train your brain

In a way, it's thrilling to see that in Train Your Brain to Get Happy: The Simple Program That Primes Your Grey Cells for Joy, Optimism, and Serenity that in chapter 5 Meditation is seen as one of the key ways.

Now I'm not sure if happiness is the goal, I mean, you can get happier with more mindfulness, but you can also be more aware of other's suffering and it's hard to keep the deep shadow of that off your happiness. I do think life is more meaningful, more vivid, clear and full.

I think there's been a revolution in embracing secular mindfulness by the mental health community, from Marsha Linehan, and on and on. And that's really cool. I certainly use it in my job.

But for my money, going into the BuddhaDharma adds so much more to mindfulness. I feel the same way about Mindfulness For Dummies (Book + CD). It's a wonderful thing if you've used mindfulness. But that's getting off at the first stop of Buddhism, why not go along for the whole ride.

That's what I want personally, but of course I believe in pluralism and the individual respect that everyone is responsible for their own spiritual path.

4 sights

I can trace my conditions of meditation and learning about the BuddhaDharma back to the Buddha.

I've been thinking about the 4 sights. The Buddha may or may not have lead a sort of hedonistic lifestyle, but the legend is that his father gave him different pools for different colored lotus flowers, and different "palaces", one that had female musicians. I bet it was fun. But he saw an old person and a sick person and a dead person and a renunciant, a person who had gone forth. Now most people see these things all the time. But Siddhartha Gotama went a bit further, followed his thoughts, developed them. How can I get beyond these problems, transcend them? Can you really transcend them? I think the Buddha did. I think the Buddha saw deeply and pursued his mission. He was given the keys to the ashram twice when he surpassed the teachers of the time, and he passed. Na, there's something more.

The Buddha had some kind of follow through, he was driven in a certain kind of way. You got to admire that. You know, maybe Jesus or Mohammad are your guys, but still, you got to admire the Buddha. (I admire the other guys.)

There are lots of spiritual idols, heroes.

I think about Sangharakshita going forth. He gave up everything, and went off into India. He wanted to go to Sri Lanka but since he'd given up his passport, he couldn't. I wonder if the Triratna community would have been more Theravadan if that had happened. I'm sure he could have gotten a passport if he wanted to.

The Chutzpah of starting a new Buddhist order.

For manjuvajra to come to Boston and then to found Ayraloka. For him to call upon his friends to come and help him.

For someone to come to NYC and try to start up a Buddhist community, like Vajramati did and does. To devote yourself to the good of the Dharma. To teach so many people meditation.

Then I was open to it. My friend signed me up for the class! I'd watched my stepfather meditate twice a day for many years. I was relatively open and free to appreciate it.

Bhante Quote

"To begin with, when we come - I might even say staggering along - to out first meditation class, maybe from the office, maybe from home or wheresoever, we don't have any real individuality. We are usually just a bundle of conflicting desires, even conflicting selves, loosely tied together with the thread of a name and an address! Desires and selves, both conscious and unconscious, so what does mindfulness do? Even the very limited mindfulness that we practice when we practice Mindfulness of Breathing, it helps bring them together to bind them together; it at least tightens the string a little bit, so that they aren't so loose in the middle; it makes more of a definite bundle of these different cravings and selves, more of a recognizable identifiable bundle. And if we practice it a bit more, carry it a bit further, the practice of mindfulness helps to create real unity and real harmony between the different aspects, as they have now become, of our self. In other words, it is through mindfulness that we begin to develop, begin to create, true individuality."

(from A System of Meditation)

p. 79 drawing by Saddharaja

From Going For Refuge

This Being, That Becomes: The Buddha's Teaching on Conditionality (Buddhist Wisdom in Practice)

Quote

"we live at the quivering center of a web of conditions so complex that while we can believe that it is all dependently arisen, exactly how or why any particular thought or feeling arises is mostly beyond our capacity to understand." p19 This Being, That Becomes by Dhivan Thomas Jones

Udemy

I've been toying with creating a course on Udemy, but of course I'm too busy with children, work and my own personal life. But this might be a place I could go to teach some Buddhism, which is really a presumptuous thing to do, but I really think teaching is the best way to learn. I might have to do it if someone else doesn't step up and present an introduction to Buddhism class.

There's not much Buddhism at Udemy, but there is a world literature class, and there's a lecture on Han Shan by Andrew Neuendorf. The talk is 20 minutes. Andrew Neuendorf's qualification is that he has a MFA in Creative Writing. Seems he's been a teacher in college for 11 years. There's also a lecture on Wang Wei, which I haven't listened to.

saw this rupa at a fair, he wanted $170

Have you ever seen this mudra?

From Going For Refuge

beautiful?

Chapter 5

Buddhanussati is the imaginative practice of imagining the Buddha. It was mentioned by Pingiya (search his name to get the scriptural source).

I remember once at a practice day we were asked to go out and buy something to put on the shrine (that we could keep later) and to imagine the Buddha with us. I felt a sort of awe at a greater consciousness and empathy, it was hard to just walk past people on the street, and disengage. I bought bubbles, which I later gave to my kids.

Also sometimes when I drive, I try to imagine I'm the Buddha.

I have read a lot on the Buddha, done retreats on the Buddha jewel, chanted the Sakyamuni mantra. I think this is an interesting practice. I have never really read a development of the practice, except in Ratnaguna's lovely book, The Art of Reflection.

The Art of Reflection

On p. 105 Ratnaguna discusses how to work with ideals. Don't compare yourself and feel inferior. Just use it in your becoming.

Bhante quote

"A single smile of Beauty can bring about greater transformation than all the frowns of Righteousness."

P.292 The Essential Sangharakshita, (from The Religion of Art, p113).

Quote

"In owning up to my foolishness I liberated my natural flow of energy." p. 55, The Art of Reflection by Ratnaguna.

The art of reflection

I liked this book when in the first chapter Ratnaguna talks about papanca.

Reflection and doing nothing isn't a new idea to me. In talking to me about my solitary retreat, my friend suggested that I do nothing, not even meditate.

I've been thinking a lot lately that quitting blogging, twitter, Facebook, and other social media might be the best way I could simplify and open up my life to more spaciousness. I'm afraid the mello steve that move to NYC 21 years ago has succumbed to the hyper kinetic New Yorker intense way of being. Rushing is a way of life, where people honk before the light changes so you look up and see the light change.

I do like written public journal like reflection.

Anyway, chapter one was a good chapter. I feel like this is a ground breaking book, and that it's reinforcing the obvious. I don't know if I've been indoctrinated into the TBC/O way of thinking, which also encourages one to break the mould and think independently.

Ratnaguna on The Art of Reflection

The Art Of Reflection from Clear Vision Trust on Vimeo.

I got the book yesterday and started reading.

Looking around there are other videos of Ratnaguna



While I was eating my leftovers omelet this morning, with leftover beans salad from the falafel place, I watched this (I know, multitasking, not good...) and really enjoyed it. Here's what I wrote as a comment on video sangha:

"Awesome. I really like the idea of turning inward, and I hope to convince my patients in psychotherapy that turning inward will be, in part, a solution to what ever reason they came in for.

I just got his book, and I've listened to his talks, but I thought I'd just see what else is out there about him, and I'm really pleased to have run across this lovely video that has a whole talk! Thank you."

