Treat yourself to a mid-week breather, calming your mind and nourishing your spirit. Everyone 12 years and older is welcome. No experience meditating is required. Brief basic instruction on how to meditate and a warm, cozy, safe space with either a chair or a cushion to sit comfortably will be provided. No lectures, no solicitations, no obligations. All you need to bring is you.
This meditation session is for chanting and sitting practice and will not include a dharma talk or study session. The session will be at the Dragon Mountain Dojo. Please RSVP Mark at herrickmark@icloud.com or text: (415)706-2000 if you plan to come for address.
The Mayo Clinic says, “Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. If stress has you anxious, tense and worried, consider trying meditation. Spending even a few minutes in meditation can restore your calm and inner peace. Anyone can practice meditation. It's simple and inexpensive, and it doesn't require any special equipment.”
The only thing we have total control over in life is our perception and how we react to the world. We can change our perception and reaction through mindfulness meditation. As a result, our behavior gradually changes, moving towards wholesome activities and positive mind-states. We, and the people around us, become happier.
Buddhist meditation is not just a ‘silent sitting’ practice. Chanting is also a form of Buddhist meditation. Nichiren Shu Buddhism, combines chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo and silent sitting into a service known as Shodaigyo. ‘Shodai’ means to chant the sacred title of the Lotus Sutra and ‘gyo’ means Buddhist practice. Our meditational technique combines opening and closing periods of silent meditation with a central core of chanting. Our practice is distinct; it allows us to calm the mind and reflect upon our true divine nature, and awaken to our own Buddha nature. This form of meditation is easily learned but the benefits are profound. Through Shodaigyo we become more aware and mindful of our true selves, our surroundings, and the mutual integration of both. Our environment responds favorably in kind. We begin to reveal our inherent, enlightened qualities and to also recognize the beautiful, intrinsic enlightened qualities in all others. We become empowered, compassionate, appreciative, deeply joyful, wiser, and self-directed. Our lives transform through continuing practice. This process of spiritual manifestation allows us to harmonize and flourish in daily lives which can, at times, seem to be places of great difficulty and suffering. Please join us for this wondrous meditational practice of Shodaigyo.