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Welcome to the archives of our weekly e-mail newsletter. Please contact us if you would like to be added to our mailing list.
REMINDER — 2/27/07 meditation group
Hello everyone!
This is just a quick reminder that the Tuesday night
meditation group will once again be meeting from 7:30
to 9:30 in the High School Room (upstairs) at First
Parish Unitarian Universalist in Chelmsford.
I also want to take this opportunity to mention that
our group is fortunate to be able to welcome two
esteemed guest teachers both this week and next.
This Tuesday, February 27, we will be pleased to
welcome Doreen Schweizer as our guest teacher for the
evening. Doreen is a Abhaya’s good friend from Spirit
Rock, and currently is Guiding Teacher at Valley
Insight Meditation Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire
(http://www.valleyinsight.org).
The following Tuesday, March 6, we will be pleased to
welcome Ajahn Mangkone Dhammadharo from Wat
Buddhabhavana in Westford. Venerable Mangkone
Dhammadharo has been an ordained monk in the Thai
Forest tradition since 1992, and has been in the
Lowell area since 1996
(http://www.greatwisdomcenter.org/event1.htm).
As you know, the tradition is for Buddhist teachings
to be offered freely. However, given the extraordinary
committment of time and travel provided by each
teacher, I would also like to remind us all of another
Buddhist tradition: dana, or generosity.
Doreen has a wonderful page on dana on her website
(http://www.valleyinsight.org/pages/2/50/?PHPSESSID=6dbcd7cdb0186dad79fea91d1ef339c5).
I don’t think I need to say anything further other
than to mention that we are extremely blessed to be
able to welcome these two teachers, and that
recognition their own generosity of time and teaching
would be appropriate.
We do plan to continue the group on a primarily
peer-led basis during Abhaya’s recovery, however both
Doreen and Ajahn Mangkone Dhammadharo have expressed
sincere interest on helping us out on an interim
basis. Doreen hopes to return later in March, and
Ajahn Mangkone Dhammadharo is available most Tuesday
evenings.
With much metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 3/6/07 meditation group
Hello everyone!
This is just a quick reminder that the Tuesday night
meditation group will once again be meeting from 7:30
to 9:30 in the High School Room (upstairs) at First
Parish Unitarian Universalist in Chelmsford. This week
we will be pleased to welcome Ajahn Mangkone
Dhammadharo from Wat Buddhabhavana in Westford.
Also, I just want to bring your attention to a couple
of events coming up at the Museum of Fine Arts in
Boston:
On Saturday, March 24, from noon to 1pm, there will be
a gallery talk entitled “Buddhism Across Asia.” This
is an excellent opportunity to see and learn about the
museums excellent collection of Asian art.
(http://www.mfa.org/calendar/event.asp?eventkey=26515&date=3/24/2007)
Also, the MFA will be showing multiple screenings of
the stunning Yatra Trilogy
(http://www.directpictures.com/trilogy.html), which
explore Buddhism in its various contexts across Asia.
—————————————————–
- Dharma River: Journey of a Thousand Buddhas (The
Spiritual Wonders of Laos, Thailand and Burma)
Saturday, April 14 — 3:45pm
Thursday, April 26 — 6:20pm
Saturday, April 28 — 12:30pm
Dharma River: Journey of a Thousand Buddhas by John
Bush (2004, 81 min.). Dharma is the Sanskrit word for
universal law. Essential to Buddhist understanding,
dharma is the natural order, a living truth, and a
force for awakening. Dharma River is a lyrical and
exquisite sensory journey through Southeast Asia’s
great spiritual and cultural treasures. Visiting the
legendary lost civilizations and living wisdom
traditions of Laos, Thailand, and Burma, Dharma River
powerfully conveys their continuing relevance for
contemporary audiences. Ancient temples, mystical
landscapes, and wondrous shrines-many of them UNESCO
world heritage sites-provide a rich visual tapestry.
With a score of rare classical Southeast Asian music,
this visual voyage masterfully illuminates artistic
and devotional traditions. From the canals of Bangkok
to the mountains of Laos, from the golden pagodas of
Burma to the Mekong River, the film is a unique
experience of sacred space.
- Prajna Earth: Journey into Sacred Nature (The
Spiritual Wonders of Bali, Cambodia, and Java)
Saturday, April 14 — 5:30pm
Thursday, April 26 — 8:00pm
Saturday, April 28 — 2:15pm
Prajna Earth: Journey into Sacred Nature by John Bush
(2004, 85 min.). Filmed entirely on location in
Southeast Asia, the second film of the Yatra Trilogy
is a stunning cinematic journey to the legendary
temples of Angkor in Cambodia, the spiritual sites of
Bali, and finally the marvel of Buddhist Borobudur in
Java. Prajna Earth is a pilgrimage to sacred
intersections where Buddhist and Hindu wisdom
traditions merge with the animist worship of nature.
Monks and nuns travel on foot for days to reach a full
moon gathering near Angkor Wat, the largest temple in
the world. The dance of the Devatas celebrates the
rebirth of this classic art form within the cultural
healing of war torn Cambodia. As the journey moves to
Bali, gamelan music, Ramayana dance, and lively street
processions echo through the hill town of Ubud. In
Java, a night of animist trance dance and spirit
possession is followed by a golden dawn and ascent up
the startling seven level stupa of Borobudur.
- Vajra Sky over Tibet
Saturday, April 14 — 7:15pm
Friday, April 27 — 6:15pm
Saturday, April 28 — 4:00pm
Vajra Sky Over Tibet by John Bush (2006, 89 min.).
Vajra is the thunderbolt of awakening that cuts
through delusion. It is the indestructible power of
truth at the heart of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet.