He's also got some awesome talks on Free Buddhist Audio, where you can learn the Dharma and get to know Ratnaguna (as much as you can by watching a video and listening to a talk). I listened to his talk, again, on Shinran, as I drove through the night in Virginia. It helped me to keep awake while I transported precious cargo from visiting my grandparents in Georgia, coming home to NYC.

watched this the other day

Lokabhandu discusses his early experiences with Bhante:

4 book comments

So I'm in the process of trying to do a review of this book for Wildmind: Mindfulness For Dummies (Book + CD). I'm not against this kind of secular mindfulness. I think you can apply it to everything: stress, relaxation, pain management. It's a good thorough book.

Speaking of application of mindfulness, I've been reading two Thomas Bien books, applying mindfulness to psychotherapy and happiness. The Buddha's Way of Happiness: Healing Sorrow, Transforming Negative Emotion, & Finding Well-Being in the Present Moment is the book I was sent, and then that made me realize I had Mindful Therapy: A Guide for Therapists and Helping Professionals on my book shelf. There's a lot of good stuff in these books. I love the integration of psychotherapy and Buddhism.

And finally, I've finished Awakening Kindness which is a lovely exploration of metta. You can't get enough of this stuff, reading a book helps me to put my mind into thinking about this head space.

I've just bought The Art of Reflection (Buddhist Wisdom in Practice) and I look forward to reading this book. Supposedly it's the only book on reflection as a spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition of English language books. I can't verify that that, but I became interested in it when Vajramati had us reading an excerpt to discuss on a rare sangha night that I could actually attend.

Skydiving videos

Skydiving is a very spiritual thing. I went last summer. Here are some videos:

A little bit on the ground:



Walking to the plane, take off, and in the air over Long Island:



On the plane and just before jumping, you see the cameraman.



I fall out the plane



A bit of a remix of the falling



Open the chute:



Landing:



After landing:

Poem

Are They Shadows

BY SAMUEL DANIEL

Are they shadows that we see?
And can shadows pleasure give?
Pleasures only shadows be
Cast by bodies we conceive
And are made the things we deem
In those figures which they seem.

But these pleasures vanish fast
Which by shadows are expressed;
Pleasures are not, if they last;
In their passing is their best.
Glory is most bright and gay
In a flash, and so away.

Feed apace then, greedy eyes,
On the wonder you behold;
Take it sudden as it flies,
Though you take it not to hold.
When your eyes have done their part,
Thought must length it in the heart.


(thanks to Vishvapani for posting this poem)

spiritual materialism

We have big selves and small contracted selves. The small contracted self wants to get ordained, to check that off this list, want to acquire a new name and meditation practice, join the club.

My big self wants to go deeper into my practice, is using the ordination process to go deeper, to challenge myself.

Dhammarati always says, it's the gold not the stamp on the gold that makes it valuable (quoting Burns supposedly).

One friend couldn't ask for ordination--would warp them too much, they have such an urge to please others.

Another friend said they would do nothing to get ordained. I wasn't so sure they were so independent.

Another friend says you don't have to do anything to get ordained. I think you do have to deepen your practice and connect with the Boddhisattva ideal, and work for the good of the Dharma in some way, any way, but some way, so in a way I do think you have to do something.

My preceptor says sometimes a person does everything right, but then it turns out they were just putting on a show. There are stories where people gave ordination and then later the person somehow showed they were not really ready for it. Bhante is supposed to have said, "if you're going to ordain them in 6 months, why not do it now?"

Why do I want to join the Triratna Buddhist Community? I have to be honest and say that being part of the club, hanging out with other order members, would be conducive to deepening my practice. But isn't in that idea something to suggest that I am not complete in and of myself. "Look at yourself man, you've got a lot of work to do." Yes. I could go it alone. And I do have the community's support, whether or not I get to go on order conventions. But what I respect about the order is the spiritual depth. Joining the order is not about getting, it's about giving. True, but you can also get. Others get from others in the order, no problem there. Merely to join, that's not why you get in. Someone and others witness effective going for refuge. What is effective going for refuge? There's a kind of momentum in one's practice, it doesn't get sidetracked. It does all these things like meditation, ethics, study and fellowship, but it also has a kind of inner fire, the organizing principle is the three jewels. How are the three jewels not my organizing principle. I go to false refuge to a few things, but don't I have a practice that is sending me on my way? I think I do, but it needs to be witnessed, and I could always go deeper.

The harder the ordination process the stronger the order is. It's a trial, that makes one stronger. My impatience maybe spur me on towards the good or not, it's up to me.

Yet I tell you now, I wish to go deeper. Not for the sake of acquisition. Not for the opportunities, a new name, a new meditation practice. But for the depth, shortening the distance between me and the Buddha, to be kind to others, to help the sangha grow. Not to get something, but to have my close spiritual friend to witness my real progress, which is a kind of external validation, but never the less, would be good. It has to be obvious to others, and that really means it's there.

Vidyajoyti

Petal to the metal

Petal to the Metal

There were 2 movies that very much influenced my early thinking, that I saw as a prepubescent impressionable child. One is Animal House. I wanted to go to college because of Animal House. Peer pressure was another reason. Everyone I knew was going. Of course when I went off to college, I was anti-frat, and Animal House didn’t have any meaning for me. I guess it’s a sense of playfulness that I really liked about Animal House. I think play is really important. But I digress.

The second movie that influenced my impressionable mind was Smokey and The Bandit. In this movie, Burt Reynolds plays a foot loose and fancy free man who has a fast car. They get paid to make a quick truck delivery and he runs a distraction from the truck. Police go after him and thus the truck gets to keep speeding. The Reynolds character drives a Trans Am. I still think that’s a cool car, maybe some day I will try driving one. I wonder if I could rent one for a week. I don’t really need to own one, it’s probably a gas guzzler. Anyway, I digress.

One of the ideas in Smokey and the Bandit is, “put the petal to the metal,” meaning put the accelerator to the ground of the car. In those days I suppose carpeting wasn’t standard the way it is now.

So for me putting the petal to the metal in my spiritual practice is an interesting idea. I always think about Bhante’s point that a little effort is like stretching a rubber band. It just snaps back. Be he also talks about trying to split a bolder in half. If you hit it 19 times, do those times not count, when it splits on the 20th? So in another way, I wonder if you can’t make real progress as a worldling. Can I take advantage to what has been given to me. Some spiritual leaders will say ordinary life provides good opportunities for practice.

I say, put the petal to the metal.

flowers on a shrine

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Honeyball Sutta

Another theme gleaned from Free Buddhist Audio and Triratna Buddhist News, is that the so called Honeyball Sutta has been read a bit. I enjoyed the talk by Maitreyabandhu yesterday and I'm going to listen to other talks today. I'm having a practice day of meditation and Dharma study at the Rego Park Buddhist Center in Queens NYC, USA. It's a warm up for the practice day for the NYC sangha in 2 weeks.

Here is a video of Subhuti talking about the sutta:


Watch nlbc - honeyball sutta 9th april.mp4 in Activism & Non-Profit  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

rereading "Re-imagining the Buddha"

Going to study the essay that came out in December 2010.

So I've been rereading it. Looked up the Nagaloka statue.

It's not a giant Buddha.

