Serene Reflections: From the Heart That Seeks the Way

The Serene Reflections Podcast is a series of Dharma Talks from the Wallowa Buddhist Temple in the mountains of Northeast Oregon in the United States. Reverend Clairissa Beattie, a Zen Buddhist monk and priest, invites you to join in listening from your own place of stillness, from the Heart That Seeks the Way.

Each talk lasts about half an hour or less. Settling down to hear these clear and quiet teachings through the gateway of the ear may serve as a general introduction to Chan or Zen Buddhist practice within your inquiry into Mahayana Buddhism, or as a supportive adjunct to your own unfolding spiritual work.

These gentle, introspective recordings flow from one monk's personal reflections on the myriad facets of Zen practice. Episodes of the Serene Reflections Podcast are prepared with the help of the monks and congregation of the Wallowa Buddhist Temple, offered throughout the seasons for the benefit of all beings, including you, wherever you may be.

On this final weekend in July, Rev. Clairissa offers “Full Creek, Tall Grass, Bright Sun.” She comments on teachings gleaned over these last five weeks of exploring together the Buddha’s Eightfold Path. She opens to the teaching offered to us by the summer itself in its glorious expression of life – in the roaring high waters, growing grasses, and bright sunlight illuminating all.

Rev. Clairissa completes her series of reflections on the four Bodhisattva Vows with the fourth and final vow, which reads “However infinite the Buddha’s Truth is, I vow to realize it.” Exploring the connection between the four Bodhisattva Vows and the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, her reflections illuminate both sets of four in the process.

For those who are just encountering the Buddha’s teaching as well as for those who have been walking the path for some time, she offers clarification on our purpose for practicing Buddhism. The Bodhisattva Vows:

However innumerable beings may be, I vow to save them all,
However inexhaustible the passions may be, I vow to transform them all,
However limitless the Dharma may be, I vow to comprehend it completely,
However infinite the Buddha’s Truth is, I vow to realize it.

Rev. Clairissa continues to contemplate the teaching of the Bodhisattva Vows, this time referring to the third of the four Bodhisattva Vows. She considers the various meanings of the term “Dharma” which is so central to Buddhism, and the importance of our willingness to continue opening to the teaching as it unfolds throughout a lifetime of spiritual practice.

The Bodhisattva Vows express our true heart’s intention to help beings, especially through the offering of our inner spiritual work. In our tradition of Sōtō Zen, these fundamental vows are recited three times in succession during our regular Renewal of Vows ceremony:   

However innumerable beings may be, I vow to save them all,
However inexhaustible the passions may be, I vow to transform them all,
However limitless the Dharma may be, I vow to comprehend it completely,
However infinite the Buddha’s Truth is, I vow to realize it.

Rev. Clairissa discusses a Buddhist approach to the arising of strong emotions in response to events in the world and in the world inside of us. 

She refers to the second of the Bodhisattva Vows. These four vows are the expression of the wish to help all beings. In our tradition of Sōtō Zen, they are part of our regular Renewal of Vows ceremony, and are read as follows:

However innumerable beings may be, I vow to save them all,

However inexhaustible the passions may be, I vow to transform them all,

However limitless the Dharma may be, I vow to comprehend it completely,

However infinite the Buddha’s Truth is, I vow to realize it.

Contemplating the Kesa verse, Rev. Clairissa offers reflections on our natural pure intention, the wish to help all beings. The Kesa is the monk’s robe which symbolizes the Buddhist Precepts, our vow to cease from harm, to do only good, to do good for others.

The Kesa verse is recited daily in a Sōtō Zen temple when putting on the Kesa at the start of day, and also at home by lay Buddhists when meditating in the morning. This small ceremony is the daily renewal of our vow to follow the Buddha’s path, and the recognition of the Buddha Nature we share with all things.

The Kesa verse reads as follows: How great and wondrous are the clothes of enlightenment, Formless and embracing every treasure; I wish to unfold the Buddha’s teaching That I may help all living things. 

As three of the temple’s congregation get ready to travel in a few days to the monastery, where they will participate in Jukai, Rev. Clairissa offers some thoughts for us all to consider on the joyous occasion of their significant spiritual step of becoming lay Buddhists. 

Jukai is the Japanese term for the five ceremonies of receiving the Precepts in our tradition of Sōtō Zen. During Jukai, a weeklong retreat is held at the monastery for the purpose of searching one’s own heart and committing to follow the Buddhist path. 

Rev. Clairissa explores how our practice of seated meditation means becoming still, flexible, and clear in all conditions. Through this, we help ourselves and all beings to the balance beyond the opposites, joining in the endless flow of all existence.

She begins by reciting Meditation Master Wanshi Shōgaku’s poem “My Friendly Advice for Seated Meditation” from Chapter 26 of Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, translated by Rev. Hubert Nearman.

Rev. Clairissa reflects on how sitting in meditation leads to becoming truly seated in our place of meditation, made possible by not letting anything get in the way of our doing the practice of meditating and living the life of the Precepts, in all conditions.

She refers to the teaching of Great Master Eihei Dōgen (1200-1253), specifically Chapter 26 from the Shōbōgenzō, the collection of Dōgen’s lifetime of recorded Dharma talks. This is the chapter titled “On Wanshi’s ‘Kindly Advice for Doing Seated Meditation’” (“Zazen Shin” in Japanese), written down in April of the year 1242 C.E. in Japan. 

Rev. Clairissa describes the ordinary practice within our Sōtō Zen tradition of sweeping pathways clear of debris. Just as we do this and other simple activities with presence and care, so may we clear the way for ourselves to do the spiritual work within the heart – thus helping to clear the way for all beings.