Your Meditation is Nothing

If you can’t stand beside a friendless man

your meditation is nothing.

If you can’t listen to pain and terror then

your meditation is nothing.

If you can’t befriend the insane and share from their bowl

your meditation is nothing.

If you cannot take the gun gently from the hand of the murderer

and embrace him in his horror then your meditation is nothing.

If you cannot see the beauty and life in the one without limbs then

your meditation is nothing.

If you cannot sit beside the aged in their loneliness then

your meditation is nothing.

If you can’t embrace your own pain and shout “Yes!” to Life then

your meditation is nothing.

If you can surrender all that you are, all that you have,

if you can embrace life without wanting it or wanting to change it,

if you can hear the sounds of pain and joy and know they come from the same source,

if you can sit in the fire, rain, snow, sun and in surrender open your heart

to the purity of love then

your meditation is the supreme gift of the Manu Pearl, the light of the Pure Land.

If you can meditate the Nothing knowing your meditation is nothing then

all serenity and bliss radiates like perfume from the Lotus.

Nothing and all are one in Joy.

Zhi Sheng January 2013

Message from Venerable Zhi Sheng

The other day while in Sydney Australia I was able to come on line and look at the Blog Site and found that many people had written to me thanking and encouraging me and some asking questions. I was quite surprised.

I sincerely apologize for not getting back to all of you individually as I am unable to access the Google Blog site at my temple Guang Jue Temple in China as wireless broadband signal is quite poor in this mountain region and in addition we do not have the required software to view this page.

My dear friend and supporter in Melbourne continues to post articles for me.

May you all have a very peaceful, successful and joyful New Year 2013. Namo Amituofo.

Zhi Sheng

The Listening Buddha

Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva is a central figure in Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Her statue often adorns homes and businesses both of Buddhists, Taoists and ordinary folk often in the hope that lighting incense to her and making prostrations will prompt her to grant the requests and prayers of devotees. Her name in Chinese, Guan Shi Yin 觀世音 literally means the one who looks into the sounds of the cries of suffering. At first glance this seems to be grammatical incongruence as it implies a visual response to sound. One normally listens to sound, not look at it. The Chinese word 觀 guan, meaning to look around, look into, also implies a deep looking which examines all aspects of the object being observed. Here, I think, rests the key for us in our imitation of her qualities so often overlooked. It is the quality of deep and compassionate listening. I have already written about this topic in depth in my book The Compassionate Listening Formation Manual. When we listen deeply to another we enable a person to hear the murmur of their own soul and listen them into deeper healing. Herein lays the mystery of Guan Shi Yin.

Once a man came knocking at my door when I was living in Brisbane. He was eager to tell me all about his religion and why I should believe and have faith in it. I gently told him I was Buddhist. “So what does that mean exactly”, asked the man. “Tell me about this Buddhism. I mean for you to be saved. . . .” The man continued to passionately expound the benefits of his religion. This went on for some twenty minutes during which I listened carefully. As I was having to attend to other things I indicated that we needed to wind up the conversation. “Oh, but you didn’t tell me about your Buddhism” the man interjected. “I did” came my reply to a very puzzled look. “I listened.”

When we deeply listen to another we enter into their space and create a new space. It is a space of welcome and deep mindfulness to their very being. It is spiritual art and the chief tool for the peacemaker. When we do this we allow the other to place the colours of their words on a canvass so they can begin to see their inner world. If they do not like what they see they have the opportunity to change the story and see new colours, new shapes, new life. They become awakened to their story.

Today we have the opportunity to become the Boddhisattva Guan Shi Yin to others, to our children, to our spouse, friend, the one we perceive as our enemy. When we deeply listen we plant the seeds of peace and open the way to healing and life.