Filmed in Central Tibet, Vajra Sky is a cinematic
pilgrimage offering a direct experience of some of the
most revered temples, monasteries, and festivals still
surviving. The vastness of snow mountains, rushing
rivers, and turquoise lakes leads the journey westward
to the holy sites of Shigatse and Gyantse. Returning
to Lhasa, the luminous faces of pilgrims in front of
the legendary Jokhang Temple glow in the flicker of
butter lamp offerings. The empty windows and doors of
the traditional homes of His Holiness The Dalai Lama,
the Potala and Norbulinka, signal his painful absence.
Yet the exuberant blossoms of the Summer Palace hold
the promise of natural cycles of return. During the
colorful Drepung Monastery festival, a giant scroll
painting of the Buddha covers a mountain as
spiritually famished Chinese join with the multitude
of Tibetan pilgrims. Director present Apr 14.
All three films will be shown in the Remis Auditorium.
MFA members, seniors, and students $8; general
admission $9.
For more information:
http://www.mfa.org/calendar/sub.asp?key=12&subkey=1
—————————————————–
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 3/13/07 meditation group
Hi all….
I hope everyone enjoyed having our guest teacher last
week. I just want to remind everyone of his invitation
to the Wednesday evening (7-9pm) meditation group at
Wat Buddhabhavana.
It’s pretty easy to get to the temple:
- From I-495 south take exit 32 (Boston Road).
- At the end of the ramp, bear right onto Boston Road
and continue for one mile until you get to a stop
sign.
- At the stop sign turn left onto Main Street, which
becomes Forge Village Road after 1/2-mile. (The street
names are NOT well marked, so just keep following the
main road.)
- Once Main Street turns into Forge Village Road,
continue for another ~1.5 miles. (You will pass the
Westford Water Department.)
- You will come to a reaonably well-marked 4-way
intersection, with a sign for the Courier Company;
turn right here onto Town Farm Road.
- Continue for 1/3-mile on Town Farm Road. (You will
pass the Courier Company on your left.) Turn right
onto Milot Road IMMEDIATELY BEFORE the railroad
tracks. The road actually abuts the tracks, so it will
seem almost as if you are turning onto the tracks
themselves!
- Follow Milot Road all the way to the end. The temple
(#25) is pretty obvious, and parking is in the rear.
I hope to make it over myself one of these Wednesday
evenings, but strongly encourage anyone who is
interested to check it out in the meantime.
And I hope to see you all tonight at First Parish!
- Tim
REMINDER — 3/20/07 meditation group
Hi all…. Spring officially arrives at 8:07 this
evening, at which point we’ll likely be in the midst
of meditation. We’ll be back up in the High School
room this week, starting at 7:30.
I also wanted to remind people that the MFA will be
giving a gallery talk on “Buddhism Across Asia” this
Saturday, March 24, from noon to 1pm. More info here:
http://www.mfa.org/calendar/event.asp?eventkey=26515&date=3/24/2007
Finally, I’ve come across a number of interesting
tidbits on the internet over the past week:
- Cambodian dhamma teacher and Nobel prize nominee,
Bhante Maha Ghosananda died on March 12 in Leverett,
MA. There have been many obituaries; I’ll post links
to a few good ones here:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/innews/3796-1.html
http://www.lowellsun.com/fastsearchresults/ci_5443318
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,3828,0,0,1,0
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,3829,0,0,1,0
- And speaking of the internet, Tricycle magazine
contributor Jeff Wilson has a very interesting piece
on finding the Dharma on the Web:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/3793-1.html
(The HTML code is a little funky for some reason, so
be sure to use the forward and back arrows, not the
“continued” link at the bottom of the page.)
- Finally, there are a couple of great videos online:
One is the 50-min BBC documentary “The Life of the
Buddha” available via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2NLQGrbf5U
The other is “The Mindful Way,” another British
documentary featuring Thai teacher Ajahn Chah. It’s
posted on the Somerville-based Wisdom Publications
site and is about 20 minutes long:
http://www.wisdompubs.org/Pages/news.lasso#chah_video
See you all this evening!
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 3/27/07 meditation group
Hi all…. Same time and place for the meditation
group this week: 7:30-9:30 at First Parish, upstairs
in the High School room.
A couple of notes worthy of mention:
1) As some of you may know, last year Carrie and I
became members of Bear Hill Farm
(http://bearhillfarmcsa.com/), a community supported
family farm in Tyngsboro that provided us with a
cornucopia of fresh vegetables from June until
October.
A full share provides way more food than Carrie and I
can eat by ourselves, and our other “half-share” has
decided not to do it again this year.
Carrie and I wondered if the meditation group might be
interested in sponsoring a half-share for the monks at
Wat Buddhabhavana in Westford. A half-share costs $225
for the season, which isn’t too bad if divided among a
few people.
We need to let Anne and Mike (the farmers) know what
our plan is pretty soon, so please think it over and
let us know if it’s something you as a group would be
interested in.
2) MGH’s Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine
is a relatively new research center studying the
scientific components and clinical applications of
“the relaxation response” — which is a part of the
physiological process our bodies undergo while we
meditate.
The institute is currently seeking study subjects for
their research. More info can be found on the
Benson-Henry Institute website:
http://www.mbmi.org/research/subjects.asp
3) Finally, this week’s video selection:
http://www.fearlessmountainfilm.com/trailer.htm
This site only shows the trailer, which is worth
taking 2 minutes to see. The film is a documentary
about the Abhayagiri (“Fearless Mountain”) monastery
in Redwood Valley, CA. It looks like a beautiful film
in its own right, but has a special connection to our
own group: The head monk — Ajahn Amaro — is one of
Abhaya’s teachers from Spirit Rock, and is actually
the one who gave Abhaya her “Buddhist” name.
