Open the New Year with a recitation of the Prajna Paramita Diamond Sutra, the wisdom that cuts through delusion, dedicated to world peace - this year, online. The Arcata Zen Group sangha will also Zoom in to read with us.
The regular SCZC schedule resumes January 2.
We Will Be Using This Translation By A.F. Price and Wong Mou-Lam
Diamond Sutra of 868 AD. The image depicts the frontispiece to the world's earliest dated printed book, the Chinese translation of the Buddhist text the 'Diamond Sutra'. This consists of a scroll, over 16 feet long, made up of a long series of printed pages. Printed in China in 868 AD, it was found in the Dunhuang Caves in 1907, in the North Western province of Gansu. Click to enlarge. Collection of the British Library (Wikimedia Commons)
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Maybe when we first come to practice we thought some miracle would happen. The miracle actually is coming to practice; we still have to do the work of cutting through delusion. The Diamond Sutra gives very clear teaching for this, and it is especially clear when read aloud continuously in one sitting.
Here is a quote from Red Pine’s book on the Diamond Sutra. The context is a verse talking about the perfection of forbearance.
“The Buddha is concerned that Subhuti’s understand of this teaching begins and ends with prajna (wisdom). But prajna does not exist in isolation and cannot be practiced without practicing the other perfections. In this sutra, the Buddha focuses on three of the Six Perfections, namely, those that counteract the Three Poisons: the perfection of charity, which counteracts the poison of desire, the perfection of wisdom, which destroys the poison of delusion, and the perfection of forbearance, which eliminates the poison of anger. Although this sutra only mentions these three by name, each is closely related to the other perfections: Charity with morality, forbearance with vigor, and wisdom with meditation. Thus, by focusing on these three, the sutra provides instruction in all six. The reason the Buddha mentions forbearance here (in this chapter) is that without it, bodhisattvas will not be able to endure what is the most traumatic teaching they will ever experience or know.”
-Join at: https://zoom.us/j/2951668406
-Zoom meeting ID 295 166 8406, password 753
-To connect by phone, call 1 (669) 900-6833 and enter the meeting ID and password.