Buddhism, Blue Cliff Record, Meditation, Koan

1. Buddhist Association of Canada Cham Shan Temple 加拿大佛教會 湛山精舍 禪修學佛入門 Introduction to Buddhism and Meditation 2011/05/07

2. Buddhist Association of Canada Cham Shan Temple ná mó fó tuó 南 無 佛 陀 Namo Buddha ná mó dá mó 南 無 達 摩 Namo Dharma ná mó sēng qié 南 無 僧 伽 Namo Sangha

3. Basic Terms 5 aggregates (skandhas) 4 elements 6 sense organs, 6 sense objects, 6 sense consciousness 12 links of causation (nidāna) 4 noble truths and 8 fold path 6 paramitas 4 persuasions 3 / 5 vehicles 10 realms

4. Basic Terms 10 Chinese schools Life story of the Buddha Buddhist History in India Buddhist History in China Practice

5. Buddhist Practice and Cultivation in Four Lines 1 Take refuge in the Three Treasures of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. 2 Earnestly cultivate the Three Perfections of Morality, Calmness, and Wisdom. 3 Shed the Three Poisons of Greed, Anger and Delusion. 4 Purify the Three Karmas of Action, Speech and Thought.

6. Buddhist Practice and Cultivation in Four Lines 皈依佛法僧(三寶) 勤修戒定慧(三學) 息滅貪瞋癡(三毒) 清淨身口意(三業)

7. The Sixth Chán Patriarch Dàjiàn Huineng (638-713, 六祖大鑒慧能大師) Shenxiu: The body is the Bodhi tree; The mind is like a stand of bright mirror. Be always diligent in polishing it; Do not let it attract any dust. Huineng: Originally, there is no Bodhi tree; Nor any stand of bright mirror. Originally, there is not a single thing, Where could any dust be alight? 身是菩提樹， 心如明鏡臺， 時時勤拂拭， 勿使惹塵埃。 菩提本無樹， 明鏡亦非臺， 本來無一物， 何處惹塵埃。

8. The Sixth Chán Patriarch Dàjiàn Huineng (638-713, 六祖大鑒慧能大師) How unexpectedly, the self-natures are originally pure. How unexpectedly, the self-natures are originally neither born nor ceased. How unexpectedly, the self-natures are originally self-sufficient. How unexpectedly, the self-natures are originally without movement. How unexpectedly, the self-natures are able to generate everything. 何期自性，本自清淨； 何期自性，本不生滅； 何期自性，本自具足； 何期自性，本無動搖； 何期自性，能生萬法。

9. Pilgrimage Questions: Traditional Teaching of the Patriarch Traditional Training method of the Patriarch Traditional Practice method of the Patriarch Current teaching of the Monastery Current training method of the Monastery Current practice method of the Monastery

10. Meditation禪修 Towards a Liberated and Enlightened Life 煩惱輕智慧長

11. Samatha – Calm Abiding How to train our monkey mind? Use tools to progress in nine stages of calming abiding i.e. mindfulness and vigilance Use methods discribed in “Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment” by Atisha. To be successful in calm abiding and the perfectly concentrated, you need to begin with six collections of causes/conditions.

12. Six Collection of Causes/Conditions to Samatha Abiding in a harmonious or a conducive place To have fewer desires To be content To be free of the hustle and bustle of a lot of different activities. To be able to protect well whatever resolution one has taken. ["pure morality" or moral discipline.] Reduce one’s attachment to objects of desire.

13. Nine Stages of Calming Abiding 九住心 Placement - Monk chasing elephant and monkey 內住 Fixation with some continuety續住 Patch-like placement 安住 Close placement or Good fixation 近住 Becoming disciplined 調順 Pacifying or becoming peaceful 寂靜 Fully pacifying 最極寂靜 Becoming single-pointed 專住一趣 Fixed absorption or meditative equipoise 等持

14. Five Hindrances 1) Laziness; 2) Forgetting the Object; 3) Sinking and excitement; 4) Not applying the antidotes; 5) Over-application of the antidotes.

15. Antidotes 1) faith; 2) aspiration; 3) perseverance; 4) blissful pliancy of mind; 5) mindfulness; 6) introspection; 7) applying the antidotes; 8) non-application of antidoteswhen they’re not necessary.

16. Four Great Elements In Buddhism, the four Great Elements (Pali: cattāromahābhūtāni) are earth, water, fire and air. Mahābhūta is generally synonymous with catudhātu, which is Pāli for the "Four Elements."In early Buddhism, the Four Elements are a basis for understanding and for liberating oneself from suffering. They are categories used to relate to the sensible physical world, and are conceived of not as substances, but as sensorial qualities.

19. Kalapas The Buddha's teaching regarding the four elements is to be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy. The four properties are cohesion (water), solidity or inertia (earth), expansion or vibration (air) and heat or energy content (fire). He promulgated a categorization of mind and matter as composed of eight types of "kalapas" of which the four elements are primary and a secondary group of four are color, smell, taste, and nutriment which are derivative from the four primaries. The Buddha's teaching of the four elements does predate Greek teaching of the same four elements.[citation needed] This is possibly explained by the fact that he sent out 60 arahants to the known world to spread his teaching; however it differs in the fact that the Buddha taught that the four elements are false and that form is in fact made up of much smaller particles which are constantly changing.[citation needed]

21. Water (or liquid) element (āpo-dhātu)Internal water elements include bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, nasal mucus, urine, etc.[10]

22. Fire element (tejo-dhātu)Internal fire elements include those bodily mechanisms that produce physical warmth, aging, digestion, etc.

26. "Form" is first category of the "Five Aggregates" (khandhas).

27. The Five Aggregates are the ultimate basis for suffering (dukkha) in the "Four Noble Truths."Schematically, this can be represented in reverse order as: Four Noble Truths -> Suffering -> Aggregates -> Form -> Four Elements Thus, to deeply understand the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, it is beneficial to have an understanding of the Great Elements.

28. With Which Element of This Man are You Angry? "My friend who has retired from the world and is angry with this man, tell me what it is you are angry with? Are you angry with the hair of the head, or with the hair of the body, or with the nails, etc.? Or are you angry with the earthy element in the hair of the head and the rest? Or are you angry with the watery element, or with the fiery element, or with the windy element in them? What is meant by the venerable N. N. is only the five groups, the six organs of sense, the six objects of sense, and the six sense-consciousnesses. With which of these are you angry? Is it with the form-group? Or is it with the sensation-group, perception-group, psychic constructions-group, or consciousness-group? Or are you angry with an organ of sense, or an object of sense, or a sense-consciousness?"

29. Questions and Comments 討論 www.ChamShanTemple.org www.shengguangshi.blogspot.com ShengguangShi@hotmail.com Shengguang Shi 釋聖光 Tom Cheung 張相棠 Kam Cheung 張仁勤 Dennis Yap 葉普智