And last but not least, a couple of interviews from
PBS:
The first is an interview with Pema Chodron, an
American nun from the Tibetan tradition who has also
written many good books on Buddhist practice. This was
part of the Bill Moyers series “On Faith and Reason”
last year:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/media_players/chodron_full.html
The second is a Charlie Rose interview of His Holiness
the 14th Dalai Lama, also taped last year:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4235480941561974775
Both are well worth watching.
See you tomorrow evening!
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 4/3/07 meditation group
Hi all…. All sorts good news this week:
First, Phra Ajahn Mangkone Dhammadharo of Wat Buddhabhavana in Westford has once again accepted our invitation to lead the meditation group, and will join us tomorrow evening.
Second, Abhaya’s friend Doreen Schweizer has also offered to lead the meditation group on a forthcoming Tuesday evening; we also look forward to welcoming her once we figure out the specifics.
Third, it looks like there’s enough interest to sponsor a half share at Bear Hill Farm for the monks at Wat Buddhabhavana. Carrie and I have already paid for our half share; the second installment of $225 is not due until August 1, so there is a bit of time before we’ll need to solicit funds from anyone who is interested in contributing some “veggie dana” for the monks. Obviously, the more people who are interested in giving, the better for everyone. (So far, I believe Brenda, Priscille, and Sue are on board.)
Carrie will pick up the vegetables from the farm on Wednesdays this summer, and anyone who is interested in seeing the farm and/or helping deliver the vegetables to the monks is welcome to touch base with her. I strongly recommend taking advantage of the opportunity!
Last but not least, there are the usual few items off the Dharma newswire:
First, another very good (if somewhat belated) obituary on Ven. Maha Ghosananda:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=60,3866,0,0,1,0
And a related article:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,3888,0,0,1,0
Finally, there’s an interesting post on Tricycle’s Editor’s Blog:
http://tricycleblog.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/meditation-what-do-the-numbers-tell-us/
(Be sure to check out Jeff Wilson’s original post, too; it’s very interesting stuff!)
I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
With metta,
Tim
Follow-up to 4/3/07 meditation group
Hi all…. I just wanted to send a quick e-mail in
follow up to the meditation group the other evening.
In his dhamma talk, Ajahn Mangkone touched briefly on
the subject of relics. As it turns out there is a
fascinating article on the subject in the current
issue of Tricycle, available online as a PDF:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/tricycle/pdfs/mackenzie163.pdf
Happy reading; see you all next week!
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 4/10/07 meditation group
Hi all…. Just the usual weekly reminder about the
meditation group tomorrow evening: 7:30-9:30pm,
upstairs in the High School room at First Parish.
Following Ajahn Mangkone Dhammadharo’s dhamma talk
last week, I’d sent out a link to a Tricycle article
on Buddhist relics. Hopefully those of you who’ve had
a chance to read it found it interesting.
Here are another couple of links on the subject, this
time from a PBS documentary from a few years ago:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week711/feature.html
and
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week711/excerpt.html
I personally remain “agnostic” on the matter of
relics, but it’s still pretty fascinating stuff
nonetheless.
Hopefully we’ll see everyone tomorrow; ’til then, keep
well.
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 4/17/07 meditation group
Hi all…. Just a reminder that we’ll be meeting in
the usual time and place again this week: upstairs in
the High School room at First Parish tonight from
7:30-9:30.
I think I mentioned this previously, but Doreen
Schweizer has again offered to come lead the
meditation group, probably sometime in May. Her
schedule is better suited to a Wednesday or Sunday
evening, however, and I said I would run that by you
all to see if that’s convenient. We could either plan
to move the date of the meditation group whatever week
that ends up being, or we could have Doreen lead a
group in addition to our regular Tuesday evening
meeting. (Obviously we’d also need to make sure space
was available.) Anyhow, please think it over and let
me know.
Also, it looks like our next “First Tuesday” with the
monks will be pushed back a week. Both Venerables
Ajahn Mangkone and Ajahn David Chutiko will be away on
May 1, but Ajahn David will be back and hopefully
available to lead the group on May 8.
Off on another tangent: While Carrie and I were
attending a performance of “Syncopation” at the MRT a
couple of weekends ago, we learned about a very
special upcoming professional production at Lowell
High School’s Cyrus W. Irish Theater:
“Where Elephants Weep,” a bilingual (Khmer/English)
“contemporary opera” in the style of Rent, is a love
story about a Cambodian refugee returning to his
homeland. It will have its world premier in Lowell on
Friday, April 27, and should be absolutely
spectacular. (Be sure to check out the promotional
video on their Web site!)
More information can be found at
http://www.whereelephantsweep.net
Finally, the usual video treats:
First is a very interesting-sounding independent film
called “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama.” It’s not yet
screening in the Boston area, but should be something
to keep in mind when it (hopefully) does arrive. You
can view the trailer here:
http://www.10questionsforthedalailama.com/
Also, a colleague of mine recommended another film
that unfortunately just finished playing at the
Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge. “Into Great
Silence” is a German film about Carthusian monks in
France, and is supposedly a very meditative experience
in itself. Again, the trailer can be found via the
film’s website:
http://www.diegrossestille.de/english/
Well, that’s it for this week; I hope everyone’s
managing to stay dry.
See you this evening!
