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What we’re about

The group is for people to meet, discuss, share and help each other for Spiritual Growth, Cultivation and Network.

Who am I? Is what you call “yourself” merely a collection of memories, or something deeper?
Before you were born, who were you? When the body perishes, where will you be?
If all phenomena are impermanent, what remains unchanged?
Who is the one that is aware of your thoughts at this very moment?
What is it that sees through your eyes, but cannot be seen by your eyes?

We know that we have body, mind and spirit. The body is tangible and will go through birth, sickness, aging, and death. It also has duality, there is men and women and it lives in the physical world. Mind is intangible, but still has duality. There are positive/negative thoughts. The spirit is intangible and beyond duality. Lao Tzu used Tao to refer to origin of creation and the pure spirit within each one of us. Buddha called the pure spirit as Buddha nature, meaning everyone can reach Buddhahood or enlightenment. It is referred to as the image of God in Bible and spirit of Allah in Koran. The more modern terms can be pure awareness or pure consciousness.

Even though there are different names, they all point to the same pure nature within us.
The analogy of sun and clouds is one of my favourites. The pure nature can be likened to the sun, which is always emitting light regardless of sunny days, cloudy days or stormy days. The vexations such as anger, resentment, greed, ignorance, attachment to fame, possessions...etc. can be liken to clouds that can temporarily obscure the light from the pure nature. However, once they are blown away, the light or wisdom from the pure nature will shine again.

The spiritual cultivation is the journey to awaken to the pure nature within us and how to blow away clouds of delusions to let the wisdom or light to flow from the pure nature without hindrance, which lead us to a life with joy, ease and love while living in this dualistic world.

We use Zen teachings as a starting point and are open to any other teachings, such as those from Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Lao Tzu...etc. and life experiences and wisdom from within each one of us.

Buddha reached Buddhahood more than 2500 years ago and realised that all sentient beings have Buddha nature and can reach Buddhahood if they find and restore Buddha nature and follow it at all times instead of following desires and egotistic thoughts.

The Flower Sermon is a story of the origin of Zen Buddhism in which Gautama Buddha transmits direct prajñā (wisdom) to the disciple Mahākāśyapa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Sermon)

In the story, the Buddha gives a wordless sermon to his disciples (sangha) by holding up a white flower. No one in the audience understands the Flower Sermon except Mahākāśyapa, who smiles. Within Zen, the Flower Sermon communicates the ineffable nature of tathātā (suchness) and Mahākāśyapa's smile signifies the direct transmission of wisdom without words.

The Buddha affirmed this by saying:
I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous heart of Nirvana, the true form of the formless, the subtle Dharma Gate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa.

About 1000 years later, the 28th Patriarch Bodhidharma was told by 27th Patriarch there to go to ancient China to find a successor and transmit the true Dharma eye. He was called by people in China at that time the first Patriarch. The book platform sutra is recorded with sixth Patriarch's teachings. There is great mystery and wisdom in it and the group is aiming to study, discuss and understand it and apply in life for awakening the original Buddha nature in each of us.

Welcome to join us and study, discuss, practice and share understanding and realizations with each other so that wisdom of Buddha and Zen can be applied in life and cultivate spirituality.

Moreover, welcome to check out other related meetup groups and their events below.

https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/tao-te-ching/

https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/vegetarian-vegan/

Meet online or in person during week nights or weekend that suits members' time.

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