We met online on Zoom for our cosy and friendly group for some calming and relaxing copying of the inspiring Heart Sutra 般若心経. It was a great practice for embracing the New Year and wishing wellbeing. The famous Heart Sutra – Maka Hannya Haramitta Shingyo -is… Read More »New Year Sutra Tracing – Meditative Heart Shakyo
It was a cosy and fang-tastic Halloween themed Sutra Tracing group on the 31st October, copying the famous Heart Sutra – Hannya Shingyo, known more fully as the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. We couldn’t keep away the demons from joining, but thankfully… Read More »Fang-tastic Halloween Shakyo
At our cozy and friendly zoom Shakyo group, we copied the short Boundless Life Ten Line Bodhisattva of Compassion Sutra (Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo) 延命十句観音経 for wellbeing and meditative practice. It is a short Sutra so we had some extra time to have a chat… Read More »Shakyo practice of the Boundless Life Bodhisattva of Compassion Sutra
At our Shakyo Sutra Copying group we had a very peaceful and relaxing time for practice. It was a really nice atmosphere. We followed the inspiring Four Vast Bodhisattva Vows – 四弘誓願文 Shiguseiganmon. This is a short (just five lines including the title) but deep and… Read More »Rhythm and spaciousness in Shakyo of the Four Vast Vows
We had a lovely couple of hours of Shakyō Sutra copying, working on the second half of the Lotus Sutra Chapter 25 Bodhisattva of Compassion Universal Gateway (Fumonbonge). It is a fascinating, poetic and visually spectacular chapter, with many interesting characters to discover meanings from, and engage… Read More »Meditative Shakyo tracing of the universal gateway
‘If you are cast adrift in the huge sea, bothered by troublesome dragons, fish and demons, bring awareness to the power of Kannon (Avalokitesvara Perceiver of the Sounds of the World), and the billows and waves can’t drown you ..’ ??? We had our meditative… Read More »Breathtaking peaks and seas pull us into meditative Shakyo
At Shakyō Sutra copying practice (online on zoom) we traced or copied two short verses which are often read or chanted in zen and other schools – the Kaikyōge Opening the Sutras Verse and the Fuekō Turning of Merit. They are deep and inspiring short verses, the Fuekō directly coming… Read More »Unsurpassed and deep – tracing the Kaikyōge and Fuekō
At our Shakyo group, co-hosted with Glasgow Zen Group, we enjoyed peacefully copying the Boundless Life Ten Phrase Kannon Sutra 延命十句観音経. It felt right to trace it at this time, being a sutra that has been close to people’s hearts over the centuries and considered… Read More »Shakyo 写経 copying the sutra of boundless awareness and life
We gently traced and copied the famous and inspiring Mahayana Buddhist Heart Sutra, or to use the full title, the Great Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra. After Blair and the group discussed about the Shakyo practice and some of the meanings and structure of the sutra,… Read More »Practicing intuitive wisdom with each small stroke
Our first online Shakyo 写経 practice event saw us come together from Scotland, and elsewhere such as the rest of the UK and Canada, forming a lovely group of sutra tracing and copying practitioners. Beginning with an introduction about the history of shakyo and the… Read More »Shakyo – bringing the Sutra to life with each brush stroke and pen mark