“The teaching of thusness has been intimately 

communicated by Buddhas and Ancestors. 

Now you have it so keep it well.”

Dongshan

The teachings and practices of the Buddha remain alive today because they have been passed on by people who studied and trained under a teacher who had also received the teachings and practices from their teacher. This is the Buddha’s lineage, the “blood vein” of the teachings, and has been so since the time of the Buddha and his early disciples in northern India. When these teachings arrived in China through the efforts of the legendary figure Bodhidharma, he is said to have offered this four line stanza which is emblematic of the Chan lineage:

A special transmission outside the scriptures,

Not depending on words and letters;

Directly pointing to the mind

Seeing into one’s true nature and attaining Buddhahood.

Zen is entrusted mind to mind, from warm hand to warm hand. It is not dependent on theology or philosophy. In this retreat we will reflect on our willingness to receive the teachings through dedicated study and training, to realize our own True Nature through committed practice, and our capacity to generously share the dharma by the way we live our lives and interact with others. We will use Dongshan’s famous poem, Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi as a classic expression of this way of understanding the entrustment of the dharma. 

We are everyday people living everyday lives, not monastics in ancient Asian  monasteries, yet wisdom and compassion are still passed from warm hand to warm hand. Please join us as we explore this profound and intimate transmission.

Contact the Open Door Zen Community for more information.