A week into 2008

I'm still feeling a bit under the weather not having entirely shaken off the Winter bugs. We both missed church on Sunday as neither hubby or I was feeling too great. However I was all geared up to start a yoga class on Monday evening, only to find it had been cancelled as the instructor was unwell. Last night I went to find out what happens in the local Sangha of the Community of Interbeing, an ecumenical organisation based on the teachings of the Vietnamese Zen Master and Engaged Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh. At the end of the meeting I attended, which was clearly Buddhist in flavour, I realised I had gone to the wrong meeting.

Apparently this place had an upstairs, which is where the Sangha meets, and these Buddhists from the SOKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL (or SGI) meet downstairs once a month. It was interesting nonetheless. These people follow the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin who, according to their website, was born in 1222 in Japan and taught that chanting the title of the Lotus Sutra, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, to the Gohonzon is the practice that enables people in the present age to attain Buddhahood.

This is a somewhat different take from Thich Nhat Hanh's perspective, and this was apparent from the form and content of the meeting, which involved a great deal of chanting and an hour long talk on a letter written by Nichiren Daishonin. The talk was not terribly inspired and a certain amount of resentment was expressed by the person who was talking about an incident some months ago (possibly this, which happened in the early '90's), which obviously still caused pain. It was a perfectly human thing to do, but didn't seem the best way to bring about healing. There was also a bit too much talk of miraculous provision and protection, attributed to good chanting, which reminded me of some charismatic Christians I have come across in the past.

"Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching is based on conscious breathing and being fully aware of the present moment - the only moment in which we really live and in which joy is possible. This allows us to discover that:
"There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way".

Through the practice of meditation in every day life, and by showing compassion to all living beings, peace becomes possible within ourselves and extends to everyone we touch."