​Ven. Guo Xing Led Retreats in Russia, Introducing the Chan Methods of Silent Illumination and Huatou

From May 28^th to June 19^th, 2024, at the invitation of Alexander Jitomirsky, founder of the Russian martial arts school "Wujimen," and other organizations in Russia, Ven. Guo Xing (果醒法師), the Master of the Meditation Hall of Dharma Drum Mountain, and Ven. Yan Gong (演功法師) traveled to Russia to lead a one-day retreat, a two-day retreat, a seven-day retreat. In addition, they delivered several public lectures. They were also invited to give a speech on "Chan and Philosophy" at the Voronezh State University, where they not only introduced basic concepts, methods, and mindset for Chan meditation, but also emphasized the quotidian application of the Chan practice of Huatou and Silent Illumination.

From May 29^th to June 1^st, Ven. Guo Xing first led a tea-meditation session at a Chinese teahouse in St. Petersburg, after which he gave a Dharma talk on the topic of "The Thought-free, Formless, Non-abiding Nature of Mind." He explained the function and operation of the mind with the examples of "the image of mother in our mind is not our real mother" in addition to the analogy of "the moon's reflection on thousands of rivers." On the next day, Ven. Guo Xing led a one-day retreat at Wujimen Martial Arts School. The retreat started with basic concepts, covering the three kinds of adjustments during three periods of sitting: that is, adjusting the body, the breathing, and the mind when entering, sitting and coming out of sitting meditation. In addition, they covered methods of watching and counting the breath. Later, the Venerable introduced the Chan methods of Silent Illumination and Huatou. To strike a balance between motion and stillness, he also guided the participants to practice eating meditation, yoga exercises, and walking meditation. At the end of the retreat, a refuge taking ceremony was held for the participants.

On June 2^nd, Ven. Guo Xing and Ven. Yan Gong traveled to Moscow where they held a seven-day retreat from June 3^rd to June 10^th, with approximately 20 people attending. Ven. Guo Xing guided the practitioners to start with relaxing the body and mind, and taught the levels and methods of Silent Illumination and Huatou. During the sharing session in the meditation hall, the participants expressed that they were moved by the aspiration of the Venerables who traveled thousands of miles to spread the Dharma, and that they were inspired by Ven. Guo Xing's Dharma talks. As they succeeded in using the Chan methods when practicing working meditation, they spontaneously sensed the inner peace and thereby felt grateful.

On June 11^th, Ven. Guo Xing and Ven. Yan Gon visited a tea house featuring Shaolin martial arts in Voronezh, where Ven. Guo Xing shared the connection between Chan practice and martial arts under the theme of "Chan in Martial arts." The next day at the teahouse, Ven. Guo Xing led a one-day retreat in which he introduced Silent Illumination and Huatou in a lively way, using Taiwanese glove puppets and clay as teaching aids. The retreat was concluded with a refuge taking ceremony. On June 13^th, Ven. Guo Xing was invited by Professor Imbe of the Department of Philosophy at Voronezh State University (VSU) to deliver a speech on "Chan and Philosophy," which was attended by nearly 100 VSU faculty and students, both onsite and online. Using once again Taiwanese glove puppets and clay as teaching aids, the Venerable illustrated the Buddha-nature and the functions of the mind, which aroused lively discussion and questions from the audience.

On June 14^th, Ven. Guo Xing and Ven. Yan Gong returned to Moscow to give a Dharma talk and held a two-day retreat for 40 people. As Ven. Guo Xing's trip to Russia came to a fruitful end, Alexander shared that, in order to organize this series of Chan meditation activities, he had made various kinds of preparations half a year ago, including arrangements for the venue, translation, and publicity. Along the way, Alexander had sensed people's keenness to learn the Dharma, and he hoped that Chinese Chan Buddhism would continue to develop and thrive in Russia.



Original Chinese text / Dharma Drum Monthly
Photo / Dharma Drum Mountain Chan Hall
Translation / Li Siang-ling
Editing / Keith Brown, YKL