The Sermons

By Dennis Duffy

Written over a period of a couple of years, THE SERMONS is a collection of spiritual principles and guidelines for deepening ones practice of reflection and meditation. Although introduced and set in a fictional style, each of the sermons is considered non-fiction except for an occasional glimpse into a bit of mythology from the East. The author creates the voice of an old monk whose dharma is to teach and to guide the young and aspiring monks on a path to the heart of the spiritual life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 19, 2006
• ISBN: 9781465315076

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Copyright © 2006 by Dennis Duffy.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from

BlueMoon Publishing

Printed in the United States of America

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

31646

Contents

Acknowledgements

Note to the Reader

Obeisance

Prelude

1

The Bubble Sermon

2

The Great Untruth

3

Seeking Pleasure

4

Mortality

5

Right Meditation

6

Even-mindedness

7

Bodhisattvas

8

Kshatriya

9

Clinging

10

Loving Kindness

11

Needs

12

The Nature of Dwelling

13

Perils

14

The First Breath

15

Transcendency

16

Timelessness

17

The Knower

18

The Clear Heart

19

Ruthlessly Compassionate

20

The Struggle and The Support

21

The Task

22

Peace and Empty Light

23

The Layered Mind

24

Fu Dogs

25

Inner Fire

26

The First Great Key

27

The Appearance of Shiva

28

Relevant Dharma

29

Vision of Awakening

30

Field of Future Buddhas

31

The Duty

32

10,000 Mantras

33

Great Emptiness

34

The Ox

35

Three Buddhas

36

The Preparation

37

Non-thought

38

The Rightful Place of Hope

39

Hindrance and Non-hindrance

40

The Transposition

41

Three Jewels

42

The Most Ancient One

43

First Dharma, First Purification

44

One of Two Things

45

The Evidence

46

Nirvana is Not Attained by Thinking About It, The Buddha is Not Met with Words

47

Seeking Happiness

48

Hot Ashes

49

The Pathway and the Gate

50

The Possession

51

The Gates of Heaven and Hell

52

The Clicking of the Mala

53

Sacred Surrender

54

The Stillness of the Breath

55

Nothingness and Original Mind

56

The Last Longing

57

Gaining Merit

58

For the Benefit of Others

59

Non-arising

60

By Silence

61

Expressing Origins

62

Attainment through Renunciation

63

Standing Corrected

64

Attaining the Noble Riches

65

Dragonfly

66

The Blessing

67

The 100,000 Things

68

A Drop of Water on a Lotus

69

Direct Path

70

Sermon without a Title

71

Rare Opportunity

72

Two Questions

73

Results

74

The Practice

75

Seeking Purpose

76

Wandering

77

In the Heart

78

The Truth of the First Noble Truth

79

The Recognition of Suffering And the Possibility of Nirvana

80

The Process

81

Without a Second Thought

82

The Nature of Influence

83

The Three Phases of Meditation Practice

Epilogue

Appendix

The Gayatri Mantra

Glossary

Recommended Reading

About the author

Acknowledgements

Note to the Reader

The Sermons was originally written over a two year period for students of a meditation class to help guide their practice while at the same time acting as an aid for their reflection on basic spiritual ideals. Mostly, these sermons were given as a commentary, they were rarely read directly to the class as they appear in the following pages. They appear in the order in which they were written.

The content of the sermons is non-fiction and represents a portion of the spiritual truths that can be found in Eastern traditions. These sermons are like the pith instruction; highly condensed and direct. They are thought provoking and yet easily embraced. Admittedly, a few of them are more difficult than others, but with some perseverance those few will become very clear.

The Sermons contain a very brief fictional dialogue between two young monks and the old monk in the prelude, a couple of interludes and an epilogue. The first interlude that has been used is for facilitating the transition into the body of the book while the second interlude helps to transition to the end of the book. The sermons themselves are set in a monologue style with the old monk addressing the resident monks of the monastery. Even though a narrator occasionally guides the reader, the book was not intended to be a fictional dialogue or a narration throughout. The intent is this: an old monk teaches the dharma through his sermons and it is given to the reader to take the role of the student who has requested a dharma teaching. It is supposed that the old monk comes out of his quarters, week after week, and begins to teach the dharma by way of a short sermon.

The reader may note that most of the sermons are Buddhist in flavor while others reflect the wisdom of yoga and still others a bit of mythology from the Hindu tradition. As author, I find no difficulty in the format but for some readers this format may pose as a problem in terms of staying loyal to one’s path. For others the difficulty may be one of keeping the purity of the teaching or even remaining faithful to the tradition of a certain lineage. Or a problem may be imagined due to what may be seen as not authentic Buddhism or yoga, etc. Most religious, and sometimes spiritual traditions claim to be complete in themselves and require no additional knowledge or information for study. Sometimes, they may also require no deviation from generally accepted writings and authors. However, to acquaint oneself with other paths and their traditions, even mixing traditions for literary or informational purposes, may well be serving the dharma with no offenses intended or made. The reader is encouraged to overcome any emotional alliances with one’s tradition while reading this book. When taking up the spiritual quest there is often a need to explore and expand one’s most heart-felt path for purposes of clarity and even added direction. The Sermons is about the search for knowledge of the spiritual path through reflection and action.

For many students and practitioners, this book will stimulate what may be an innate need to more fully understand what is sometimes called our spiritual life.

Most of the sermons do not require prior knowledge of Buddhism, yoga or Hinduism, but a few surely will. It may be helpful to peruse the glossary first.

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This book is dedicated to Milarepa.

Obeisance

Obeisance to all the teachers

who teach us truly,

who teach us the dharma,

who teach us the wondrous path.

Homage to the gurus

who lead by their living,

who live by their understanding,

who understand the wondrous path.

Honor to the wise ones

who send compassion to all,

who give knowledge of the three times,

who guide by the principles of the wondrous path.

Oh! How glorious, How wonderful indeed!

Prelude

It was a very, very long time ago, in the valley beneath Snow Mountain, that an old man wandered, month after month, year after year. Not surprisingly, he was known by the valley locals as the ‘wandering old monk’ and he was often seen walking, mostly alone. Sometimes he would be heard repetitiously whispering a mantra but most of the time he would just be walking, slowly and silently, as if in a deep meditation. When he needed shelter he would find a cave or an out-cropping and stay there until he wandered again. Sometimes, weather permitting, he would just stay under trees for days at a time. Occasionally, when he came upon a village, he would beg a meal. As was customary, the giving patron would usually request a dharma teaching as a meal was offered. In return, the old monk would speak of the dharma but usually he would not say much, just a short sermon. He seemed content enough though and often the villagers would admit among themselves that the spiritual life must be the good life if one could be happy while just wandering and begging.

Early one cloudless morning in the high summertime while walking near the great river Saraswati, the old monk came upon the monastery where he first heard the dharma teachings. He was still in his youth then but was affected deeply by his master, a venerable old yogi, who taught him the dharma. He stopped for a moment to visualize and to remember his