Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

egins, and these Buddhas of meditation are the basis of
psychology and experience in the Mahayana. In this talk,
our dedication is to the two great Bodhisattvas,
Manjughosa (He of Gentle Voice) and Maitreya (the
Loving One), who represent the Dharma-nature
(dharmata) and the Dharma-signs (dharmalaksana)
respectively.
Dharma-nature is associated with Manjughosa
Bodhisattva since upon the first occasion of preaching
the Mahayana, he was present and understood the
fundamental and unparticularized nature of the Dharma.
All the Buddha-Dharma is based, of course, upon the
dharmata and upon the philosophic foundation of this
chapter of our Dharma-book depend all the succeeding
ones. Hence our dedication to the first Bodhisattva. The
link with Maitreya is that he descended from the
heavens to teach the doctrines of the Yogacara school,
and in this chapter we are concerned with the particulars
of Dharma or Dharma-signs, in the exact definition
given to important terms.
Then Mr. Chen began the talk proper.
What does this word "meditation" mean to most people?
They think of sitting down in a quiet place (probably in
a comfortable armchair with a cup of tea and a cigarette),
and slowly turning things over in the mind. Their
"meditation" is just discursive cogitating around certain
ideas, plans, situations, etc.
67