Clear Mind Zen

Good Morning Everyone,

Taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is called Kie Sanbo and it is the first ceremonial step in becoming a Zen practitioner in the Clear Mind Sangha. We are asked to say, "Namu kie Butsu; Namu kie Ho; Namu kie So". Why?

Why, if in the Clear Mind Sangha we are open and accepting of all religious faiths and traditions, do we ask people to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha?

The answer is somewhat tricky and to some extent relies on the realization of the three terms used. Buddha is not the person Gautama who historically became a Buddha, but the realized Buddha as both a model and an actuality.

When I go to Buddha for refuge it means I take refuge in awakening itself and see the Buddha as a model of that awakened personage. We could just as easily say the same of the Patriarchs, Moses, prophets or Jesus. Each awakened person is a model, a potentiality for our own awakening.

Similarly, the Dharma is reality, things-as-it-is, Suzuki-roshi used to say. Every faith tradition has its dharma, but dharma is not dependent on faith tradition. Things-as-it-is is, regardless of our spin on it. The practice of Clear Mind is to see without perceptual filters or the biases of labels and concepts. What is reality before we call it reality, this is Dharma.

Lastly, Sangha is both the community of practitioners and the universality of life. It is truly impossible to separate those who practice with us from those who do not as all life practices living in the Dharma. Its just that some are not fully awake to the fact.

Some of us interdependent beings sleepwalk. Yes, its true. We can see them on any given day, driving along with tombstones in their eyes, knee jerk reacting to whatever is in front of them. Yet, if the universe is One, then they are just as much a part of it as we are.

Part of our practice is re-visioning religion so as to open each to things-as-it-is. To have each begin to see clearly before dogma sets in, or to crack that cosmic egg and let the light contained therein, out.

Anyone willing to see clearly by taking on the practices of Zen is welcome to join Clear Mind Sangha.

Be well.