Showing posts with label buddhism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buddhism. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Let There Be Peace
So much swirling through my mind today: concern for the people of Nepal, hope for peace in war torn areas, sadness for the turmoil in Baltimore, awareness of perpetual injustice that leads to protests than grow into riots, optimism for nationwide marriage equality, caution about new attempts at discrimination that will likely follow. With so much going on in the world, I offer this prayer from the Buddhist tradition for the whole world: "May we be filled with loving-kindness; may we be well. May we be peaceful and at ease; may we be happy" and this prayer by Masahisa Goi: "May peace prevail on earth." Amen.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Three Spiritual Principles
"My only religion is Compassion. My only god is Love. My spiritual path is the path of service; and because of these three principles, I celebrate the diverse expressions of that Love in the many traditions of the world." Dharmacharya Gududas Sunyatananda
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
August Spirit & Truth
http://sunshinecathedral.org/SpriitandTruthFlip/201108/Spirit%20and%20Truth%20August%202011.html
Click on the link above to read Sunshine Cathedral's daily devotional magazine, "Spirit & Truth"
Click on the link above to read Sunshine Cathedral's daily devotional magazine, "Spirit & Truth"
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Divinity Within
Weekly Reflection by Rev. Durrell Watkins
“Christ said, ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’ Truly I say to you: ‘within you’ means your true nature, the real [you]. Since your nature is [divine], the kingdom of God is only ‘within you.’ [The one] who seeks the kingdom of God without pursues a dream [and] will never find the kingdom of God…Only when you have awakened to the realm of eternal happiness within can the realm of eternal happiness be manifest without as a reflection.” – Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines, Holy Sutras (Seicho-No-Ie)
I’m very focused on the idea of “awakening” lately. It seems like waking up is exactly what so many of us need. Jesus reportedly said (though only the writer of the fourth gospel attributes these words to Jesus), “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Divine except by me.” The author of the Fourth Gospel wanted his audience to identify with his Jesus character. The “I” of Jesus was the example for the “I” of you and me to follow. Jesus was the example, not the exception; he demonstrated the Christ in him so that we could demonstrate the Christ in us.
What that late first century author was doing by putting those powerful words into the mouth of Jesus was saying that the way to awaken to our own Christ Nature, our own divine potential, the truth of our own sacred value is to follow Jesus’ example. Jesus communed with the divine presence without intermediaries. Jesus was iconoclastic, putting no image, tradition, symbol, or hierarchy above his own experience of Reality. Jesus trusted the spirit of Wisdom and Compassion more than he trusted inherited interpretations of ancient texts. Jesus trusted his own Christ Potential, the divine energy flowing through him, and that trust empowered him to live an awakened (or “anointed”) life.
To experience the Mystery of Life (“God”) as richly and as deeply as Jesus did, we must do what he did…trust our innate goodness and not transfer our own holiness onto things outside of ourselves. That’s what I believe “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Divine except by me” means.
As we face a troubled economy, justice issues, violence in the world, disease, global warming, and all the other disturbing circumstances in life, we may be tempted to put our trust in things, or people, or stories, or institutions. My guess is that such trust will leave us disappointed. The way to peace, the truth about peace, the life of peace comes from trusting the divine qualities within us, not from hoping something beyond us will swoop down and magically fix everything.
It’s time to wake up to our sacred value and to become less attached to the illusions “out there,” and learn to trust the goodness within us. Once we contact that Inward Light, that Christ Nature that is already our true Self, then we can share that divine Light with the world. Isn’t that exactly what our world needs right now?
Sunshine Cathedral
www.sunshinecathedral.org
Durrell Watkins, M.A., M.Div. – Senior Pastor
“Christ said, ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’ Truly I say to you: ‘within you’ means your true nature, the real [you]. Since your nature is [divine], the kingdom of God is only ‘within you.’ [The one] who seeks the kingdom of God without pursues a dream [and] will never find the kingdom of God…Only when you have awakened to the realm of eternal happiness within can the realm of eternal happiness be manifest without as a reflection.” – Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines, Holy Sutras (Seicho-No-Ie)
I’m very focused on the idea of “awakening” lately. It seems like waking up is exactly what so many of us need. Jesus reportedly said (though only the writer of the fourth gospel attributes these words to Jesus), “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Divine except by me.” The author of the Fourth Gospel wanted his audience to identify with his Jesus character. The “I” of Jesus was the example for the “I” of you and me to follow. Jesus was the example, not the exception; he demonstrated the Christ in him so that we could demonstrate the Christ in us.
