Mid-Wales Quaker-Buddhist Group
There is a group in Mid-Wales which is not formally affiliated with WCF. It is independent from the WCF but we maintain a friendly supportive relationship with it sharing a mutual interest in Chan Buddhism. We provide details for it on the other Chan groups page.
Mid-Wales Chan Group Buddhist Liturgy
The meetings use the following liturgy.
The Three Refuges
I take refuge in Buddha,
I take Refuge in Dharma,
I take refuge in Sangha.
I take refuge in Buddha, he who found the path,
I take Refuge in Dharma, the path that he taught us,
I take refuge in Sangha, those who follow the path.
I take refuge in Buddha,
I take Refuge in Dharma,
I take refuge in Sangha.
Preliminary Meditations
Let us bear in mind:-
The impermanence of all human experience,
The benefits and opportunities of this precious human life,
The need to express gratitude to parents, teachers and spiritual friends,
The feeling that one should practise in order to be of assistance to all sentient beings,
The thought that, if you visualise what it is like to be a Boddhisattva,
you may experience something of the insight, bliss and responsibility of such a being.
Bodhisattva Vows
In my heart I turn to the Three Jewels of Refuge,
May I save suffering creatures and place them in bliss,
May the compassionate spirit of love grow within me
So that I may complete the Enlightening Path.
Sit!
Keeping the mind taut as when spinning a thread,
Yet unhindered, like a cut bail of straw;
In awe like a child before a mural,
And as unmovable as an elephant pricked by a pin;
Watching intently like a hunter stalking its prey,
Sit!
The Immutable
Truly, there is a realm, where there is neither the solid, nor the fluid, neither heat, nor motion, neither this world, nor any other world, neither sun nor moon.
This I call neither arising, nor passing away, neither standing still, nor being born, nor dying. There is neither foothold, nor development, nor any basis. This is the end of suffering.
There is an Unborn, Uncreated, Unmanifest. If there were not this Unborn, this Uncreated, this Unmanifest there could be no release from the world of the born, the created, the manifest.
But as there is an Unborn, Uncreated, Unmanifest, therefore is release possible from the world of the born, the created, the manifest.
Dedication
And now may the grace of the Three Jewels of Refuge
Following on through cause and effect
Fulfil all the prayers we now send forth
And bring us across to enlightenment's shore.
We wish all merits, deriving now or in the future
From these our practices
To be distributed everywhere
For the good of all.