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 4/24/07 meditation group
What wonderful weather at long last! Happy belated
Earth Day and even more belated New Year… the Thai
New Year, that is. The holiday of Songkran is actually
celebrated throught South East Asia (Laos, Burma,
Thailand, and Cambodia) from April 13-15. Anyhow,
since we’re practising according to the Thai
tradition, and one of our esteemed guest teachers
hails from Laos, I would be remiss to overlook the
occasion. If interested, you can find out more here:
http://www.asiasource.org/news/at_mp_02.cfm?newsid=77892
A couple of quick reminders of upcoming events:
The world premier of Where Elephants Weep takes place
this Friday evening at Lowell High School. There are
additional performances on Saturday evening and Sunday
afternoon:
http://www.whereelephantsweep.net/
Screenings of the Yatra Trilogy continue at the MFA in
Boston through May 6:
http://72.5.117.145/calendar/index.asp?keywords=Yatra+Trilogy&category=&collection=&cal_language=&week=
I would also like to solicit your collective feedback
as to whether there is any interest for me to put
together a blog for our meditation group. As I’ve
mentioned to a few of you already, I thought it might
be nice to have a “place” where we can post notes
about upcoming events, dharma
discussion/questions/comments, book/film reviews, Web
links, etc., in between our weekly meditation group
meetings. If there’s any interest/suggestions, please
e-mail me and let me know. (I’m certainly happy to
keep sending out these weekly e-mails either way.)
Finally, yesterday I spoke with Abhaya for the first
time in quite a few weeks; she sounds wonderful! That
said, she thinks she’s still a ways off from returning
to teach. It could be several weeks or even longer,
depending on the pace of her recovery, but she’s
definitely looking forward to when the time comes. In
the meantime, thanks for bearing with those of us
trying to keep things going!
Well, that’s it for this week. See you all tomorrow
evening — 7:30-9:30 upstairs in the High School room
at Frist Parish.
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 5/1/07 meditation group
Hello everyone; Happy Vesak!!
Vesak (or Wesak or Vaisakha) is the Buddhist holiday
commemorating at once the birth, enlightenment, and
death of the Siddharta Gautama. The name comes from
the second month of the Indian calendar, and the
holiday is celebrated — according to astrological
calculations — on the first full moon of Taurus.
This year there are two full moons during the month of
May, so that there is the unusual situation of some
Buddhists celebrating tomorrow, May 1, and others
celebrating on May 31.
There are a couple of good articles at the Buddhist
Channel for those interesting in learning more:
“What is Vesak?”
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,4043,0,0,1,0
and
“Celebrating Enlightenment”
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=56,4037,0,0,1,0
Tomorrow also being the first Tuesday of the month,
we’d normally welcome the monks from Wat
Buddhabhavana. Unfortunately Ajahn Mangkone
Dhammadharo and Ajahn David Chutiko are both away this
week, so that the visit will be postponed until next
week, May 8. (Ajahn Mangkone is away all month, so
that next week’s teaching will be by Ven. Chutiko.)
I myself will be away next week as I just received
word on Friday that I’m confirmed for the 9-day
vipassana retreat at IMS with Jack Kornfield, Gina
Sharpe, et al. I’m getting increasingly excited as the
time gets closer, although I’m sad that I’ll miss
Ajahn David.
I’m still working on the meditation group blog. So far
I’ve only received feedback from Matt and Carrie. I’d
love to get ideas from the rest of you, too! I’m
hoping to get things up and running before I leave on
Friday, although the site will definitely be a work in
progress for a while yet.
Finally, over the weekend I happened across an
interesting site called “Temple News.” It seems to be
affiliated with Wat Triratanaram, the Cambodian temple
in North Chelmsford.
http://www.templenews.info/
The “Temple News TV” shows some very interesting video
of goings on at the Wat, although unfortunately the
commentary is all in Khmer.
Speaking of Khmer, Carrie and I were very lucky to get
tickets to the full-house premiere of “Where Elephants
Weep.” I believe Carrie will do a more comprehensive
review for the blog, but in a word: Wow! Hopefully it
will return to Lowell and you all will get the
opportunity to see it.
That’s all for now; I hope to see everyone tomorrow
evening!
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 5/15/07 meditation group
Hi all!!
I’m freshly back from my 9-day vipassana retreat at
Barre with Jack Kornfield. What an absolutely amazing
experience! I’m planning to talk about it in detail
when I lead the group next week (in lieu of a proper
dhamma talk), but will be happy to answer any
questions after this evening’s sitting.
I’m still trying to segue back into everyday life, so
I don’t have much in the way of cool links to offer
this week.
I do, however, want to reiterate my encouragement for
people to take a look at the blog
(http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com). At the
moment besides myself only Carrie, Brenda, Matt and
Ruth have signed up to participate. For those who have
signed up, please feel free to post something. It
needn’t be very profound — just your musings about
practice, questions, whatever seems right….
I hope everyone enjoyed Ajahn David’s visit last week
– it sounds like it was very interesting and I’m
sorry to have missed it.
The usual time and place for this evening’s sitting:
7:30-9:30 upstairs in the High School room at First
Parish.
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 5/22/07 meditation group (Abhaya’s farewell)
Greetings to all!
The first and most important thing to mention is that
Abhaya will be back to teach the meditation class this
Tuesday, 5/22. It will be the final time we as a class
will get to see her before she leaves for New Mexico,
so I want to give everyone as much advance notice as
possible.
The current issue of UU World features a pair of
articles about the convergence of Unitarian
Universalsim and Buddhism: the first, “Unitarian
Universalists on the Eightfold Path,” presents a good
picture of the current landscape; the second, “What is
Unitarian Universalist Buddhism?” by Rev. James
Ishmael Ford (First Unitarian Society and the Henry
Thoreau Zen Sangha in Newton) presents the history of
the convergence of these two wisdom traditions.
