Dharma Topic: Reaching Out

This Thursday evening, after our meditation period, we will practice Touching the Earth as we invoke the names and the qualities of the four great Bodhisattvas: Avalokiteshvara (representing loving-kindness), Manjushri (wisdom), Samantabhadra (great action), and Kshitigarbha (perseverance and determination).In the tradition of mindfulness, the Bodhisattvas personify energies that exist in each of us as seeds, as potentiality.

At Still Water, when we invoke the Bodhisattvas, each time we focus on one of them. This time it will be Kshitigarbha, the protector of children, gamblers, travelers, prisoners, and others in need.

We invoke your name, Kshitigarbha.

We aspire to learn your way of being present where there is darkness, suffering, oppression and despair, so we can bring light, hope, relief, and liberation to those places. We are determined not to forget about or abandon those in desperate situations. We will do our best to establish contact with those who cannot find a way out of their suffering, those whose cries for help, justice, equality, and human rights are not being heard. We know that hell can be found in many places on Earth. We will do our best not to contribute to creating more hells on Earth, and to help transform the hells that already exist. We will practice in order to realize the qualities of perseverance and stability, so that, like the Earth, we can always be supportive and faithful to those in need.

It's easy to see and admire the qualities of Kshitigarbha in leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi, and in organizations such as Amnesty International and Doctors without Borders. For many of us, it may be more difficult to see it in ourselves.

We will begin our program by calling to mind times when we have been about to reach out to others, for example, to support a friend or a loved one through a difficult period. Then, we will ask ourselves whether we sincerely wish to nourish this seed of reaching out to those in need. And finally, if the answer is yes, how we might we concretely do it?

You are invited to join us on Thursday or consider these questions on your own. Below are two excerpts about Kshitigarbha from a Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh.

The best times to join our Thursday evening gatherings are just before the beginning of our 7 p.m meditation, just before we begin walking meditation (around 7:25), and just after our walking meditation (around 7:35).

You are also invited this Thursday to share an informal dinner with other Still Water practitioners -- beginning at 5:45, at The Lebanese Taverna (next to the fountain on the Ellsworth Avenue Restaurant Row). If you have questions about the dinner, please email info@StillWaterMPC.org.

Also, this Sunday, October 28th, we are having our first Newcomer's Tea, open to everyone but especially for those who feel relatively new to the Still Water community. We will have tea and refreshments and then share about what brought us to Still Water. The tea will be in Kensington, Maryland, 7 - 9 pm. For more information, or to let us know you are coming, please email Steve at sallen@jubileemd.org.

The Sanskrit name Ksitigarbha means “the Bodhisattva of the earth, Earth Store.”(in Chinese Ti Tsang Wang Pu Sa). I vow to develop the stability and solidity of the earth, in order to become faithful and without discrimination, like the earth. The earth never discriminates between perfume and urine. The earth absorbs everything and transforms it into flowers. So I want to learn the quality of the earth, very solid, very profound and stable, very rich, no discrimination, in order to be the support for all those who need my support. I vow to become all of these qualities of the earth so that I will be a great support for many people.

When you pour garbage on the earth and then you pour milk and then in three months the garbage will become flowers and the milk will become flowers too. The earth has the quality to release and to accept, the quality of accepting everything and releasing every negative thing. Can we be the support of somebody else if we don’t have the solidity of the earth? If you see within yourself that you are not yet solid enough, you must train yourself to become more solid.

Ksitigarbha (Earth Store Bodhisattva) who vowed to save all living beings in hell embodies truly great qualities of the Buddha. Some Christians are ‘allergic’ to the word, ‘vow’, but here we have no complex concerning that word… it is a very beautiful word. Ksitigarbha vowed that he would never abandon you. If you are caught in the condition of hell, even, he has vowed not to abandon you. Wherever there are people suffering the most, there also is Ksitigarbha… he is in jail; she is being tortured so I will not abandon them. In this very world there are hells where people undergo the utmost suffering. We decide never to abandon them, rather we try our best to approach and to support them. Ksitigarbha is these qualities of not abandoning. He never abandons anyone even if that person is horribly difficult.