This morning, a sermon about Buddhist practice in a Unitarian Universalist context, from the Rev. Wayne Arnason. There has been a recent buzz around UUs exploring Buddhism, including much of the Summer 2007 issue of the UUWorld Magazine, and the much respected work of Rev. James Ishmael Ford, who blogs at Monkey Mind.

What strikes me about this sermon is how Rev. Arnason describes his everyday practice in very real terms, in such an accessible manner as to demystify this very spiritual mindset, while at the same time deepening my understanding of it. Rev. Arnason serves as co-minister at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Rocky River, Ohio.

Four Impossible Things Before Breakfast

by The Rev. Wayne B. Arnason

Every morning after I do my Zen meditation practice, I vow to do four impossible things before going on to exercise and breakfast. The four impossible things include saving all beings, extinguishing all desires, mastering all opportunities to realize Buddhist teachings, and attaining enlightenment. The way I make these promises is through chanting the Great Vows, which in different languages and in different translations within different languages are chanted around the world in Buddhist communities and monasteries at least once in every day.

In the version used at my sangha at Zen Mountain Monastery in New York, they are chanted at the end of each day in the monotone style that is part of Japanese Zen liturgy. They sound like this:

“Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them,

“Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them,

“The dharmas are boundless, I vow to master them,

“The Buddha Way is unattainable, I vow to attain it.”

Now, is this goofy or what??

(Read on … )