1) http://www.uuworld.org/life/articles/23523.shtml
2) http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/23667.shtml
Unrelated, but also worth checking out is Robert
Hardies’s article “Loving the Contradictions.”
http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/23672.shtml
On a more scientific note, Anna Douglas — one of the
teachers on my retreat, and a Spirit Rock colleague of
Jack Kornfield’s — mentioned in passing the discovery
of “mirror neurons,” which seem to be strongly
involved with our ability to empathize with other
beings. NOVA scienceNOW has a good segment (15 min.)
on the topic from a few years ago, well worth watching
if one is inclined to wonder about the physiological
bases for metta, mudita, and karuna.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html
Also, the Dalai Lama visted Smith College in
Northampton a couple of weeks ago. WBUR gives a report
here:
http://www.wbur.org/news/2007/67055_20070510.asp
Finally, I just wanted to encourage people to sign up
for the meditation group blog
(http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com). At the
moment only a few of us are registered as
contributors.
Brenda just posted about Jack Kornfield’s article on
the vision of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. I
should put up my own comments shortly, but you’re
going to have to visit the blog to read them!
If anyone is having trouble with the blog, or has any
technical questions, please e-mail me and let me know.
The usual time and place for this week’s meditation
group: 7:30-9:30 upstairs in the Hight School room at
First Parish.
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 5/29/07 meditation group
Hi all…. The usual time and place for this week’s
meditation group: 7:30-9:30pm, upstairs in the High
School room at First Parish.
My apologies for not having done much on the blog in
the past week or so, but hopefully I’ll have time to
add some content this coming week.
A couple of tidbits in the meantime:
1) Author Deepak Chopra, who has a reputation as being
a “New Age” guru, recently published his fictionalized
account of the Buddha’s life
(http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Story-Enlightenment-Deepak-Chopra/dp/0060878800).
More interesting to me, however, is a recent op-ed
piece he wrote for the Huffington Post, cross-posted
on the Buddhist Channel. It’s actually quite good:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,4163,0,0,1,0
2) There’s also a very short (<2 min.) video on Lonely
Planet of Laotian monks going on their morning alms
round; again, very interesting:
http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=886B04253A0DE0F8
There’s also all sorts of headlines these days about
the protests against the extension of Aung San Suu
Kyi’s house arrest in Burma, the debate over the role
of Buddhism in the new Thai constitution, mock polls
in Bhutan as the country moves towards democracy, and
continued sectarian violence in Sri Lanka…. If
anyone’s interested in the particulars, I’ll be happy
to provide links.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 6/5/07 meditation group
Hi all…. Just the usual reminder for tomorrow
evening’s meditation group: 7:30-9:30pm, upstairs in
the High School room at First Parish. Ajahn Mangkone
will be joining us again this week.
There are a couple of news items to share this week:
The BBC had an article last week on the conversion of
Indian dalits (“untouchables”) to Buddhism:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6695695.stm
This has been an ongoing phenonmenon in India for the
past 50 years or so following Dr. Ambedkar’s
neo-Buddhist movement for the empowerment of the
underclasses.
On a related note, there’s a fascinating article in
the current issue of Tricycle that explores the
complexities of the convesrion of Tamil dalits in
India’s Tamil Nadu province in relation to
Sihnalese-Tamil violence in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately
it’s only available online by subscription, but I can
copy the article for anyone who’s interested.
For a bit of a reality check, the Buddhist Channel
also had an interesting article on how poorly Buddhist
countries fare according to the Global Peace Index:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,4228,0,0,1,0
Japan ranks highest at #5, and Sri Lanka brings up the
end at #111 (of 121), with another dozen countries
falling all along the spectrum in between.
(Surprisngly, perhaps, Bhutan comes in at #19.)
A bit closer to home, I just wanted to give folks a
heads up that Thich Nhat Hanh will be leading a
retreat at Stonehill College in August. He will also
give a public lecture in Boston on August 19 on
“Walking the Path of Love with Muddy Shoes.” More
information can be found here:
http://www.greenmountaincenter.org/TNH%20US%20TOUR%2007/events.htm
Finally I just wanted to mention that there are a
couple of new items to check out on our blog:
http:kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com
Again, you have be signed up for WordPress in order to
post or comment, but it doesn’t cost anything and is
spam-free. If anyone is interested and has not already
received an invitation from me, please let me know.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 6/12/07 meditation group
Hi all…. Just the usual friendly reminder that the
meditation group tomorrow evening will be upstairs in
the High School room at First Parish from 7:30 to
9:30.
In the meantime there are a couple of logistical items
to share:
1) As most of you know Abhaya moved to New Mexico at
the end of May. While I’m sure we all will miss her
guidance and support as a friend and teacher, we are
also faced with some decisions to make regarding the
future direction of the group.
For the past few months we have pretty much maintained
the structure of the meditation group as Abhaya had
originally set it up, with Brenda, Carrie, and myself
“sitting in” to lead the meditation, check-in, and
dhamma talk. We’ve also been fortunate to be able to
turn to a few esteemed guest teachers who are provide
greater depth of experience.
We can certainly continue with the status quo, however
this might also be an opportunity to allow all of the
people in the group a chance “to express the dharma in
some way, so that there is a feeling of ‘peers’ in the
group,” as one of Abhaya’s Spirit Rock colleagues
suggested. This could be something as simple as
rotating the bell from one member to another each
week, or we could have a more organized schedule where
people can sign up to lead a discussion of some sort
following the meditation.
Anyhow, the point is to put this before all of you to
solicit your opinons and feedback as to what you would
like from the group. Please take some time to reflect
and let me know what comes up.
