#25 SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS!

Last night I zoomed in to the Pure Mind Center in St Louis, MO for two hours of Qi-Gong style stretching, meditation, and discussion on a collection of Master Sheng Yen's talks from the late '90's.  Pure Mind is a satellite of Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association,  a worldwide retreat, library and social action network of Chan Buddhism founded by Master Sheng Yen in 1994.   Born in 1930 in China, he spent much of his monkhood in Taiwan, and influenced many western practitioners, including dear Narayan Liebenson of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center. 

We were only 8 persons, but it was a warm and inviting group.  We began right away with some 'natural' and slow walking, noticing the movement of the body and the touching of the feet to the ground. This led into a body scan, including a self-massage of rubbing the hands together and pressing them on the eyes, massaging the head and then the limbs and body.  Following that was a half hour of 'Eight-form Moving Meditation'  (video in link), which seemed an amalgam of Eastern movements, but was very calming. 

We concluded with a discussion of Master Sheng Yen's talk on 'Managing Emotions through Bodhidharma',  wherein it is suggested to practice the precepts of non-harm, and concentration, and wisdom, to help us work with ourselves and others.  It was noted how strongly our negative emotions are tied to self-protection, and noticing that we can observe more neutrally.  The story of the empty boat was offered.  

A man is enjoying himself on a river at dusk. He sees another boat coming down the river toward him. At first it seems so nice to him that someone else is also enjoying the river on a nice summer evening. Then he realizes that the boat is coming right toward him, faster and faster. He begins to yell, “Hey, hey, watch out! For Pete’s sake, turn aside!” But the boat just comes right at him faster and faster. By this time he’s standing up in his boat, screaming and shaking his fist, and then the boat smashes right into him. He sees that it’s an empty boat.

In other words, we take things too personally.  We were encouraged to stop chasing/pushing away outside phenomena that don't 'fit' with what 'we' want and instead look back at original mind.  Mark, pictured below suggested that we ask 'who is having this feeling?'  "Our negative emotions," he said,  "... are shadows, just dust in the mind."