Our Practice

What is our Practice?

Buddhism

The Buddha, Shakyamuni, lived 2,500 years ago in India. He was a human being who possessed the same spiritual potential that is within us all. He realized enlightenment and spent His life helping others find what He had found. Enlightenment is the direct experience of one’s Buddha Nature, i.e. the realization of one’s true nature and the nature of all existence. This reveals not only the cause of human suffering but the means by which we can bring our own suffering to an end. It engenders profound compassion for all living things.

Since the time of the Buddha, many traditions of Buddhism have developed. The aim of each has been to express the essence of the Buddha’s teaching in a manner appropriate to the time and culture.

The Serene Reflection Meditation Tradition embodies:

The practice of meditation.
Keeping the moral Precepts of Buddhism, both in our outward behavior and service to others as well as in the inner practice of cleansing our own hearts.
The teaching that all beings have the Buddha Nature. All are fundamentally pure, but out of ignorance we create suffering, thereby obscuring our real nature.
Awakening the heart of compassion and expressing it through selfless activity.

Meditation

Meditation is the foundation of our religious practice, through it we can discover the Truth directly for ourselves. It is to sit still with an open, alert and bright mind, neither suppressing nor indulging the thoughts and feelings that arise. In meditation, one learns how to accept oneself and the world as it is. Profound transformation becomes possible once we know things as they are.

If I believe I am separate from everyone else, then I act selfishly to get what I want. If I know that within diversity, nothing is separate, then I already have all I need—for I am One with all things. Meditation enables us to discover the real nature of our own being.

The Buddhist Precepts

The Precepts are the abiding foundation of Serene Reflection Meditation—for both the newest and the most-experienced trainee, the Precepts continue to guide one’s efforts and guard against self-deception.

The Three Refuges

I take refuge in the Buddha (the Source of the teaching).

I take refuge in the Dharma (the Buddha’s teaching).

I take refuge in the Sangha (those who practice the teaching).

The Three Pure Precepts

Cease from evil. By refraining from that which causes confusion and suffering, the Truth will shine of itself.
Do only good. Doing good arises naturally from ceasing from evil.
Do good for others. To train in Buddhism is to devote one’s life to the good of all living things.

The Ten Great Precepts

I will not kill.
I will not steal.
I will not covet.
I will not say that which is not true.
I will not sell the wine of delusion. (Whether drink, drugs or the emotional appeal of delusive thinking.)
I will not speak against others.
I will not be proud of myself and devalue others.
I will not be miserly in giving either Dharma (teaching) or wealth.
I will not be angry.
I will not defame The Three Treasures. (I will not deny the Buddha within myself or in others.)

We take refuge in the Buddha by trusting the wisdom born of the compassionate heart, and we also develop the humility to check our understanding with the Buddha’s teaching (the Scriptures) and with the Sangha (the living community of those who follow the Buddha’s Way). We are all human and even the greatest teacher can make a mistake; however when the Precepts are taken seriously, they provide necessary safeguards and guidance.

All beings have the Buddha Nature

In the Serene Reflection Meditation Tradition, one can follow the Way as a lay person or as a monk. We use the term ‘monk’ for women as well as men, since there is complete spiritual and functional equality of the genders within our Order.

We can all learn to meditate because we all have the Buddha Nature, even though it may be, as yet, unseen. All beings are Buddhas and should be respected as such, whatever manner of life they may be in.

Awakening the Heart of Gratitude and Compassion

Compassion is aroused when we experience our unity with all life. When we realize that all things teach, we can accept them with gratitude. Meditation embraces both the good and the bad without judgment or indulgence. When we are touched by the infinite compassion that is the foundation of all existence, the desire to help all beings arises naturally. By understanding and embracing both the egocentric side of ourselves and the purity which lies beneath, we come to realize that the Precepts are our life blood, and that to go against them causes suffering for ourselves and others.

Buddhism is noted for its respect for other faiths. Our hope is to make the Buddha’s teaching available to all, but never to try and impose it upon others. Buddhism does not claim an exclusive Truth; it is a way that has led many to the deepest fulfillment.