2) In other exciting news, Carrie and I just received
word from Mike and Anne at Bear Hill Farm
(http://bearhillfarmcsa.com) that the first veggies of
the season will be ready next week. Carrie will make
the first “farm-and-temple run” on Friday the 22nd,
delivering a half share of the week’s vegetables as
dana to the monks at Wat Buddhabhavana. Anyone who is
interested in joining her should feel free to do so.
Also, we will need volunteers for following two
Fridays, June 29 and July 6. It should be a great
opportunity to experience the practice of dana giving!
(I’ll be happy to provide directions, of course.)
Ideally we’ll rotate dana delivery among interested
members of the group, so that everyone has an
opportunity over the course of the summer.
Speaking of dana, I wanted to share a link to the
story of Vessantara to which Ajahn David alluded last
week. One of the Jataka tales — the traditional
stories of the Buddha’s previous incarnations — the
story of Vessantara is an illustration of the practice
of dana, or generosity:
http://www.vipassana.info/vy/vessantara_jat_547.htm
For the less mythologically inclined among us,
Santikaro Bhikku and Phra Phaisan Visalo have written
an interesting paper putting the practice of dana and
the tale of Vessantara into the context of capitalism
in modern Thailand:
http://www.bpf.org/tsangha/tsm03report/Karma%20Book/skphaisan.html#jataka
Jumping subjects, the Winter issue of UU Sangha has a
nice, short article by Rev. Doug Kraft on his
experience in a Thai monastery:
http://www25.uua.org/uubf/winter2007.pdf
Last but not least, I wanted to point out that Brenda
has been been quite busy on our blog, so I encourage
you all to stop by and take a look if you haven’t
recently had a chance:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com
If you feel inclined to write a post or add you own
comments, please e-mail me to request an invitation to
WordPress.
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 6/19/07 meditation group
Greetings to all!
Per usual, we’ll meet upstairs in the High School room
at First Parish from 7:30-9:30 tomorrow evening.
In other news, the award-winning film “10 Questions
for the Dalai Lama” is finally screening locally at
the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, beginning this
Friday, June 22.
“Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich?
Must a society lose its traditions in order to move
into the future? How do you reconcile a commitment to
non-violence when faced with violence? These are some
of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama
by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray. Ray examines some
of the fundamental questions of our time by weaving
together observations from his own journeys throughout
India and the Middle East, and the wisdom of an
extraordinary spiritual leader. Also included is rare
historical footage as well as footage supplied by
individuals who, at great personal risk, filmed with
hidden cameras inside Tibet”
More information on the movie can be found here:
http://www.10questionsforthedalailama.com/
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/Boston/KendallSquareCinema.htm
See everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 6/26/07 meditation group
Hello everyone!
For the moment we’re still scheduled to meet upstairs
in the High School room at First Parish from 7:30 to
9:30 tomorrow evening. However, with temperatures
supposedly pushing into the high 90s tomorrow, I’m
checking with the chuch Sexton to see if we can
relocate to the Chapel (which should be much more
comfortable). Please check as you come in tomorrow
evening to see if the meditation group sign is posted
at the entrance to the Chapel hallway (across from the
Church office); if the meditation group sign is there,
we’re meeting downstairs.
There are a couple of other things to mention this
week:
1) A few weeks ago Brenda brought our attention to
Krista Tippett’s inteview with Pankaj Mishra on APM’s
“Speaking of Faith.”
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2007/06/08/speaking-of-faith-on-buddhism-in-the-world/
This past week Tippett’s guest was Marieane Pearl,
widow of murdered Wall Street Journalist Daniel Pearl,
and subject of the current film “A Mighty Heart.”
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/pearl/index.shtml
Tippett offers some additional reflections on the
conversation at Gather.com:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977037081
2) The Buddhist Channel newswire has had a couple of
particularly interesting articles recently.
The first is an article that appeared in the New York
Times about an elementary school in Oakland, CA, that
is incorporating mindfulness meditation practice into
the classroom.
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,4331,0,0,1,0
The second is an article from Biology News Net about a
UCLA study that found a very intereting physiological
response to the practice of naming our feelings and
emotions as they arise (e.g., through mindfulness
meditation):
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,4367,0,0,1,0
3) Last but not least, Carrie and Pris made the first
delivery of Bear Hill Farm
(http://bearhillfarmcsa.com) produce to the monks at
Wat Buddhabhavana (http://www.greatwisdomcenter.org/)
on Friday.
A number of you have already expressed an interst in
contributing to the cost of the monks’ share, and
Carrie and I will be happy to start collecting
contributions. The total cost of the share is $225 –
defrayed among however many people care to
participate. While there is absolutley no obligation
we strongly encourage general participation as a great
opportunity to practice “dana” (generosity). (Checks
can be made payable to Bear Hill Farm.)
I also strongly encourage those who are able to join
Carrie in making the delivery. I think it makes the
practice of dana more meaningful to actually have the
hands-on experience of picking up the produce and then
bringing it to the monks (i.e., something more than
simply writing a check). It’s also a great opportunity
to check out what Bear Hill Farm and Wat
Buddhabhanvana are all about.
Carrie and I are away both this Friday and next, and I
believe Pris and Brenda (?) will be coordinating the
dana trips while we’re gone.
Well, I think that finally does it for this week; I
hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
- Tim
REMINDER — 7/10/07 meditation group
Hi all…. Sorry for the change of venue last week,
and many thanks to Brenda and Sue for taking care of
things! (Actually, double thanks to Sue for hosting!)
This week we should be back on track at our usual time
and place: 7:30 to 9:30 at First Parish. Depending on
room availability and how warm the temperature gets
today, we may try to relocate from the High School
room to the Chapel. We’ll post a sign at the hallway
entrance across from the Church office if we end up
downstairs, so please check as you come in.
