Bante's funeral

The funeral was streamed on FB.

I saw Vajramati do an offering. I will be forever grateful to him for teaching me meditation and guiding me for many years. I saw Parami talk, spent time with her brilliance. Spent time with others as well to my benefit, I greatly appreciate it. Forgive me if I couldn't hear some of the other speakers.

Subhuti said (paraphrasing) that Buddhism hasn't, as a whole, responded to consumerism and materialism. China tried to snuff out Buddhism in Tibet. It did not succeed. These two things make the 20th century a bad century for Buddhism.

Sangharakshita is complex, but the order of the TBC and TBO was founded through him, and that is quite a legacy. It was born the same year the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order was founded, later to be named Triratna because it wasn't just in the west! Thank you Bante.

Aloka on YouTube

Aloka is a major artist in the TBC revolution, who's art I recently blogged a photo of.  Someone showed me these videos, which I've enjoyed watching.


Friendship:



Not Painting:



On Death


Go ahead on click on the ones that look interesting to you, pop it out to YouTube and get out of my blog if you want more.

Also, click on this to see a video about one of his paintings,  Sangharakshita as Mythic Psychopomp or just the photo here.

Check out more on the Clear Vision Trust page on YouTube.

Meditation Drop In starts March 25th

Announcing a new meditation drop in night in Queens New York City, starting Sunday March 25th at 6:30 pm (EST).

Starting Sunday night March 25th, we are going to be starting a drop in at our home in Kew Garden Hills, Flushing, Queens, New York City.  Please e-mail me to join in.  This is intended to be a weekly sit, come once, come often.

If you live in a neighborhood near Kew Garden Hills, please come:  Briarwood, Flushing, Jamaica, Jamaica Estates, Forest Hills, Rego Park, Pomonok.  You may even travel further, there is parking on the street, and mass transit available.  You may come from where ever you want!  Please come and meditate.

Travel Directions:  E or F Subway to Union Turnpike, take 46 to Main Street.  Click on the link above to e-mail me about the drop in address.  (I'm not publishing my home address.)

Here is a google map of Union Turnpike and Main Street in Queens, New York City.  This is near where I live.

Beginners are welcome.

We plan to gather, meditate, and then discuss the dharma.  That may include listening to speakers, audio talks, reading, reporting in, and anything else that advances our practices.  You can just be curious about Buddhism, you don't have to be a committed Buddhist.  What ever the group wants, as long as it builds sangha and our practices.

Please come if you think this would be useful for you, and you feel you would be a positive addition to this group.

It will be Triratna Buddhist Community inspired group.  While I am not yet ordained into the order, I have been in the ordination process for many years, and feel I could facilitate and lead a meditation drop in based on the vision of the TBC.  My preceptor agrees, and has suggested the drop in, and I'm following through on a dream I have had for a long time.  Please come, and invite anyone you think would benefit from this.

Here's how to say the new name

More about name changes

The Western Buddhist Order was changed to Triratna Buddhist Order. Instead of Friends of the Triratna Buddhist Order, Sangharakshita and the order want to just call it Triratna Buddhist Community. So instead of the WBO and FWBO, there's the TBO and TBC. I await the offical announcements on FWBO/TBMSG News. Thus I have relied on e-mails to the order, which were shared by order members.

A friend had trouble adding the first R in, because there's a mantra that has a similar word. Here is a link to the mantra.

More on change to follow.

Another order member blogs...