What that late first century author was doing by putting those powerful words into the mouth of Jesus was saying that the way to awaken to our own Christ Nature, our own divine potential, the truth of our own sacred value is to follow Jesus’ example. Jesus communed with the divine presence without intermediaries. Jesus was iconoclastic, putting no image, tradition, symbol, or hierarchy above his own experience of Reality. Jesus trusted the spirit of Wisdom and Compassion more than he trusted inherited interpretations of ancient texts. Jesus trusted his own Christ Potential, the divine energy flowing through him, and that trust empowered him to live an awakened (or “anointed”) life.
To experience the Mystery of Life (“God”) as richly and as deeply as Jesus did, we must do what he did…trust our innate goodness and not transfer our own holiness onto things outside of ourselves. That’s what I believe “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Divine except by me” means.
As we face a troubled economy, justice issues, violence in the world, disease, global warming, and all the other disturbing circumstances in life, we may be tempted to put our trust in things, or people, or stories, or institutions. My guess is that such trust will leave us disappointed. The way to peace, the truth about peace, the life of peace comes from trusting the divine qualities within us, not from hoping something beyond us will swoop down and magically fix everything.
It’s time to wake up to our sacred value and to become less attached to the illusions “out there,” and learn to trust the goodness within us. Once we contact that Inward Light, that Christ Nature that is already our true Self, then we can share that divine Light with the world. Isn’t that exactly what our world needs right now?
Sunshine Cathedral
www.sunshinecathedral.org
Durrell Watkins, M.A., M.Div. – Senior Pastor
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Simple Mystery of Meditation
“It comes to many as astonishing news that something as simple as attention to breathing has a central part to play in meditation and prayer. It is like a mystery novelist’s idea of hiding the diamonds in the goldfish bowl: too obvious to notice…” – James Forest
“Remember to keep holy the sabbath…no work should be done on the sabbath…” (Exodus 20.8-10). Of course, we know that a tired body appreciates some down time, but in our busy culture we forget that the mind also needs to keep times of Sabbath.
Have you ever noticed that when a moment of silence is called for, invariably someone will cough, or yawn, or clear their throat, or otherwise inject some kind of noise into the silence (no matter how brief it is)? Contrast the crowds at a concert with the trickles of humans in a library! We are more comfortable with noise than silence, and entering the Silence is very difficult for some of us.
But rest is necessary for good health, and meditation is a way to rest and refresh the mind. A few minutes of meditation to turn off the discursive thinking is all that is needed. That doesn’t mean we stop the thoughts; it just means we don’t engage them. Without pursuing or judging them, we simply notice them and return to stillness.
We can’t get it wrong because there is nothing to do…just sit and breathe and be. Notice what comes up, let it pass, and breathe. Count the breaths (in -1, out-1, in-2, out-2) all the way to 10 and start over at 1. If a thought or an image disrupts the count, just notice it, let it go, and start again at 1. Failure isn’t possible because there is no goal! Isn’t that wonderful?! Just sit. Just breathe. Just be. Do it for 10 minutes or an hour, twice a week or daily. You can’t get it wrong, and yet, over time, you will become more and more aware of your true, divine nature.
Starting October 9th, sitting meditation (“Zazen”) will be offered every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8:15 AM at Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale in the Graham/Fasana Chapel.
www.sunshinecathedral.org
“Remember to keep holy the sabbath…no work should be done on the sabbath…” (Exodus 20.8-10). Of course, we know that a tired body appreciates some down time, but in our busy culture we forget that the mind also needs to keep times of Sabbath.
Have you ever noticed that when a moment of silence is called for, invariably someone will cough, or yawn, or clear their throat, or otherwise inject some kind of noise into the silence (no matter how brief it is)? Contrast the crowds at a concert with the trickles of humans in a library! We are more comfortable with noise than silence, and entering the Silence is very difficult for some of us.
But rest is necessary for good health, and meditation is a way to rest and refresh the mind. A few minutes of meditation to turn off the discursive thinking is all that is needed. That doesn’t mean we stop the thoughts; it just means we don’t engage them. Without pursuing or judging them, we simply notice them and return to stillness.
We can’t get it wrong because there is nothing to do…just sit and breathe and be. Notice what comes up, let it pass, and breathe. Count the breaths (in -1, out-1, in-2, out-2) all the way to 10 and start over at 1. If a thought or an image disrupts the count, just notice it, let it go, and start again at 1. Failure isn’t possible because there is no goal! Isn’t that wonderful?! Just sit. Just breathe. Just be. Do it for 10 minutes or an hour, twice a week or daily. You can’t get it wrong, and yet, over time, you will become more and more aware of your true, divine nature.
Starting October 9th, sitting meditation (“Zazen”) will be offered every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8:15 AM at Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale in the Graham/Fasana Chapel.
www.sunshinecathedral.org
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