Just one quick tidbit to share this week: a essay
called “Little Decisions” (available both as text and
audio) from the Tricycle website:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/3947-1.html
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 7/17/07 meditation group
Greetings to everyone!
Just the usual weekly meditation group reminder:
7:30-9:30pm at First Parish; we’ll be downstairs in
the Chapel again this week.
One quick business item: Carrie and I are still
accepting contributions for the monks’ food dana. A
few of you have chipped in already (thank you!!), but
there are still others who had expressed interest in
contributing who have not yet done so. The more the
merrier, of course!
Carrie will be making the weekly farm-and-temple run
on Friday; anyone who is interested in joining her is
more than welcome.
In other exciting news, His Holiness the 14th Dalai
Lama will be coming to Radio City Music Hall in New
York City this October 12-14 for a weekend of dharma
teaching. Tickets for the teachings are quite
expensive ($80-$300 each), however tickets for his
Public Talk are only $25 and go on sale in August. I
expect they will go quickly.
http://www.dalailamany.org/registration/general_admission.html
A little closer to home, IMS just announced that they
will be offering a Metta weekend September 7-9. Anne
Nugent, who is leading the retreat, was resident
teacher at IMS from 1999-2003. Cost is on a sliding
scale.
http://www.dharma.org/ims/retreat_detail.php?id=93
That’s all for now; I hope to see everyone tomorrow
evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 7/24/07 meditation group
Hi all!
There don’t seem to be any conflicts on the church
caldendar this week, so we can plan to meet in the
Chapel at First Parish from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow
evening. (If something does come up at the last
minute, we’ll post signs to let everyone know.)
There are also all sorts of exciting/interesting
things to pass on this week:
First, ever since Brenda introduced me to Krista
Tippett’s American Public Radio show “Speaking of
Faith,” I’ve made a semi-regular practice of checking
the SoF website to see what’s new.
This past week’s was a very interesting show called
“Stress and the Balance Within”
(http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/stress/index.shtml)
in which Tippett interviewed rheumatologist and author
Dr. Esther Sternberg on the latest research on the
relationship of mind, body, and health. (I
particularly liked Dr. Sternberg’s “Olympic
meditators” comment!)
I also briefly persused the SoF archives to see what
other gems had been hidden away, and turned up a 2003
interview with Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh
(http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/thichnhathanh/index.shtml).
Tippett also interviews a couple of other interesting
individuals who have been deeply affected by Thay’s
teaching: Larry Ward, a Baptist minister from North
Carolina, and police captain and former Wisconsin
Assistant Attorney General Cheri Maples.
On a personal note, Cheri and her daughter were
actually seated in front of me at my IMS retreat this
past June — although at the time I had no idea who
they were. It would have been very interesting to
speak with them once we broke silence!
Finally, Laura Howell, the teacher at Great Pond
Sangha (UUBF) in North Andover contacted Abhaya with
some information to pass along to all of you:
The first item is a half-day retreat in North Andover
with Lama Choying Palmo, an American-born teacher in
the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhistm and
student of Lama Surya Das. The retreat is on August 11
from 10am to 1pm in North Andover. I can pass along
further details to anyone who is interested.
Great Pond Sangha has guided meditation with dharma
talk and discussion on the first and third Wednesdays
of each month, and peer-led meditation and discussion
on the second and fourth Wednesdays. They also have an
intergenerational meditation and potluck (including a
children’s section) on the third or fourth Saturday.
Again, I’ll be happy to provide additional details to
anyone who is interested.
I’m personally very excited about developing contacts
with other UUBF sanghas in the area, and perhaps we
can invite Laura to join us on a Tuesday evening to
talk about Dzogchen practice.
Well, I think that’s quite enough for now; I look
forward to seeing everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 7/31/07 meditation group
Hello everyone!
We’ll be meeting at the usual time and place again
this week: 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening at First
Parish.
I checked the Chelmsford Community Band web site, and
it looks like they will continue their Tuesday evening
concerts through August 14, so we may be better off
relocating to the Vestry (downstairs) rather than
trying to meet in the Chapel for the next few weeks.
August looks to be a very busy month, with all sorts
of events coming up:
AUGUST 4, Saturday — The Insight Meditation Center of
Newburyport is hosting a half-day (9am-12:30pm)
retreat with Chas DeCapua. The focus will be on
working with difficult emotions. Chas is a senior
student of Jack Kornfield and is currently the
resident teacher at IMS in Barre.
http://www.imcnewburyport.com/weekend_schedule.htm
AUGUST 11, Satuday — As mentioned in my previous
e-mail, our sister UUBF sitting group in North Andover
is hosting a half-day (10am-1pm) retreat on “The Joy
of Meditation” with Lama Choying Palmo, a teacher in
the Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen tradition.
For more information or to pre-register, contact
Susan/Phil Malloy malloyps@yahoo.com (978-474-0823)
Suggested donation $30. Reduced rate for students and
those in need.
Appropriate for beginners as well as experienced
practitioners.
Old Center Hall is located at 3 Great Pond Rd.,
directly across from North Parish UU Church
AUGUST 18, Saturday — The 10th anniversary Lowell
Southeast Asian Water Festival takes place on the the
3rd saturday of August. From the website:
“The Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival, Inc. is
dedicated to the preservation, protection and sharing
of the cultural heritages of the Southeast Asian
Americans of Greater Lowell, Massachusetts area.
“Every 3rd Saturday in August, more than 60,000 people
from around the country and the world come to Lowell
to celebrate water as it is celebrated in Southeast
Asia. They come for the blessings, food, crafts,
performances and (of course) the races.
