The 27th of 108 Gates Of Dharma Illumination

[Shokai]

Gate Twenty Seven
Read the following, place it in your heart and sleep on it. Then, tomorrow, live it until evening when you can leave a brief comment on what you may have received during the process.

The Three Devotions* are a gate of Dharma illumination; for they purify the three evil worlds**.

* Devotion to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
** the worlds of hell, hungry spirits, and animals all represent conditions of suffering

By “Dharma Gate”, we mean a teaching or practice we can study to gain insights into the deepening our practice. It's a way to integrate our understanding of approaching reality.

Koan:
"When we become Buddhists, we first make repentance and take refuge in the Three Treasures. These refuges are the first three of the sixteen precepts we receive in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition established by Dogen Zenji. Without these three there is no Buddhism.
⦁ I take refuge in the Buddha, vowing with all sentient beings, acquiring the Great Way, awakening the unsurpassable mnd.
⦁ I take refuge in the Dharma, vowing with all sentient beings, deeply entering the teaching, wisdom like the sea.
⦁ I take refuge in the Sangha, vowing with all sentient beings, bringing harmony to all, completely without hindrance.
Buddha didn't teach us to take refuge in a deity beyond this phenominal world. He taught us to find refuge within this world, within ourselves. This is the basic teaching of the Buddha and a difference between Buddhism and other religions."

Recommeded Reading: Okumura Roshi's 'Living by Vow', Chpt. 3

Most note worthy replies :

I am so filled

With the business of these Jewels

I have no time for evil.

When all else is dark, when evil seems to consume the world, we need only turn to the Three Jewels to light our way forward.

Brightest of all stars—

Luminous

Are the Three Jewels

合掌
stlah

[Anchi]

[Juki]

Juki
sat today and lah

[Nengyoku]

[Tairin]

Thank you Shokai


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[aprapti]

[Nengyoku]

So swept up in today's festivities I almost forgot to report back.

Devotion to the Buddha; the part of You who is so precious. With this in mind, I can speak no evil to or of You.
Devotion to the Dharma; We are all seeds of the Dharma. So let us be planted so that we may grow into medicine for suffering.
Devotion to the Sangha; We are all part of one Sangha, how could I seek to take that which you have?

Gassho,
Nengyoku
Sat

[Shokai]