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The Serene Reflections Podcast is a series of Dharma Talks from the Wallowa Buddhist Temple in the mountains of Northeast Oregon in the United States. Reverend Clairissa Beattie, a Zen Buddhist monk and priest, invites you to join in listening from your own place of stillness, from the Heart That Seeks the Way.
Each talk lasts about half an hour or less. Settling down to hear these clear and quiet teachings through the gateway of the ear may serve as a general introduction to Chan or Zen Buddhist practice within your inquiry into Mahayana Buddhism, or as a supportive adjunct to your own unfolding spiritual work.
These gentle, introspective recordings flow from one monk's personal reflections on the myriad facets of Zen practice. Episodes of the Serene Reflections Podcast are prepared with the help of the monks and congregation of the Wallowa Buddhist Temple, offered throughout the seasons for the benefit of all beings, including you, wherever you may be. -
On this final weekend in July, Rev. Clairissa offers “Full Creek, Tall Grass, Bright Sun.” She comments on teachings gleaned over these last five weeks of exploring together the Buddha’s Eightfold Path. She opens to the teaching offered to us by the summer itself in its glorious expression of life – in the roaring high waters, growing grasses, and bright sunlight illuminating all.
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Rev. Clairissa completes her series of reflections on the four Bodhisattva Vows with the fourth and final vow, which reads “However infinite the Buddha’s Truth is, I vow to realize it.” Exploring the connection between the four Bodhisattva Vows and the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, her reflections illuminate both sets of four in the process.
For those who are just encountering the Buddha’s teaching as well as for those who have been walking the path for some time, she offers clarification on our purpose for practicing Buddhism. The Bodhisattva Vows:
However innumerable beings may be, I vow to save them all,
However inexhaustible the passions may be, I vow to transform them all,
However limitless the Dharma may be, I vow to comprehend it completely,
However infinite the Buddha’s Truth is, I vow to realize it. -
Rev. Clairissa continues to contemplate the teaching of the Bodhisattva Vows, this time referring to the third of the four Bodhisattva Vows. She considers the various meanings of the term “Dharma” which is so central to Buddhism, and the importance of our willingness to continue opening to the teaching as it unfolds throughout a lifetime of spiritual practice.
The Bodhisattva Vows express our true heart’s intention to help beings, especially through the offering of our inner spiritual work. In our tradition of Sōtō Zen, these fundamental vows are recited three times in succession during our regular Renewal of Vows ceremony:
However innumerable beings may be, I vow to save them all,
However inexhaustible the passions may be, I vow to transform them all,
However limitless the Dharma may be, I vow to comprehend it completely,
However infinite the Buddha’s Truth is, I vow to realize it. -
Rev. Clairissa discusses a Buddhist approach to the arising of strong emotions in response to events in the world and in the world inside of us.
She refers to the second of the Bodhisattva Vows. These four vows are the expression of the wish to help all beings. In our tradition of Sōtō Zen, they are part of our regular Renewal of Vows ceremony, and are read as follows:However innumerable beings may be, I vow to save them all,
However inexhaustible the passions may be, I vow to transform them all,
However limitless the Dharma may be, I vow to comprehend it completely,
However infinite the Buddha’s Truth is, I vow to realize it.
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Contemplating the Kesa verse, Rev. Clairissa offers reflections on our natural pure intention, the wish to help all beings. The Kesa is the monk’s robe which symbolizes the Buddhist Precepts, our vow to cease from harm, to do only good, to do good for others.
The Kesa verse is recited daily in a Sōtō Zen temple when putting on the Kesa at the start of day, and also at home by lay Buddhists when meditating in the morning. This small ceremony is the daily renewal of our vow to follow the Buddha’s path, and the recognition of the Buddha Nature we share with all things.
The Kesa verse reads as follows: How great and wondrous are the clothes of enlightenment, Formless and embracing every treasure; I wish to unfold the Buddha’s teaching That I may help all living things. -
As three of the temple’s congregation get ready to travel in a few days to the monastery, where they will participate in Jukai, Rev. Clairissa offers some thoughts for us all to consider on the joyous occasion of their significant spiritual step of becoming lay Buddhists.
