Online Retreat: Letting Go and Waking Up
Day 2
Resources for Day 2:
Thursday 10.30am
Thursday 4pm
Thursday 7pm
When the dead are going to die
So that, over a last companionable
Drink, we could tell them
How much we liked them.
Happy the man who, dying, can
Place his hand on his heart and say:
‘At least I didn’t neglect to tell
The thrush how beautifully she sings.’
Thursday 10pm
All beings are from the very beginning Buddhas. It is like water and ice:
Apart from water, no ice,
Outside living beings, no Buddhas.
Not knowing it is near, they seek it afar. What a pity!
It is like one in the water who cries out for thirst; It is like the child of a rich house who has strayed
away among the poor.
The cause of our circling through the six worlds Is that we are on the dark paths of ignorance. Dark path upon dark path treading,
When shall we escape from birth and death?
The Zen meditation of the Mahayana
Is beyond all our praise.
Giving and Morality and the other Perfections, Taking of the Name, repentance, discipline, And the many other right actions,
All come back to the practice of meditation.
By the merit of a single sitting
He destroys innumerable accumulated sins. How should there be wrong paths for him? The Pure Land paradise is not far.
When in reverence this truth is heard even once, He who praises it and gladly embraces it has
merit without end.
How much more he who turns within And confirms directly his own nature, That his own nature is no-nature,- Such has transcended vain words.
The gate opens, and cause and effect are one; Straight runs the way-not two, not three. Taking as form the form of no-form,
Going or returning,
He is ever at home.
Taking as thought the thought of no-thought, Singing and dancing, all is the voice of truth. Wide is the heaven of boundless Samadhi, Radiant the full moon of the fourfold wisdom.
What remains to be sought? Nirvana is clear before him,
This very place the lotus paradise, This very body the Buddha.
Hakuin
PUJA
The 4 Reminders
This human birth is precious,
An opportunity to awaken,
But this body is impermanent;
Ready or not, one day I shall die.
So this life I must know
As the tiny splash of a raindrop,
A thing of beauty that disappears
Even as it comes into being.
The karma I create
Shapes the course of my life, But however I act
Life always has difficulties
No-one can control it all.
Only the Dharma
Can free me and others
From suffering forever.
Therefore I recall
My heart’s longing for freedom,
And resolve to make use
Of every day and night
To realize it.
Dhammapalam Gatha
(Verses That Protect the Truth)
English translation
Not to do evil
To cultivate the good
To purify the mind
This is the Teaching of the Buddhas.
Lead a righteous life
Not one that is corrupt.
The righteous live happily
Both in this world and the next.
He is not versed in Dhamma who
Merely speaks much. He who
hears but a little (of the teaching) but
sees the Truth and observes it well
indeed he is truly called
‘one versed in Dhamma’.
No other refuge than the Wake
Refuge supreme is there for me.
Oh by the virtue of this truth
May grace abound and victory!
No other refuge than the Truth
Refuge supreme is there for me.
Oh by the virtue of this truth
May grace abound and victory!
No refuge but the Fellowship
Refuge supreme is there for me.
Oh by the virtue of this truth
May grace abound and victory!
Homage to the Buddha!
Homage to the Dhamma!
Homage to the Sangha!
verses in Pali
Sabbapapassa akaranam
Kusalassa upasampada
Sacittapariyodapanam
Etam Buddhanam sasanam.
Dhammam care sucaritam
Na nam duccaritam care.
Dhammacari sukham seti
Asmim loke paramhi ca.
Na tavata dhammadharo
Yavata bahu bhasati.
Yo ca appam pi sutvana
Dhammam kayena passati,
Sa ve dhammadharo hoti
Yo Dhammam nappamajati.
N’atthi me saranam annam
Buddho me saranam varam
Etena saccavajjena
Hotu me jayamangalam
N’atthi me saranam annam
Dhammo me saranam varam
Etena saccavajjena
Hotu me jayamangalam.
N’atthi me saranam annam
Sangho me saranam varam
Etena saccavajjena
Hotu me jayamangalam.
Namo Buddhaya
Namo Dhammaya
Namo Sanghaya
Sadhu sadhu sadhu
The 4 Brahma Viharas
May all beings enjoy happiness
And the causes of happiness;
May they be free from suffering
And the causes of suffering;
May they not be separated from the great happiness Devoid of suffering;
May they dwell in the great equanimity Free from craving, aversion and delusion.
[compiled by Viveka, and reworked by Vessantara and Vijayamala. This version 2014.]
