Online Study and Discussion on Spiritual Cultivation using Zen or Tao or other teachings

The online event is for people to meet, discuss, share and help each other for Spiritual Growth, Cultivation and Network.
We know that we have body, mind and spirit. The body is tangible and will go through birth, sickness, aging, and death. It also has duality, there are men and women and it lives in the physical world. Mind is intangible, but still has duality. There are positive/negative thoughts. The spirit is intangible and beyond duality. Lao Tzu used Tao to refer to the origin of creation and the pure spirit within each one of us. Buddha called the pure spirit as Buddha nature, meaning everyone can reach Buddhahood or enlightenment. It is referred to as the image of God in the Bible and spirit of Allah in the Koran. The more modern terms can be pure awareness or pure consciousness.
Even though there are different names, they all point to the same pure nature within us.
The analogy of sun and clouds is one of my favourites. The pure nature can be likened to the sun, which is always emitting light regardless of sunny days, cloudy days or stormy days. The vexations such as anger, resentment, greed, ignorance, attachment to fame, possessions...etc. can be likened to clouds that can temporarily obscure the light from the pure nature. However, once they are blown away, the light or wisdom from the pure nature will shine again.
Spiritual cultivation is the journey to awaken to the pure nature within us and how to blow away clouds of delusions to let the wisdom or light to flow from the pure nature without hindrance, which lead us to a life with joy, ease and love while living in this dualistic world.

We use Buddha's Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, Tao Te Ching, Zen/Chan Patriarchs teachings such as Platform Sutra of Sixth Patriarch, Mazu DaoYi Zen teachings, Discourse On Entering The Tao of Sudden Enlightenment, Bodhidharma's Zen teachings, "Trust in Mind" by Zen/Chan Third Patriarch Seng Can, Zen Treatise on the Supreme Vehicle by Fifth Patriach...etc. as a starting point and are open to any other teachings, such as those from Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Lao Tzu ...etc. and life experiences and wisdom from within each one of us.

It's a good chance for any one who is interested to study, understand and share understandings and how to apply in our life to reveal great wisdom from our true/Buddha nature.

We have done the translation ourselves to reflect the true meaning of the original text as accurately as possible. We welcome any suggestions during the discussion.

Welcome to join us even if you haven't attended previous sessions as the discussion is quite flexible and any topic in previous texts can be discussed if needed.
If you use browser to open meeting URL, remember to allow access to your microphone and camera when asked.
Please mute your microphone if you're not speaking when there are background sounds to prevent them being introduced into the meeting.

Looking forward to see you all in the discussions.