Makes me also think Dharma Burgers, the way advertising uses Buddhist images to sell things.

Anyway, so there's a lot in Re-imagining the Buddha, but the most important thing is that it puts the Pali Cannon and the Buddha above later developments in importance, which isn't really a surprise. Supposedly someone asked in India, about the TBC, "what yana do you practice?" The fellow answered, "Buddhayana".

So this essay is also accompanied by talks by one of the movement's leaders, Subhuti. You can find them on free buddhist audio. Click on this sentence for a lead meditation based on the Tiratna Vandana.

Photo

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opportunity cost

In every decision there is an opportunity cost. By doing one thing, you can't do another thing. And by having children, I can't do this excellent thing at the Rubin, March 5th. I wish I could sleep under some artwork there, and then have my dreams interpreted the next day by a psychoanalyst. Alas, it's my weekend with the kids, and I'm going to honor my commitment.

That got me thinking. If we are to simplify our life, so we can devote it to the spiritual life, isn't having children about the worst thing you can do? Children and having a career are about the most complicating thing you can do in your life.

And yet, I can't see my children as a hindrance, I'm not about to name my son Rahula, which some say means hindrance. In the Mahayana you're allowed to be of the world, be in the world, it's more your approach to things. Everything is an opportunity to be spiritual.

And yet, setting up circumstances to support the spiritual life is not to be underestimated. Having free time for friendship, for meditation, study, and working for the good of the Dharma is unquestionably important to the spiritual life.

Patience is important in the spiritual life. I think with children, I just have to wait to enter, time wise, more fully into the spiritual life as defined by meditation, friendships and working for the good of the Dharma. Sometimes it's good to build up tension in waiting. And anyway, it's dualism to think spiritual/unspiritual.

Leshan Giant Buddha

Leshan Giant Buddha
Originally uploaded by Wilson Loo

Leshan Giant Buddha

Leshan Giant Buddha
Originally uploaded by Sarmu

I want to go here sometime, been looking at the list of big Buddha statues on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Colossal_Buddha_statues

empathy

recipe

Retreat oatmeal: because there are a lot of people you can get an exciting array of add on ingredients. From nuts to fruits, to milks and yogurt, plus sweetener.

I favor all the nuts, fruit, soy or rice milk, yogurt but no sweetener. Such a wonderful way to start the day.

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Dana

The Power of Half: One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back

I got a review copy of a above book where a family starts giving away their wealth and working with poverty issues. They sell their big house and move into a smaller one and then give the money away for poverty problems. Occasional volunteerism wasn't enough for them, and part of the journey is what is the most effective way to give. Philanthropy is not easy. They were leading a yuppy lifestyle, and then decided to address problems. The book has sections with the teenage daughter writing her perspective. The book seems to be sincere--the author talks about losing friends, and admitting he might have gotten a little self righteous at times about what he was doing. But he did it anyway and he provides a honest account of a incredible journey of upper middle class generosity.

I think giving more than money, like energy, time, an ear. To not rush a friend who wants to get something off their chest, and who has called at an inconvenient time, but you decide, what the heck, I'll drop everything and listen with my whole being. You don't have to hit a home run all the time you can bunt the runner over sometimes.

I have a friend who has devoted spare time to doing a prison ministry. Amazing. Another who donated time raising money and fixing up Aryaloka, which used to be a sad building until came along. Another takes photos for the amazing work in India with the ex-Dalits. Another works to build a sangha in New York City. Another is making a retreat center for his sangha, and runs that sangha. Another learned to teach yoga so he could bring it back to the sangha. I know a few people who raise money for the Dalits in India--amazing work.

Giving in general is good, but giving the gift of the Dharma is seen as best. Spending a weekend with the poor is great, but a weekend leading a retreat is great because it deepens people's spiritual practice. I don't think work for others is diminished by saying working for the good for the Dharma is better. If you truly believe in the project of enlightenment, then helping others on the way is the best thing you can do. (OK, so maybe that's a bold statement that I can't justify right now.)

The spiritual life is a balance between going for your own spiritual development and trying to help others. It's no good just working on yourself. And it's no good just throwing yourself into others problems--that can lead to idiot compassion. Everyone has to find their own balance. Some people are better in the world. Some people need more alone time and alone work to build them up to be int he world. Everyone is different.

With children, I'm mostly devoted to my children and working for them, and working to help my patients. I'm a worldling, who often gets swept up in the tide of events, and yet I feel my life is infused with the Dharma. I see my life through the terms of the Dharma. I've not renounced the world yet. But I go on retreat to deepen my practice and I hope some day to turn more towards working for the good of the Dharma more directly.

I find it courageous when someone comes through New York and they've quit their job and they're on a Dharma tour and they don't know what they're going to do when they get back. Amazing. I know a few people who have spent their life in the TBC movement. Amazing. I don't know if you literally have to go forth, like Sangharakshita did, and just have a few possessions, and wonder all over India, begging for his meals. Amazing stuff. But when I challenge the way I see the world, when I challenge myself to walk into scary grounds and challenge myself in other ways, I metaphorically go forth.

There's a great talk a friend gave, I hope they can get it up on FBA some day. Maybe I need to volunteer to go up there and get some talks off the hard drive. Sometimes you can see other's projects, things you wish others would do, but alas, what I do is the most important thing.

So Dana is one of the 6 perfections. I work to cultivate a generous spirit by meditation, noble friendships, reflection and appreciating the exemplification of my fine Dharma brothers and sisters.

retreat

I've been on a million retreats, and at this moment, I think I need a solitary retreat. But I made the most of the precious opportunity and it's given me the meditation feeling of deeper meditation, clarified and boosted my motivation for my spiritual life.

The retreat was on the 6 perfections, we did the last three: virya, dyana, prajna. I could riff on these three virtues, energy, meditation and wisdom. Maybe I'll do that in further posts. I'm not with a internet connection these days, so I have to cadge one here and there.

I will note a cracking talk by Padmavajra on Virya.

So if you've never been on a retreat, I recommend going on one. The vegetarian food is good, the company is wonderful, being in nature is nurturing, having the peace and time to explore yourself in a warm and friendly environment is spectacular. We chant devotional stuff (optional) and meditate.

I feel more healthy, centered, connecting to what is important. I feel it brings out the best in me, and I feel very seen and appreciate by the people there. I'm seen for the person I want to be, less what I can do for others. My spiritual life is most at stake, and there's a felt sense that what ever individual I end up being is fine, conformity isn't valued.

There's a lot of discussion on this particular retreat, as we work through the experiences and concepts, and you get to know other people pretty well. In a way, that's what's so exhausting for me as a psychotherapist. I need to connect to myself, not so much others, but that's where I was so I made the best of it. And I realized I need to take more responsibility for my meditaiton practice and I need to take more time out to nourish myself. And I'm glad I could at least do that for a weekend up at Aryaloka.

I don't know you, but I recommend you take some time out and connect with yourself in a supportive way free from distractions. And if you've already done that, well, good job then, I hope it was good for you. Feel free to post a comment about your retreat experience! Or any thought!

