Dear Members & Supporters of the ICBI
ICBI: Happy Chinese Lunar New Year – 2026-4724!
At the above link is the ICBI “Chinese New Year” annual message. May everyone of you experience good health, good luck, and prosperity throughout the “new” Lunar Year of the Double (Red) Fire Horse!
As compassion and loving kindness grows and is magnified through the more people it is shared with – these statements act as “ripples” of positive energy emanating that traverse through the portals of the past, present, and future – excluding none and embracing all! Of course, the Buddha defined the human mind as being that capacity which can perceive the present, recall the past, and plan for the future. This is a remarkable observation. What the Ch’an School offers, infused as it is with the thinking associated with Confucianism – and the far older “Book of Change” – is that the mind should a) be “stilled” (realising a relative emptiness), b) a product of purifying all vestiges of greed, hatred, and delusion, and c) and in so-doing experiencing the expansion of this “emptiness” realisation into an “all-embracing” reality.
Form and Void are fully cognised and integrated into a permanent all embracing reality – with no habit of “attachment” remaining anywhere. Some people have suggested that firmly holding the “hua tou” is like gently (but decisively) riding a horse to its final destination. Too much force and the individual might became a victim of his-her own best effort – or too little effort and the entire process just fizzles-out. Wither way – just as the year re-news in the outer world – so does each moment re-new in the mind. When we are aware of this reality – we realise that every second is precious and that we should make the best use of it – depending upon the situation each individual happens to occupy.
Peace in the Dharma
Adrian Chan Wyles
ICBI – UK Office
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 