Bodhi Day: Practice loving kindness on day of enlightenment | Candace McKibben
From the first time I met him, I had a deep respect for the one who dreamed of and became the founder and teacher for The Tallahassee Chan Center. His warm smile and kindness are only matched by his wisdom and humility.
Dr. Jimmy Yu is an Associate Professor of Chinese Buddhism and Religions in the Department of Religion at Florida State University, which is how I became aware of his presence in our community. I was interested in inviting people of all religious perspectives to the quarterly clergy gatherings held at Big Bend Hospice.
And, as it turns out, he was interested in learning how he could be of service to those in our community who were dying. He toured the Hospice House after that first meeting between us, and he shared with me his own dreams of a community center for education and a place for the care of elders in our community.
What I have learned since that early meeting is that Jimmy Yu, or Guo Gu as he is known in his spiritual practice, is a remarkable leader. He knows how to communicate his dreams, discern who is best equipped to help realize them, and empower them to bring the dreams to reality.
The Tallahassee Chan Center on North Paul Russell Road is busy most days of the week with meditation and chanting sessions, teachings, community service, workshops, and retreats. And whenever someone from The Tallahassee Chan Center becomes involved in a community need, you can be sure it will be addressed with generosity and compassion.
A holy day for Buddhists
The winter holidays we have entered are a time for fellowship, joy, and for religious people around the world, worship. For many Buddhists, including those in Japan and Western countries, Bodhi Day is a holy day celebrated on Dec. 8, and marks the day that Siddhartha Gautama, a prince in northern India destined to become the next king, became the Buddha through the attainment of enlightenment. The word “bodhi” means awakening or enlightenment.
When Siddhartha Gautama saw the suffering in the world that his family and wealth had shielded him from, he abandoned his life of luxury to live in the woods, study, and meditate. The life he lived there was extremely rigorous and almost killed him. Neither extreme of life he had experienced seemed to resonate with his soul or his studies, so he resolved to sit beneath a Bo tree until he attained awakening.
The path of moderation, or the middle path, was the revealed truth he felt was the answer to living well, and he communicated in his writings this path that an estimated 507 million people worldwide practice.
Chan Buddhism is a Chinese school of Mahayana Buddhism developed in China during the sixth century CE. It is the originating tradition of Zen Buddhism which has been popularized in the west since the mid 20th century. 'Zen' is the way the Chinese word “Ch'an” is pronounced in Japan. 'Ch'an' is the Chinese pronunciation of the Sanskrit word “Dhyana,” which essentially means meditation.
Cultivating compassion at Tallahassee Chan Center
Guo Gu, who learned meditation as a young child in Taiwan, writes that “Chan is freedom expressed through wisdom and compassion.” As practiced, it involves “grounding,” that is embracing, working through, and letting go of the self. And it involves “engaging,” meaning offering oneself to the benefit of others. It entails cultivating mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom and The Tallahassee Chan Center website offers resources and a community (sangha) to help cultivate these qualities. Bodhi day is meant to be a day of thoughtful reflection and acts of loving kindness.
Adherents of Buddhism light candles or string lights on a tree symbolizing the many paths to enlightenment, eat a rice porridge, the food that sustained Siddhartha Gautama as he meditated, and reflect on the capacity we all have for awakening to our true nature as did Buddha.
A focus on peace at Advent
As I prepare this week for the second Sunday of Advent worship for my church with a focus on peace, I think of the many ways the Buddhists I know and admire are peacemakers. They epitomize the admonition of the apostle Paul in Philippians 4 as he encourages the church to practice peace, saying, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.” (Philippians 4:5)
While some may think of gentleness as weakness, it is a strong, disciplined response to the world promoting compassion and peace, the very things that Chan Buddhism encourages, the very things the world needs. Guo Gu, whose name means “the result of being a valley” from the Chinese proverb, “To be humble as a valley,” is an asset to our community and to the furtherance of peace in it.
A valley is humble because it is empty, resting at the lowest part of earth. Yet, it supports and nourishes all life forms. Guo Gu’s calling is to support and nourish Chan Buddhism in its ancient understandings and its modern applications, especially in the West as inspired by his teacher of over 30 years, Master Sheng Yeng. Guo Gu does this with great wisdom, passion, and grace.
In this season where many religious people of various traditions celebrate the peace that is so needed in our turbulent world, I feel grateful for the influence of those who teach peace and demonstrate it in their living. I pray we all might be advocates of peace in this world that yearns for it and wish for those who observe Bodhi Day, a meaningful celebration.
The Rev. Candace McKibben is an ordained minister and pastor of Tallahassee Fellowship.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Buddhists practice peace and loving kindness on Bodhi Day
