentieth century has quickened the pace of life, and increased production has stimulated people’s desire for enjoyment. With technology people are now frenetically engaged in making a living all the time and have forgotten to stop for awhile and look at themselves. The competitiveness of life has made the sense of alienation between people more and more severe; and excessive sensual enjoyment has anesthetized the spirit. The words “nothingness” and “loss” are now commonplace in our modern era. Meditation is truly the best medicine to mend the abuses of our times.
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