BTW here's the most recent talk on FBA, and it's on a solitary retreat.

shrine

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Kuan Yin

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Aryaloka

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Guest Blog

Thank you, Steve, for inviting my experience. I parsed your suggestions into reflections on the Three Jewels--

On the Buddha:
I have been ‘officially’ practicing now for almost 3 and a half years, though my awareness of Buddhism started eleven years ago. I was living in Spain at the time, and a friend had invited me to sit in on a practice night. I also had a chance to see the Dalai Lama speak that year. But like all good things that take incubation before illumination, I left the experience generally unmoved, but astounded by the simple statement, “When the pupil is ready, the guru appears.”

And so, many years later I have had many teachers and continue to grow from my own experiences, learning to understand myself deeper and deeper over time. My relationship to the Buddha has changed as I have played with different understandings of the world and my place here. I remember when I was in San Francisco (at the beginning of my regular visits to the then FWBO), I struggled with the idea of bowing to the Buddha. I’ve never related much to the idea of Buddha as a man who lived, whose achievement could be inspirational. But, I grew to like the idea of Buddha-nature; of the idea that I was already enlightened; and that slowly over time I am merely working to lift the self-imposed veils from my experience.

At first that, too, was problematic—thinking, “If I am enlightened, why would I not just experience enlightenment with effort of will alone?”, “How did I get started on the wheel of suffering, if I started as an enlightened being?” But, over time, my understanding of this, too, has changed. I read a translation of the Dao De Jing by Ames and Hall that blew my mind wide open. Later, combining ideas from this book with those in Conversations with God by Walsch, I came to appreciate my participation in samsara as ‘expressed curiosity in knowing myself as Creator.’

Today, I am content with the understanding that my experience is exercise, and that my nature is rest. Perhaps if I become fully mindful, I may participate in a way unmotivated by greed, hatred or delusion. This is what I understand as Buddha-nature.

On the Dharma:
Not exactly my strong point! I can’t get myself to read too many books—especially the classics. Ugh! But I enjoy Sangharakshita’s writings a lot. And I have read some by Chöki Nyima Rinpoche that blew my mind. Actually—maybe I have done more reading than I thought… wow, now I’m kind of touched. Here I had been flogging myself [mindfully ;)] earlier this month, and now I realize my situation’s actually not that
bad. I suppose it’s important to me that I read what speaks to me, and moves me further along the path. Even if they’re not the books I think I “should” be reading, that doesn’t necessarily make them books I “shouldn’t” be reading. So, my top picks:

(1) The Essential Sangharakshita, by Sangharakshita

I really enjoy this book for its ability to capture nuggets of insight, and deliver them as tasty morsels. Good for food-for-thought—not too overwhelming, just right. Sangharakshita is playful in his delivery of important points for clarity in practice.

(2) A Few Words of Heart-to-Heart Advice, by Chöki Nyima Rinpoche
What a way with words! I feel like Chöki Nyima Rinpoche is able to pierce straight to the point with delicate words that both softly and directly communicate powerful truths. I feel like there is a precision with his words that is invaluable.

(3) Anger, by Thich Nhat Hanh
This book might have been my first introduction to true metta. He describes at one point treating one’s anger like an infant--holding it, caring for it. I remember the first time I read that I just cried and cried. I couldn’t imagine holding my pain with that much loving-kindness. Just introducing the very awareness of the possibility of deep, connective loving-kindness in a time of intense pain was transformative. It took me years to read that book—every 20 pages I’d start bawling my eyes out. Lol!! You can imagine—I wasn’t very motivated to finish!!! Nonetheless, it was a very good start to something integral to practice.

On the Sangha:
This is where I really feel my heart warm and my chest soften. Triratna has been an incredible resource when it comes to establishing and nurturing the spiritual community. I was first introduced to the then FWBO in San Francisco when a friend invited me to sangha night. I had been practicing qi gong and reiki for a few years by that point, and thought it was a natural progression to try proper meditation. There was a lot on my mind at the time, as I had just taken my national boards after graduation from Chinese medicine school. So, while waiting for my results, I started going to sangha night.

The joke is, I think ‘what initially brought me there was blah blah blah, but what kept me there was sangha [said with a very stern and sure face, like ‘another car sold!’]. But the truth is, isn’t what brought me there… sangha? It was a spiritual friend, inviting me to explore and accept the spiritual friendship of others, and to give the same of myself to others. The trouble was even after living on the West coast for four years, the New York attitude was still in my veins—I had no idea what community was!! Lol!! I used to pride myself in the ability to do everything by myself—to buy single serve anything in a city that served millions of single people doing whatever served their individual purpose in a given minute. It’s true! So, discovering community, like it were a new continent—I was unsure, but felt I was onto something….

Three Triratna centers later, I can say for sure, I was onto something!—something really, really good!! Each had their particular personalities, but the same feeling: warmth, interest and kindness. San Francisco in a lot of ways was like a beacon of information. I loved the dharma talks and all the handing off of the baton from one member to the next. With each discussion and introduction, was a new perspective on
the same truths. Spending time with the sangha was like discovering the many facets of a gem. Each beautiful, and a completely different approach from the other. I will always think fondly on the San Francisco community.

Next, I lived in NY and had the pleasure of practicing under Vajramati’s tireless effort. The NY sangha taught me much of moving the ‘idea’ of sangha into practice. While in SF I saw myself as having a place in the sangha (i.e. feeling I ‘belonged’), in NY I started forging a relationship to the individuals within the community. It was no longer a relationship of me to the whole, but me to that which makes up the whole—seeing the value and relationship of the members of the spiritual community as integral to the practice. I recognized I needed them as much as they needed me. That’s the spiritual community: Equanimity. A tremendous learning that resulted in my asking to become a mitra.

Today, I practice with the Seattle sangha. I miss the people in NY, but their dedication inspires me. The Seattle sangha is two to three times as large; and I appreciate being back with such a fullness in the room. Though we have only one ordained member as well [compared to NY], we get quite a few visitors from San Francisco and Vancouver. It also makes a huge difference that we have a place to our own here. It feels so good to have a space dedicated to learning and to practice. We have a small library and ‘book store,’ as well as a place for tea and treats. Somehow I feel Aryaloka seemed closer to NY than our closest retreat center here; but that may also be due to Danakamala’s welcoming invitation to forge stronger ties between the East coast communities. Nonetheless, I miss that sense of active connection to other communities—the reminder that though we are apart, we work towards the same goals, taking the same steps one at a time.

I feel fortunate and grateful for this opportunity to explore my relationship to the spiritual community. I’m not sure anything less than all the big-picture, close-up, absent, and knee-high experiences could have woken me out of my stupor. The reminder that we are participating, that we are seen and heard is integral to choosing how we want to participate. And watching how others participate is integral to learning how we want to participate. The sangha is this—the mirror and the reflection, an invaluable resource for the cultivation of loving kindness and our much-needed support towards enlightenment.

Thank you, to my teachers and to my friends.

--Melissa Dana
May all beings be well; may all being be happy.

talk I keep listening to

free buddhist audio : : free mp3s and texts on buddhism and meditation

Click on the above link to listen to a talk by Atula, who's been a Buddhist for 30 years and a psychotherapist for 20. He discusses what to do when a practice goes flat.

poem

My heart overflows
Squandering energy
I could use at a later time
I can't staunch the eruption
It's not disciplined, unruly
But is this display truly wasteful?
Won't the geyser erupt again?

Some day it will go dormant
Only evidence of a past will tarry.
Then even that will go
Into the great unknown
Of my lack of consciousness.

