
Hoza practice during Sunday service of RKLA Buddhist Center
In Rissho Kosei-kai, we have a unique Buddhist group practice called Hoza (JPN: 法座 hōza) where members openly share the stories of struggles, pain, suffering, or joy from their everyday life and how they are trying to make these difficult experiences an aspect of their learning experience as a Buddhist. One of the challenges to attend a hoza is how to listen well. There are a few important mindsets that help us to become a good listener in hoza sessions:
Listen for the sake of holding space for people for comfortably share about their thoughts and feelings associated with their difficult experiences. Imagine that a story of suffering you are listening is as if it is your own story.
When listening, pay attention to a speaker's suffering so as to feel the oneness between you and the speaker. (Recognition of suffering leads to the arising of your compassion.)
When feeling oneness with the speaker, sincerely pray that the speaker will clarify her own feelings and thoughts so as to awaken to her true wish and to be liberated. Sending a prayer with your good intention generates the power of blessings. It is this blessings that help the speaker to practice for her liberation. Listening rather than giving advice is essential to this.
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