Zen

An interesting commentary on the new liquor product called Zen.

No to censorship

No to censorship
Originally uploaded by riopel2dali

Kumbum - Milarepa

Kumbum - Milarepa
Originally uploaded by Vessantara

Vessantara has a lovely public slide show of his trip to Tibet, that I just looked at it. Click on the name Vessantara under the photo to go and look at it.

More Pujas!

I just found on Vessantara's beautiful web site, 5 more pujas to female Buddhas!

I'm also going to try the readings of Sangharakshita's books, like Widsom Beyond Words, in MP3 format.

How cool is that!

I'm following through blogs, Maia. She got to meet Johnathan Edwards! How cool is that.

Vajramati and Sita

Vajramati and Sita
Originally uploaded by sravacitta

We had mitra study last night at Sita's. I really appreciate these two.

I've been listening to two talks in my car as I drive. The first is an excellent talk by Kulananda called Mindfulness of Reality. I know mindfulness can be broken into 4 parts, the last and most slippery one being about reality. This clear talk is just the kind of talk that I tend to think, "and that's the heart of the Dharma." Until I find the next one.

To develop friendship with Vajramati, is to also deepen one's knowledge of Padmasambhava. There happens to be an excellent talk on Padmasambhava by Davavira It is at once very personal and architypal. A very authentic talk that evoke authenticity. It's very poetic, and forecefully given at times. It has me chanting the mantra at work, where I'm a little in the closet about being a Buddhist out of consideration of my clients and my role as being there for them--my usual mistake. I hide myself out of misguided projected rationalization on others--probably out of fear of rejection and difficulty.

Everything--my psychoanlaytic training at ICP, the people that support me in the GFR process, all my spiritual friends, my friends period, scream out to me "BE AUTHENTIC!!!" It's weird that at age 40, that is what I'm hearing. Am I so artificial. Can I even be natural around my own lovely children? I hope so, and that is the ideal to which I lovingly strive for and lovingly accept when I fall short.

I saw a great/disturbing video on you tube, about animal fur. I'm starting to gather momentum toward reducing the use of milk products, egg products, I don't think vegetarianism is enough for me. I need to move towards being a vegan. Meanwhile I get more and more out of step from my fellow Americans and the intensely meat eating culture.

I found the video on a new blog I'm checking out call "no impact man." File under taking the not given envirnmentally. What world will I be leaving my kids?

Quote from Sangharakshita

If we just regard the spiritual community as a convenience for our own spiritual development, we are living in accordance with a very narrow spiritual ideal. This narrow ideal becomes self-defeating, because you cannot really help yourself without helping others. If you think in term of helping yourself to the exclusion of helping others, you have a very rigid idea of self and others, and as long as that fixed view is there you can’t even gain Enlightenment for yourself.

Quote

To file under the category of perfection of energy and vigor, from Theodore Riek (not to be confused with Wilhelm Reich, another psychoanalytic writer) from his essay "New Ways in Psycho-analytic Technique":

"It is easy to be energetic, less easy to know whither our energy is to be directed."

NYC sangha 2005

NYC sangha 2005
Originally uploaded by sravacitta

I'm not there, but it's a good photo.

The Inner Pillar

Jennifer Sokolov has a lovely web site, that collects her interests together. Available on the web site is her essay on how Pilates can support your meditation practice, from Tricycle.

video sangha

I've just begun to explore the interesting web site video sangha. I really laugh at Karuna Carpenter, plus there was a video about whether an OM thinks she's enlightened, and one by a fellow who met Bante, and what that was like--all very interesting videos. But there seems to be much much more. I think our sangha needs to put something up so we are known somehow. I have some videos of Vajramati on You tube. Vajramati said when he was at the convention many people mentioned they'd seen it, which is interesting. It's a way of connecting and seeing what's going on with people.

mens GFR retreat 2007 09 30

mens GFR retreat 2007 09 30
Originally uploaded by sravacitta

The wonderful men who were on my retreat! I felt so lonely in the car driving back.

Arjava & Bodhana

Arjava & Bodhana are the correct spelling of ex-Buddy and ex-Dave's new names. Congratulations again! Well done gentlemen.

quote

From p. 78 of What Makes You Not A Buddhist by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse:

"When some of us become parents ourselves, even a little understanding of interdependence effectively softens our expectations of our children, which they may interpret as love. Without that understanding, we might have good intentions to love and care for our children, but our expectations and demands can become unbearable."

Retreat

I have asked for ordination in the FWBO. Once a year in North America, there is a week long retreat, aimed at helping people move towards ordination. This year the retreat was at Aryaloka, a beautiful retreat center in New Hampshire. Aside from meditation and spiritual friendship, the retreat's study theme was the ten pillars, the precepts you take upon ordination, the basic ethical principles.

The retreat was lead by Dhammarati, Nagabodhi, and was attended by many order members, including Vajramati. There were many illustrious fellow retreatants as well, including a photographer, who has a good audio file about why he's a buddhist.

Also on the retreat was a a culmination that lead to a public ordination on Saturday. I'm going to wait for the correct spelling to write the names of ex-Buddy and ex-Dave. But to my count there were 28 order members, 30 after they were publicly ordained.

It was a historic event for the American order, because for the first time an American born preceptor ordained Americans. Now the order transcends nationality, but in terms of development of an order and taking on a kind of national identity as a kind of mark of maturity, it was a historic event.

Maia, the baby was there at the private ordination, I got to finally hold, and smile at the baby I've been reading about.

Unfortunately during my retreat, there's been some monk led rebellion in Myanmar that has been brutally repressed.

Four Seals

There's an excellent book by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse called What Makes You Not A Buddhist. In it he elaborates on the four seals.

The Four Seals according to him are as follows:

1. All compound things are impermanent.
2. All emotions are pain.
3. All things have no inherent existence.
4. Nirvana is beyond all concepts.

These are all very deep and intense truths which he elaborates in his book, challenging many assumptions about American culture and the American dream. Reading it on retreat has been a deep and profound experience for me.

puja!

I love and have done the standard puja (which you can get at the FWBO-News resources site). But today I found my 4th puja, which is a mindfulness of breathing (Anapanasati) puja by Viveka. Yippie.

Free Book Content

From Kulananda's book on Wildmnid, about the ocean of interrelatedness.

Interesting movie

When I told a work friend I correspond with a dharma brother in prison, he said, "of course you do." Like it's in character to be compassionate that way. I think he was a bit sarcastic. I'm proud he said that, though.

Now there's a movie about dharma in prison. The NY Times reviews the movie and you can watch the trailer.