Sangharakshita on what book you should read

Of course he doesn't know you, but regarding Buddhism he favors the Pali cannon, Mahayana sutras and prefection of wisdom sutras.

Final comments on Endless Path

So I've finished up Rafe Martin's Endless Path: Awakening Within the Buddhist Imagination: Jataka Tales, Zen Practice, and Daily Life

As I've written before, I'm into the Jungian imaginary part of the spiritual life, and I found this a great addition to the stories of Buddhism. I think my favorite Jalaka tale that Martin told was "Gentle Heart", but I also liked "Five Weapons". I liked them all really, though some seem more experience far, the ones where you sacrafice your body (The Tigress and The Monkey King).

Rafe Martin quotes from the Talking Heads and other pop culture, and seems to be extremely well grounded in the Zen literature (as might be expected because that's his tradition). I got a good list of Zen books to read while reading this book, seems I have some more reading to do.

The illustrations are interesting and evocative, and it seems Richard Wehrman is a good friend of Martin's.

I'd say you could maybe read some of these stories to children (maybe not my favorite Gentle Heart, but others). Supposedly Rafe Martin is a storyteller and you can hire him to come tell a story.

The commentaries are interesting and organized around the 10 Paramitas. You can join me on retreat up at Aryaloka (or down if you're in Maine) in Newmarket New Hampshire.

He introduces the Jatakas and in the concluding chapter gives his own personal pithy understanding of the Bodhisattva vows, 4 noble truths, 8 fold path and the 10 paramitas.

So with regret I finished this lovely book, and highly recommend it to you if you're interested in some good story telling, some Dharma discussion from a Zen perspective and some good writing.

Akshobya at Vajrasana

Akshobya at Vajrasana
Originally uploaded by edburton

Akshobya for Achalapriya

Akshobya for Achalapriya
Originally uploaded by edburton

Invitation

I invite you to do a guest blog on my blog. I am interested in spiritual experience, not necessarily Buddhist, not necessarily deep.

I've decided to ask my friends to guest blog as well, when I see them in person.

May all being be happy, may all beings be well.

Vidyajyoti

Vidyajyoti's funeral took place on Thursday 6 January 2011 at the London Buddhist Centre.

Some good photos are on the website, including some of her artwork.

The Essential Sangharakshita

I've decided I'm not going to put images of books up any more, just hot links. But I wanted to put this last one up, because I frequently begin my day by reading this excellent book, that in my opinion, maybe 500 years from now will be a great Mahayana sutra. Right now it's an awesome book that just keeps slamming away at me. I've read it before and I've read most of it before it was all collected into one place, and I'm still constantly impressed by it, feel the intensity of his challenge to deepen my spiritual practice.

I've been sick with a nasty virus for 3 weeks, and before that I was going through some major changes in my life, which are ongoing and I don't want to go into them, but I've drifted a little.

Sangharakshita says you shouldn't make a vow unless you're already doing it, but I want to just say publically (though surely fairly ingnored), that I'm aspiring to reconnect with the bedrock of my spiritual practice--meditation. As Sangharakshita says in the System of Meditatation lecture, the Buddha's enlightenment experiences comes from meditation, he was meditating when he became enlightened. Meditation is key in a more serious practice.

It's OK to be an ethnic or a nominal Buddhist, but I want more, to follow the Buddha Dharma laid out by the Buddha and his inspired deciples. Of course ethical and Dharma spreading actions are very useful (vegetarianism is one among many practices that promote less harm in the world). Sangha and relationships with spiritual friends is very important. Studying the Dharma and understanding the tradition are important. Chanting inspired thoughts in a puja is very important. Reflecting and thinking in general and about the Dharma is very important.

And I am not saying anything about someone's practice, who doesn't meditate, but for me, meditation is the bedrock, the foundation of my practice. And I want to get more back to that. That is really important to me.

imagination

As I pointed out in my last blog post, there was a new paper by Subhuti about imagination, that has a lot of things in it. It clarifies a lot of stuff, which is good. It's a bit hard in the beginning to get into, like many of Subhuti's papers, but once I got past the cultural history of why were are a bit dead in the imagination at this point, which was true but somehow made it hard to get going on the essay for me, the essay hit on a lot of interesting point.



I've become more interested in the Jungian, imaginative world lately, reading Endless Path, which is wonderful in many ways, and because I've been reading The World Is A Waiting Lover, which is an interesting memoir and and journey into the self. Trebbe Johnson fell absolutely in love with someone even though she was in her 50's, happily married, and she rationally knew it wasn't the thing to pursue. Her husband was quite the trooper and didn't stand in her way, and she went on an interesting journey, where she comes to the idea that in many ways we're not open to our world because we get scared. She's very much into vision quests and connecting with the environment. Anyway, I'm simplifying and not really doing justice to a book my friend told me about on retreat. My friend told the story really well, and then wove in his own stories and it was really cool. He's met Trebbe Johnson and you can too if you want to go on a trip with her. I think I might want to do a School of Lost Borders adult vision fast if I can ever gather the money and time together.

Supposedly the Jungian institute in NYC is the most expensive. I didn't go to the most expensive, nor have I had a Jungian analysis, but I am interested in this line of thinking.



So this paper coming out seemed well timed in my life, encouraging me to pursue a line of interest: Imagining the Buddha. I was once at a day retreat where we were told to go outside and imagine the Buddha was walking with you. I remember feeling a huge awesomeness, something really large, profound, overwhelming and yet gentle and kind.

Also in working with the TBC Puja, and the 7 moods, in the first one is worship and I've thought about pampering the Buddhas, an assemblage of archetypal and historical Buddhas and great Buddhists. I imagined washing and feeding them, caring for them.

You've probably heard the story of Tibetans going to a museum and prostrating before a rupa. I've always wanted to do some big devotional thing in front of a Buddha at a museum to freak people out because it might not be expected at a museum.

Another point I enjoyed reading from Subhuti and Sangharakshita, was the idea that enlightenment must be a goal for someone wishing to join the order. I've heard many friends say something like, "well, I don't know about enlightenment, but I want to be more mindful and kind." I suppose that's alright, and not bad. But to me that's like wanting to go to an amusement park and not wanting to go on the biggest and baddest roller coaster. Of course you have to do the biggest and baddest roller coaster when you go to the amusement park. Not that the spiritual life is like going to an amusement park.

Of course it's scary to imagine, the countless lives it took even Gotama to become enlightened, if the Jataka tales are to be believed literally. It might even seem over confident to imagine you could become enlightened, or even weird considering I don't really put in the time meditating right now being sick, working and having children. You have to bust ass, if you'll excuse the profanity. There's talk of a rubber band snapping back, you have to break through somehow. That is scary. But becoming a stream entrant is seen to be possible in a lifetime, a realistic goal. Break the first three fetters, and you've created a certain kind of momentum that won't be shaken.

Now if you're not so sure about rebirth, like I am, then you've kind of got to do it Milarepa-like in one lifetime, which makes things even harder. I can't say I know it's not true, and I have to keep an open mind because my spiritual betters often talk about it, but I have no experience of it myself.

There is a part of me that feels that just closing the distance is important, whether or not I actually achieve the goal might not matter, and being very goal oriented makes you not achieve the goal apparently. So on one level, I do just feel good moving in that direction, but you can't get rid of enlightenment, you can't just say moving in a positive direction because then it's just a glorified self help movement without the transcendental.

