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The Mahayana Path: Practices and Receiving Karma
Today at Cam Lo Temple, we celebrate the new year and practice mindfulness through our breathing and senses, inviting happiness to be present in every moment. Simply by opening our hearts, breathing in with mindfulness, opening our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind to receive each drop of happiness, we nourish peace and joy. One breath, one step with mindfulness is an opportunity for us to touch the great happiness around us and within us, to heal our wounds, and when we are fully nourished, we become a source of happiness for all beings, like a pine tree standing in the midst of winter snow.
The winter retreat continues our study of the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha by Asanga, through the Vietnamese version (page 6, last paragraph on “those who are still deluded”), English (page 22), French (page 9, paragraph 20), and Chinese (page 135). The focus is on dependent arising, distinguishing between self-nature and the ālaya (store consciousness) – the foundation of all psychological, physiological, and physical phenomena. Those who are deluded often believe that the root of existence is:
- prakṛti (self-nature, Svabhāva)
- fate (determinism)
- Isvara (Supreme God)
- real self (Atma)
- causelessness, without conditions
The Dharma teaches that there is no separate agent or experiencer; all dharmas arise from seeds in the ālaya, and then return to the store consciousness in a continuous cycle. Right understanding of dependent arising and store consciousness helps us transcend mistaken views about the ontological ground, opening up the insight of non-self and the freedom and peace of the present moment.