Jukai is the Japanese term for the five ceremonies of receiving the Precepts in our tradition of Sōtō Zen. During Jukai, a weeklong retreat is held at the monastery for the purpose of searching one’s own heart and committing to follow the Buddhist path. -
Rev. Clairissa explores how our practice of seated meditation means becoming still, flexible, and clear in all conditions. Through this, we help ourselves and all beings to the balance beyond the opposites, joining in the endless flow of all existence.
She begins by reciting Meditation Master Wanshi Shōgaku’s poem “My Friendly Advice for Seated Meditation” from Chapter 26 of Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, translated by Rev. Hubert Nearman. -
Rev. Clairissa reflects on how sitting in meditation leads to becoming truly seated in our place of meditation, made possible by not letting anything get in the way of our doing the practice of meditating and living the life of the Precepts, in all conditions.
She refers to the teaching of Great Master Eihei Dōgen (1200-1253), specifically Chapter 26 from the Shōbōgenzō, the collection of Dōgen’s lifetime of recorded Dharma talks. This is the chapter titled “On Wanshi’s ‘Kindly Advice for Doing Seated Meditation’” (“Zazen Shin” in Japanese), written down in April of the year 1242 C.E. in Japan. -
Rev. Clairissa describes the ordinary practice within our Sōtō Zen tradition of sweeping pathways clear of debris. Just as we do this and other simple activities with presence and care, so may we clear the way for ourselves to do the spiritual work within the heart – thus helping to clear the way for all beings.
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Rev. Clairissa points out that when we open to being honest with ourselves as to how we may be doing harm, and take refuge in the heart of the Precepts within, the way to true peace and freedom appears naturally.
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In light of our intention to help beings, which is at the heart of the Three Pure Precepts, Rev. Clairissa considers a facet of the first of the Ten Great Precepts, the guideline on not killing. She explores the daily practice of sparing tiny bugs who cross our path. She looks at how to be with ourselves and others when we don’t manage to follow this aspect of the Dharma, and reflects on the benefits to us and all beings when we nurture the habit of not killing our insect friends.
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Rev. Clairissa looks at the Buddha Nature of material things. She invites us to reflect on how we are with the things that surround us in everyday life. It’s wonderful to work for the good of all sentient beings. How might we help non-sentient things, as well? How might the non-sentient help us to see Buddha? This simple, everyday practice of taking care with physical things unlocks the heart of the Precepts, the heart of the Buddha’s teaching.
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“What is Buddha Nature?” Rev. Clairissa responds to this and two other helpful questions that were posed this past week by some of our friends near and far.
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“Why Train?” Rev. Clairissa considers how it can help to ask ourselves this question, at times. When considering taking up a practice, when first setting out on the path, or when the going gets rough, it may be of use to reflect on our motivation for doing our spiritual practice. She offers a glimpse of where the path of Zen Buddhist training may lead those who are willing to follow it. In the talk, Rev. Clairissa describes the shape of the Sōtō Zen “Sumeru” style altar and explains some of its symbolism.
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In this Dharma talk titled “Stories,” Rev. Clairissa reflects on how stories of various kinds may be of benefit in our spiritual training, and how they may also become impediments, depending on what we do with them as they arise. She tells us a story or two, as well.
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Rev. Clairissa explores the offering of great Love in the form of friendship toward oneself and others. Recounting the words of the Buddha to his followers on this topic, she considers how good friendship functions as both the source and fulfillment of our practice.
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In the Dharma talk titled “Other Than They Are” Rev. Clairissa explores the conditional mind frame, the one in which we wish things were somehow not as they are. She reminds us of how we may live from our place of stillness which neither grasps nor pushes away things as they are.
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In “Waiting is Awakening,” Rev. Clairissa looks at what it can be to wait wholeheartedly, and also what the offering of such a way of waiting has to do with our realization of enlightenment.
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Rev. Clairissa offers an opportunity to reflect on life’s deeper purpose, which may clarify when we let go of the human tendency to judgement and respond to the beckoning of That Which Is.
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