In the ordination verses, you accept ordination for the sake of enlightenment, so that's a key part of the acceptance verses.

So for many reasons, and ones I don't even know about, imagining enlightenment is important.

new paper

There's a new paper by Sangharakshita and Subhuti that I've been reading.

The paper is about a lot of things centering around the use of imagination in the spiritual life.

The way I think about enlightenment, the best way I can make sense of it from my unenlightened perspective, is that enlightenment is creative and not reactive. It takes imagination to be creative and not reactive. The imagination is very active in creativity, because you have to be able to imagine without confining habits.

So as far as I know they don't say that in the essay, but that puts this essay in context for me. I'm reading the essay slowly because my life is fractured, and because it's a difficult essay at times.

I found the part below quoted interesting. He writes here something that was very similar to what I wrote the other day:

"Of course it is very difficult to feel the life in nature when living in the midst of a great city, in which the natural world has been held at bay – albeit overflowing with other humans. The whole trend of life today towards technologically mediated experience in the artificial environment of a city alienates us further and further from the natural world and therefore from our innate empathy with it." (p. 16-17)

trip to Chinatown NYC

I went to Chinatown to help a friend look for a Kuan Yin. We found quite a few from $300 to $25, but she didn't find any she liked. I found a few stores I might like to look in when I'm looking for my next rupa. Rupa means form, and that is what they call a statue. So we went rupa hunting.

We saw a lot of Buddhist organizations, at least 4. None seem to be inviting when I looked in, they felt ethnic, they had signs that I could not read. I love my order, but after that the most welcoming place I've been to is the Ch'an Center in Elmhurst Queens.

further musings

On retreat finding a feather is like finding a gift from the sky, from the ancient past. Birds are what's left of dinosaurs. They are ancient survivors. Forget how puny we are in the universe of space, think how puny we are in time.

I forgot to mention the TBC Eco Dharma center. I just know what's on the website, but I hear this is a leading new cutting edge organization in the the TBC.

Musings

I watched Grizzly Man yesterday, a documentary on a Timothy Treadwell who spent time with Grizzlies in Alaska. While a fascinating character, the story is a tragedy because he and his girlfriend get eaten by a bear, and the bear is killed as well. One fellow interviewed said that bears and humans are not supposed to mix, and Treadwell himself says he should camp out in the open to the bears can see him and steer clear of him. I thought the fact that he had terrible substance abuse problems until he went camping in the wilderness, that his mission of helping the bears was part of his recovery from substance abuse. In a way, that puts his efforts into context. The horrible thing of it was that his girlfriend also gets eaten and you can hear him saying, "run, get away," and she obviously chose to try and save him at the cost of her life. She didn't really believe in his mission, but payed the ultimate price, her life. It's a fascinating documentary and Werner Herzog does a good job of making a film of it.

(I think of all the lovely nature films, like Winged Migration, and then I think of the films and books where human hubris is explored like Into Thin Air and Into The Wilderness. The Edge talks about dying of freight in the wilderness.)

Then today I'm reading chapter 6 of Endless Path by Rafe Martin, an excellent book. The book is organized around the ten paramitas, and Jataka Tales. I read the crow jataka, where a crow poops on the "holy" man, who then says the solution to a problem is to kill crows. There's another element in the tale where a woman guarding the grain wants to keep a goat away for good and causes a fire that hurts the elephants. In a way, the tale is about human hubris and the animal world.

I felt the connection between Grizzly Man and the crow jataka, that of human hubris.

I love nature and live in a big city. The people who love nature and then carve out a house and road where there was none before may love nature, and will be in it more by doing that, but ultimately they hurt the wilderness by living in it. I think the single best thing you can do for the environment is live in the city.

Now there's a problem with living in a city. Living in the city you get alienated from nature. Getting in the car, and driving two hours for a hike doesn't exactly help the environment either, but it does restore a connection a little bit.

When I go to rural places, I experience some people as a bit wacky, they have a kind of grandiosity of not rubbing up against a lot of people, like you do in the city (not everyone of course, no more than the city, but wackiness takes on a different flaver where ever you are).

Take a look through a telescope and you get a sense of your place in the universe. We are puny, my friend says. It's hard to get our minds around that. And I've also heard it said you need a little bit of grandiosity to get out of bed every day.

So in a way, I see the Tredwell story as one of suffering. We don't really know why he turned to drugs, as an athletic B student who came second to Woody Harrelson for that part in cheers. In the candid shots, he seems to take the grizzly situation to extremes, and wonders why women don't like him. He takes multiple takes, like he's some kind of actor. I see his suffering and attempts to make a life. Certainly devoting himself to the grizzlies was better than having substance abuse problems, but he took it to an odd and tragic place, that led to the death of his girlfriend as well.

I think of Rich Bass book where he looks through scat to see if he can find evidence of grizzlies in Colorado. This is a more realistic idea. You can get out in nature and have a good time without drifting past the line. Treadwell keeps saying he's humble, but was he really humble invading the bears space, trying to have a relationship with a wild animal and the way he was always filming himself, the way he pit himself against others?!



In the Wise Crow Jataka, the king honors the crow leader, and puts an end to the crow slaughter and even offers to have the crow lead his kingdom with him. The crow wisely does not accept the offer.

As snow tumbles past my window, I feel humility in the face of nature. New York City was paralyzed by a blizzard a few weeks ago. I pay humble respect to the forces of nature. On my shrine is a view from Algonquin in the Adirondacks, it reminds me of a lovely backpacking trip that I took with a dear friend.

Try to connect with nature in the least invasive way, and think about the environment, the larger picture of connectivity. We are all interconnected. I sincerely hope our environment hurting behaviors are not some run away train that we cannot stop. I really hope my children don't live in a kind of Mad Max or Waterworld kind of world. Pick any future disaster dystopia scifi film. We are beginning to imagine other ways, of stopping this run away train. The earth will eventually be swallowed by the expanding sun, as it goes supernova, but until then I would like my children's children to live in a beautiful world in harmony.

parinervana

Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City

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Final comment

I've been reading Living As A River for a while, and I finish it on New Year's Day. I started it on a camping trip, I've read it on retreat, and through various times in my life. It's a deep and relentless book that pounds away at important Buddha-Dharma points.

I find it refreshing that elements of parenting were seen as a spiritual opportunity and not just a hindrance to the spiritual life. Perhaps we are truly building a "neither monastic nor lay" movement.

As he writes about developing a vision as one of the ways we develop spiritually, I suddenly had the feeling that I needed to do a puja. For me the TBC Sevenfold Puja is my mission statement (Which can be found on this page). It's derived from Santideva's Bodhicaryavatāra, a great Mahayana text.

So I vote for this book as the best book of 2010, as 2011 starts and I have a renewed sense of purpose, as I reflect on my life on New Year's Day. May you all be happy, may you all be well.

spiritual books

So I'm enjoying a spiritual book by a friend in my spiritual community. He's ahead on the path, but we're in the same community. He's done years of meditation, friendship and study. I come along and pick up his book, and I can glean some of the insights he has developed. He's picked up some modern research to see if the results jive with current findings and lo and behold they do, he's found many many interesting studies. He's gleaned insights from an advance meditation practice.

