This year marks the 14th anniversary of Master Sheng Yen’s passing. On February 4, 2003, all Dharma Drum Mountain’s monasteries and practice centers in Taiwan held the Transmitting the Light of Dharma Assembly: Arising Great Compassion with Continual Vows, during which a video featuring a Dharma talk by Master Sheng Yen given at the University of Sydney, Australia in 2004 was played, to remember our teacher’s kindness and teaching. In the short film, Master Sheng Yen used the story of Huike’s encounter with Bodhidharma, to remind practitioners that the true sense of calming the mind is to not particularly seek to calm the mind. In Chan practice, what is most important is to keep our mind and thoughts calmly abiding in the here and now, and constantly concentrate and focus on the present moment in our daily life. By doing so, we will naturally be free of anxiety and worry, enjoying peace and security in the present. Let us all remember our teachers’ kindness by refreshing our understanding of his guidance and practicing accordingly, to settle our own minds, calm other people’s minds, light up our inner light, and give rise to the aspiration to practice the Dharma.
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