Buddha Gate Monastery

“Have a cup of tea” said Abbot Jian Deng. So went the tea ceremony to open the Chan Seven Retreat a couple of weeks ago. This was my second Zen Seven at Chung Tai. The Abbot explained that the purpose of the Zen Seven is to realize our true awakened minds, to know WHO is drinking this tea. Do we know who we are? Are we the master of our minds? In what do we take refuge?

Taken from a well-known Zen koan, “Have a cup of tea” was to symbolize the theme of the retreat. As I sat there at the tea ceremony, I thought, oh I know what this means, we need to know ourselves. As the retreat got underway, however, and the busy everyday mind was tamed and made clearer by the rigorous schedule of meditation, dharma lectures, formal meals and chanting, I realized that my earlier thoughts about “have a cup of tea” were pretty superficial and that an important meaning and deeper lesson awaited me.

The dharma talks by the Grand Master and Abbot Jian Deng built on the theme of the mind ground dharma. Again and again we were asked “Where is your mind?”, “Who is it that is feeling this pain/discomfort?”, and remember always to “Dwell in your awakened mind”. During meditation, we were to “let go” of everything and focus on the clear mind. How do I let go, I asked myself. I worked very hard on this. After the retreat, we were told to “pick up” the activities of our conventional lives and still we need to dwell in our clear mind. “Don’t waste your time” the Grand Master admonished. I admit I grew restless and tired during some of these dharma lectures because they were too long, much longer than I was used to, and repetitive. Where was my mind?

The retreat and its message had quite an impact on me. When I arrive back at home in the San Francisco Bay Area I felt like a different, changed person. I found something. I now understand more deeply what it means to know where my mind is, how to dwell in my clear mind. I have a deeper sense of paying attention to what I am doing at the moment, to focus, to keep a clear mind, to avoid unnecessary and wandering thoughts. It’s hard to change habits in everyday life, but I feel inspired to work on mindfulness, to be aware of where my mind is. My true awakened mind, that is my refuge……Have a cup of tea!