So my question is, is that fair, or is it spiritual bypassism. John Welwood has, to my knowledge, coined this phrase. Where you use spirituality to not change, you just quickly and quietly incorporate this new system into your personality structure.

Is it fair for a person to go up the mountain for years of spiritual work, and then when he comes down we ask him all our pressing questions. They've put in some serious work, and you skip along and say, "hey, I don't want to do that kind of work yet, but can you just give me the secret and I'll skip the work please."

On the other hand, we learn from our elders, those ahead of us, that is a good thing. We seek guidance, and perhaps we're not trying to skip any work, but we just want to find some inspiration and mould our insights and clarify our vision of where we truly want to head.

I suppose the difference between the two is the approach to the book, whether it's a fickle fad, or whether it's the tenacious patient approach of a mature spiritual aspirant who has chosen one's tradition. And even if you're a dilettante or still on your spiritual journey of exploration to see what best fits you, that's OK too.

I feel the pull to go deeper, really commit to my spiritual life, and not get so swept up into irrelevant things. I want to simplify my life, unplug from distracting technology, and be alive as possible. At times I'm tired, and want lighter fare, lack of intensity.

As much as I like Living As A River, he's riffing off a meditation practice I mostly do on retreat, and is meant to be practiced in the run up to ordination, according to the system of meditation developed by Sangharakshita. I don't have a large enough well of metta to practice it regularly. Even if I am in harmony with the ideas and conclusions of his profound book, have I put in the work to really put into place his suggestions and really loosen up my ideas of self, to dwell in mindfulness and kindness more consistently and deeply? Sangharakshita has a quote to the effect that if the average westerner put into practice 10% of what they "knew" they would be doing good. Am I putting what I believe into practice. We are always not exactly there, we're unfinished projects in process, which is fine.

There's always a balance between pushing myself along and attacking myself when I'm in a depressive mood. If I dismiss spiritual ideals, I become poor, untethered, there is nothing to disentangle, no path to head on. If I use the ideals to beat myself up, I'm just reinforcing my own pathologies and smallness. If I use my ideals to spur myself along, then I use them properly, neither holding them too tightly nor too loosely.

So as I head into the new year, I wish to recommit to meditation, spiritual friendship, study of the word of the Buddha, continued ethical reflections based on the ten precepts, simplifying life, living mindfully and kindly, with an ever increasing appreciation for the reality and conditions, meanwhile keeping an eye on the transcendental as my reference point.

Musings

In Living As A River, Bodhipaksa writes, "The Effects of loneliness on health are so powerful that isolation is as bad for you as smoking cigarettes" (p248)

This winter I've noticed two kinds of loneliness this holiday season. Family loneliness and friend loneliness. One patient has no family but has friends, so Xmas is hard, but New Years is not. Another patient has family but not the chum group he desires, so Xmas is fine but New Years is a crisis.

Ever since I went to social work school the effects of a positive social network have been trumped, and I find myself trying to sell the need for a network to my isolated patients. A friend of mine even said that in the 70's there was a book that essentially said that therapy was for these types of people, though I have the other type, manic hyper-verbal, charismatic as well. They suffer from affect regulation issues, though in a pro-social way, and are usually tolerated by others, though in a crucial way others have not yet helped them to completely manage their emotions and they suffer from self invalidation and obsessions. Alas trauma can clip the wings of the very gifted as well.

Just before the above quote, Bodhipaksa was writing about mirror neurons, which I first read about in Philip Bromberg.



I was just wondering whether people with autism don't have mirror neurons, a dot I have not connected when he speculated that they don't. I have two Aspergers type children, whom I work to draw them out into a shared reality, or more connected with others reality, when their own internal worlds are so vivid, much more vivid than the external world.

So I vote for Living AS A River as the best book of 2010. Bodhipaksa talks about so many different and interesting studies. One I keep coming back to is the idea that was literally can't imagine our non-being because the use of our imagination injects ourselves into things and to not inject ourselves into non-being leads to an inability of not grasping existing.

Now there's always a danger I'm riffing off someone, not in their intentions, but I think Bodhipaksa was making this point about our imaging our own non-existence.

There's a meditation on a corpse, and I've done a meditation set in the Bodies exhibit set up by Tricycle some years ago. I can imagine a world where I don't exist, but in my imagining, my existence is kind of implicit. Our knowledge of the world is through our senses and the stories we tell about that input. But imagine no input? That is hard. Sleep is the closest thing to that, we gratefully (mostly) close our eyes and fall into a temporary slumber of non-existence. And yet we dream, and wake up a little bit. It's no surprise death is called The Big Sleep, which is also the title of a famous Raymond Chandler novel.

I was watching the PBS documentary on the Buddha, which is quite beautiful in much of the artistic images it shows about the Buddha's life. Thinking about the 4 sights, illness, old age, death and the spiritual seeker.

As I get swept up into my worldly life, I am more and more conscious about how I am distracted from my death. Illness happens occasionally, and apparently there's a terrible virus going around NYC. I have suffered for a full week with the worst virus I've ever had. I kept wanting to say last words in case I didn't wake up, I felt a lot of self pity for what turned out not to be my sickness into death. I kept telling myself, this is preparation, practice, I can learn to do this better. If there's one thing you notice, it's when some people are sick they feel a little entitled, they grasp at what they feel they lost out in life, they become childlike in a not so flattering way. Getting sick gracefully isn't easy.

At 43 old age is becoming more and more imaginable. I had a beer at a bar, where the bartender was born while I was a Junior in college, I was twice her age. I was in a grocery store, and I said, "are young teenage women taking over the world," because all the cashiers were teenage women. I'm imagining old, though I easily forget all my visits to nursing homes. I have unvivid trace memories, but I can remember the feeling of horror and revulsion at seeing people grimly holding onto life past it's usefulness.

I'm seeing more clearly the actions to my consequences, that my youthful outlook and denial help me to overlook.

The holy life was at one time attractive to me, I yearned for escape into a monastery. I think that was escapism. Now I think I see more clearly the feet to the fire aspect of that way of living and I'm a little scared.

It was such an awesome thing that the Buddha went forth.

Regret to inform you of the passing of Vidyajyoti

She passsed away this morning, a few days short of her 72nd birthday. Here's a video of her.



She was a traveler who visited NYC frequently, and the NYC sangha appreciated her valued presence, she will be missed.

The official announcement.

Living As A River

I found a link to Bodhipaksa's original essay on the 6 elements in Tricycle.

He's getting amazing reviews on Amazon. "Bodhpaksa's book is literally the most amazing thing I have ever read, period - and I'm a well read guy, I've studied Carl Jung's writings, dozens of books on spirituality and volumes on Cosmology and Astronomy. I can honestly write tha...t I have never read anything that left me with such a sense of clarity..."

I have to agree. I've stalled a little bit on the chapters I've already read, but I'm voting it for book of the year.

I'm going to have to go on line and update his entry on Wikipedia, there are some inaccuracies. It could use a photo too.

2 links

I wanted to share a link about a personal spiritual journey. There are 5 posts, and you can find the other links off this one. It's a personal account of a retreat, by a fellow I've met before who is an interesting guy.

