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Hi Saijun,
This sounds awesome! Thanks for letting us know about it! We are going to make it a family event for this weekend where we will each take turns copying it. This is sooooooo cool!
Sutra copying is a lovely Practice, and I have copied the Heart Sutra Chinese characters many times when visiting various Zen temples in Japan for retreats (it is very often done at some part of the retreat, especially for lay folks). One can lose oneself in the lovely flow. Even foreigners who do not read Japanese can do so, as 'see through' tracing paper is usually placed over a copy, with the original below, and one just traces the shapes one by one ... very peaceful and relaxing too. Certainly, copying the Heart Sutra for the earthquake and tsunami victims is a nice gesture, it could not hurt. Perhaps some victim's heart will be comforted by seeing that Sutra mound.
However, also, do not forget to send cash! 8) People cannot eat the Heart Sutra!
Actually, because the Japanese are quite well off generally as a country, I would strongly suggest looking at organizations like Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children, which help people in like events, not only in Japan, but in countries which are not so well equiped, Haiti and such.
I'm glad to find this way of offering mindfulness. I'm only familiar with sutra copying via reading about it in historical fiction (ref. "The Tale of Murasaki", Liza Dalby). I didn't know about it as a real and enduring practice that had actual merit.
I made a cash donation via Red Cross early on, and I took interest in the groups that were folding cranes (understanding that the victims can't eat paper cranes either, but crane counts did actually equal matched donations from large-scale donors). I liked the idea that a physical act could be performed that, if done mindfully, could offer moral support and hopefully some spiritual merit.
However, I wasn't able to meet any of the deadlines for the crane folding. They're sitting here in a box. I'll try to meet this deadline for shakyo. I would like to learn more about shakyo in the future.
Gassho
Julia
"The Girl Dragon Demon", the random Buddhist name generator calls me....you have been warned.
I have completed one and intend to copy several more more sending them in before the deadline. It is a very nice quiet practice. I did find that using a small handheld magnifying glass helped me "stay in the lines"! :roll:
I have done this practice before, but it feels much different when done with a specific purpose and intention such as this.
This was our family project for the weekend. We divided it into 3 parts(1 for each my wife, son, and I) and each took turns meticulously copying it out. Then when nearly finished something got knocked over and spilled all over the table and stained it :shock:
All that work and we have to start over.
It reminds me of the Tibetan practice of creating a mandala with sand. Have you ever seen the process? It's amazing. In the end after days of making this thing they just sweep it all away. Part of the practice, as I've heard it described, is letting go of attachment to things even though you work long and hard on them because they are in the end as impermanent as everything else.
Hi All,
Here is a picture of the making of the Tibetan sand Mandala I was talking about.
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts here has one perfectly preserved and hanging on the wall for display. Though it was great to see the beauty of one up close, I still felt a strange sadness in that they took something which symbolizes impermanence at it's core and made it permanent. In the end I walked away simultaneously grateful yet slightly disturbed.
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