PZI Teacher Archives

Ceremonies: Ancestral Words for the End of the Day 

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Ancestral Words for the End of the Day    (All: palms together, heads bowed) Liaison […]

Ancestral Words for the End of the Day 

 

(All: palms together, heads bowed)

Liaison (use one of the following verses)

 

From the Flower Garland Sutra

 

Water flows underground,

seek and you’ll find it;

beyond thought, without end,

its power is everywhere. 

 

Buddha nature is like that:

In every being’s mind—

seek every day with all your heart

and you’ll find it.

 

From Song of Enlightenment by  xx

 

The moon shines on the river,

the wind blows through the pines—

whose providence is this long beautiful evening?

 

Thomas Traherne—

You never know the world aright till the Sea flows in your Veins,
till you are Clothed with the Heavens, and Crowned with the Stars;
And perceive yourself to be the Sole Heir of the Whole World;
Till you are intimately Acquainted with that Shady Nothing 

out of which this World was made;
Till your spirit fills the whole World 

and the Stars are your Jewels
Till you love others so as to Desire their Happiness
with a thirst equal to the zeal of your own.

 

Dogen—

Your expression of the actual body is the harbor and the weir. This is the most important thing in the world. Its power comes from the ocean of essential nature. It is beyond explanation—we just accept it with respect and gratitude


Hakuin—

The Pure Land where everything is only mind, the Buddha of Infinite Light in your own body—once Amida appears, mountains, rivers, and earth, plants, trees, and forests, all glow with a great light. If you want to see this, look into your own heart. Since the Pure Land is only mind, what kind of special features would it have? Since the Buddha of Infinite Light is your own body, how would you recognize it?