#7 A CONNECTICUT YANKEE in Prince Gotama's Court

Connecting to Connecticut!   Today I zoomed in to another nonsectarian Buddhist group, the Buddhist Faith Fellowship of Connecticut,  that normally meets out of Wesleyan University.  The founder Daishan Senpai is an American who studied in the Thien and Pure Land traditions.  He completed a three year teacher training in the Pure Land school, a non-monastic tradition founded by  Jodo Shinsu (approx 1200 AD)    

The morning began with some Pali chants I am familiar with, recorded at Amaravati Monastery in the UK. Following that were twenty minutes of meditation with the only instructions on a slide which read "Breathing in I calm my mind, breathing out I smile,"  an instruction from Thich Nhat Hanh.  I found this practice very healthy and fresh. 

After that, we read together a selection of 'Realize Eternity Through the Brevity of Life' by Master Hsing Yun, leader of a Taiwanese modernist, humanistic sect of Buddhism, and he has argued for (depending on who you believe) improved Taiwan-China relations, or a 'One China' policy.   From this paper: 

Given that we all play linking roles in this continuum of life, how are we to contribute to this larger life? Some people contribute through politics, others through their writing, and others yet through their examples. While these are all worthwhile contributions, Buddhism teaches us a more complete and supreme way. Buddhism teaches that when we discover our own Dharmakaya then we have found our own eternity. Dharmakaya is everywhere and everlasting. Our great teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha, is a great example of one who found eternity in the Dharmakaya. Though the Blessed One entered nirvana over two thousand five hundred years ago, the Dharmakaya of the Buddha is still here with us. This is the meaning of eternity in life and the ultimate example of affinity with time.

I took 'affinity with time' to mean a kind of friendship with reality, which is, after exposing all of our subjectivity, just the right here and now.   

As a footnote, this humanistic-leaning group also has a 'Stoa' study group, wherein the philosophy of Stoicism is seen as having Buddhist reflections.  Did philosophers from the west visit with Buddhists?  Probably, but my take is that they did not sit in meditation.