The second link is a book review. This is a blog by Marnie Louise Froberg, a Canadian who lives in northern India who is open to all schools of Buddhism.

quote

Those who say that the Buddha himself partook of flesh calumniate him.

(Sangharakshita in The Eternal Legacy, p193)

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Lankavatara Sutra

I found this book on my shelf and gave it a first read through. I noted that Sangharakshita hasn't done a seminar on it, while he's done many seminars on Mahayana Sutras. When you listen to the brief two comments on Free Buddhist Audio, he just summarizes it, and does not linger on it. He seems to know about it. He says it's a yogacara sutra, important in Ch'an Buddhism and very influential.



Padmavajra says it's a complex and rich sutra, and a grab bag, and reiterates what Sangharakshita says, that it was Bodhidharma's favorite sutra.

I read the "Epitomized" version, based on DT Suzuki's translation, compiled and edited by Dwight Goddard, which unfortunately cuts out the chapter on vegetarianism, which I was looking forward to reading. Another chapter is cut out as well. Other versions are more expensive, and here are versions on line, check out the Wikipedia page on the Lankavatara Sutra.

Perhaps it was good for me to read this streamlined version, because it is quite a complicated text. I can't say I got it, but there were times when I was reading it that I felt something strongly stirring in me, and it had an effect on me. I would like to study it more in depth.

I'm not a idealist, though as time goes on and on, I forget about the world of truth and move more towards the world of subjectivity. In a crucial way, we do make the world with our minds. When you work with a couple in therapy, the biggest foe to harmony is one's perception of truth. If you can get the couple to appreciate the other person's subjective reality and listen to their experience, then there's a better shot of blending together, instead of fighting it out for the truth, even though I often agree with the truth seeker. There's a school of psychoanalysis called intersubjectivist, and Wikipedia lists Stephen Mitchell as one, I'm not sure if that's true, but I'm dying to read Jessica Benjamine.

Looking on Goodreads, I find only 3 members comments on it, one longer one and two short comments. I was aghast when a commercial played on goodreads, so I'm not recommending that site any more. Anyone know a book social media site that is commercial free?

More importantly I'd appreciate any good links about the Lankavatara Sutra, as I try to learn more about this sutra. Seems very important and I'm surprised there's not more on line about it. I'm a bit hesitant to read Suzuki's book on it, outside the expense, because of a recent negative evaluation of him in the Western Buddhist Review, which has a new issue out by the way!

I will note Jayarava's essay on his excellent blog.


Also The Eternal Legacy has a chapter on the sutra, which I will read now.

Parents quotes from the Anguttara Nikaya

From page 42-43 of the Thera and Bodhi anthology of the Anguttara Nikaya, the Numberical Discourses of the Buddha:

"...there are two persons one can never repay. What two? One's mother and father."

He goes on to suggest that if you carried them on your back for 100 years, that would not pay them back. Then he says:

"Parents do much for their children: they bring them up, feed them and guide them through this world."

can't figure out how to write in a book on goodreads

I want to write Living As A River as book of the year on Goodreads, in Firefox there is a box, but when I click it doesn't send it. And on Chrome it doesn't even show the write in box. So I don't like only having the preselected choices, and the fact that their websites don't work on two popular browsers. Not sure why I'm pasting their code into my blog, maybe you can have more success voting for your favorite book.

2010 Goodreads Choice Awards Official Nominee: Favorite Book of 2010 Vote for this book!

quote

"...sloppy thinking may even hinder one's spiritual development." P. 159

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FBA

Free Buddhist Audio is an evolving website. Recently they have put up more audios, as they allow people to upload talks from their centers: Aryaloka, Manchester, LBC. This has unlocked series from the vaults and perhaps more were just coming out like a historical series, one by Sona and one by Ratnaguna and a bunch of talks on the refuge tree.

Legend of Buddha 2004 animation movie

One day searching I found an animation movie about the Buddha's life. It seemed like it might be appropriate for my children, but alas, it was $40 used on Amazon.

Today I was searching for it on Netflicks, hoping to find it, so I could get it. It's not even listed on Netflicks, not by the director or the two lead actors.

All I could find out about it was that it was made in India, and came out in 2004. India submitted it to the Oscars for India in 2005. IMDB doesn't have much info on it, nor does Amazon. One article says it cost $1.5 to make.

A quick look at the google results shows torrents are available, but I see little critical attention. I found a version on YouTube, and watched it. See the first one of 12 sections below, and read further to see my review, which might make you not want to watch it. I think the scant commentary on the internet, the crickets show that it's not well received. The one review I did find was lame, simpleminded.



Review: I found the beginning fantastical, over the top, sensationalist. Great, draw the kids in so they will enjoy the show.

But the inaccuracies made the movie not even worth it on that level. He only saw 3 sights before he decided to leave? The dialogue was hokey and cliche riddled. Macalinda protects him from rain before he gets enlightened? Mara visits him as he's leaving his father's palace? The woman just walks up and offers him milk, he doesn't almost drown first? Did they have any actual Buddhist consultants on the movie?

I took offense to this movie. I was hoping to find a cool movie that I could show my kids. This is not the one. No wonder there are crickets on the internet about it, and no wonder it's so hard to find information about it. Avoid it unless you enjoy picking out inaccuracies, or even pointing out the spiritual simplicity of it. Unsmooth story line, weird animation, and just an over all lack of not getting Buddhism. The search for good material for my children continues. What a disappointment.

I'm going to try the PBS special next, which I hear was good, but probably not for children. I know Clear Vision released some stuff for children, so I'll check that out too.

I think many Buddhist were afraid to slam the movie, right speech and all. My goal is to evaluate it so people decide whether to invest time watching it, and hopefully save them time and possible money and internet downloading time. The movie wasn't worth it, avoid!

two books connect in practitioners mind

I'm trying to read two books as quickly as I can so I can review them. But they are both so awesome, I find myself slowing down to fully grasp the profundity.

One is Living As A River. As I meditated this morning, I thought about the dust mites eating my discarded skin, making my studio apartment less dusty in fact.

The second book is Face Martin's Endless Path. This book is the best book I've ever read about the Jataka Tales.

He was talking about the tale where a past Buddha to be, gave himself to a hungry tiger, as meat. In seeing yourself as meat, you radically deconstuct the pompus self, similar to the deconstruction of the self in the six element practice, like in Living As A River.

In the second tale in Martin's wonderful book, I came across a stunning tale that was much more worldly. I won't tell it to you, but must just refer you to this excellent book.



Also Bodhipoksa has an interview here, which you can listen to. And here that you can read.

Flaxseed spread!

What does flaxseed spread have to do with my spiritual journey, you ask?

Well a friend of mine who works for a wonderful non-profit, which helps businesswomen, gave me a free sample of Laxmi's flaxseed spread. I put it on bread and it was yummy. The story is that she wanted a healthy alternative to peanut butter, which has too much salt, sugar and fat. The flaxseed spread is high in omega 3 and high in fiber. Tastes good too. I tried it and it was good.

So some yummy vegetarian treat is something to rejoice in! Check out Laxmi's website. I think finding creative dishes for the vegetarian is important, helps one reduce unkindness.

worst horse found this video

Living As A River quote

"Only 1 percent of the genes in the human body are human." p. 159

"We are more virus than we are human: or to put another way, to be human is to be mostly viral. At a genetic level, you are mostly not you." p. 161