“In 1997, the first Lowell Southeast Asian Water
Festival celebrated the culture of Lowell’s many Khmer
citizens. In 2002, representatives of Lowell’s Khmer,
Thai, Vietnamese and Laotian communities incorporated
the Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival, Inc as a
501c3 tax exempt non-profit corporation.
“Buddhist scripture explains that the Water Festival
is held to thank the spirit of the water, to pray for
evil spirits to go away, and to honor the Dragon King
who dwells in the water. The Water Festival is a time
to be thankful for the rivers, lakes and ponds that
villagers depend upon for their livelihood and
economic development.
“On the morning of the races, there is a parade along
the Merrimack river near the Sampas pavilion, blessing
dances and a blessing of the the boats by monks.”
Wat Buddhabhavana is among the sponsors of the event,
and Ajahn Mangkone has strongly encouraged that we
come see this unique cultural event!
http://www.lowellwaterfestival.org/
AUGUST 25, Saturday — Sharon Salzberg will be leading
“an afternoon of guided meditations, talks and Q&A” at
Flowforms Yoga in Worcester. Registration is $30.
http://www.dharma.org/ims/retreat_detail.php?id=91
We are still working out the details for our own
half-day retreat at First Parish as we welcome back
Doreen Schweizer of the Valley Insight Meditation
Society in Lebanon, New Hampshire. August 25th or 26th
are tentative dates, but I’ll keep everyone posted as
plans coalesce.
And last but hardly least, it looks like Abhaya will
return to teach the meditation class on the evening of
Tuesday, August 28. It will be very good to see her,
even if only briefly, as she gets set to embark upon
her year-long retreat at IMS and Spirit Rock.
With metta to all,
Tim
REMINDER — 8/7/07 meditation group
Hello everyone!
We can plan to meet in the Vestry at First Parish at
our usual time (7:30-9:30) tomorrow evening, as it
provides a bit more a buffer from the band on the
Chelmsford town common. (The music is good, but not
particularly condusive to contemplation!) Ajahn
Mangkone or Ajahn David will join us again this week
as guest teacher.
If the Vestry is booked, we’ll stay in the Chapel, so
please do look for the signs!
There are a whole bunch of items to pass along this
week:
1) Added to the list of August events is a public talk
by Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh at 7pm on Saturday, August 18,
at the Boston Opera House. Tickets are $38. More
information can be found here:
http://www.greenmountaincenter.org/Boston%20Public%20Talk%20Info.pdf
2) Also on the 18th, of course, is the Lowell
Southeast Asian Water Festival. Wat Buddhabhavana has
been closely involved with this event in the past.
http://www.lowellwaterfestival.org/
3) Coming up this Saturday, August 11, is the half-day
retreat (10am-1pm) with Dzogchen teacher Lama Choying
Palmo hosted by Great Pond Sangha in North Andover. I
can forward additional details for anyone who is
interested.
On a related note, I want to mention a wonderful book
by Ajahn Amaro that is freely available online in PDF
format. Entitled “Small Boat, Great Mountain:
Theravadan Reflections on the Natural Great
Perfection” Ajahn Amaro — one of Abhaya’s teachers –
discusses the commonalities between the Thai Forest
and Tibetan Dzogchen traditions:
http://www.abhayagiri.org/index.php/main/book/138/
4) I recently stumbled across a very interesting
website (via YouTube) called Dhammatube. It hosts a
extensive (500+) collection of short dhamma videos,
mostly English-language interviews with monks.
http://www.youtube.com/user/dhammatube
There is an extensive interview with Ven. Bhante
Henepola Gunaratana, the Sri Lankan meditation master
and author of “Mindfulness in Plain English.” Of
particular interest to me were his commentary on the
differences between Asian and American approaches to
Buddhist practice. The others are worth watching, too,
however:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY_VC9AlFDA&mode=related&search=
5) While we’re on the subject of videos, Tricycle
magazine has a special remembrance of Alan Watts,
whose writings on Daoism and Zen were particularly
influential for me:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4000-1.html
Of particular interest is “Alan Watts Theater” –
quite literally a mash-up of auido from Watts’s talks
set to animation by the creators of the Comedy Central
series South Park. (You’ll need a Flash-enabled
browser to be able to watch this.)
http://www.freshminds.com/animation/alan_watts_theater.html
And last but not least…
6) … A very intersting review of The Simpsons Movie
courtesy of the Buddhist Channel:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=12,4603,0,0,1,0
Of course we also have our own half-day (noon to
4pm)retreat with Doreen Schweizer coming up on Sunday,
August 26. Unfortunately it seems a few of you will
not be able to make it, but I strongly encourage those
of you who are able to attend.
See you all soon!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 8/14/07 meditation group
Hi all…. Just the usual reminder about time and
location for the meditation group this week: 7:30-9:30
tomorrow evening in the Vestry at First Parish.
There is a whole slew of other items to pass along
this week:
First, Mike and I attended the half-day Great Pond
Sangha retreat with Lama Choying Palmo at North Parish
in North Andover on Saturday. It was my first
first-hand experience with the Dzogchen Tibetan
Buddhist tradition, and found — not surprisingly –
to be generally familiar territory, albeit with
slightly different vocabulary and emphases here and
there. I guess my greatest surprise was that we only
actually did sitting meditation for about 15 minutes
of the 3 hours! There was quite a bit more ritual –
particuarly chanting/singing — than I’ve been used
to, and I found it interesting how Lama Palmo used one
of the “hymns” as the basis for her teaching that day.
I’ll try to share a bit more about this expereience
whenever I’m next practice leader; Mike, it would be
great if you felt like sharing your impressions of the
day, too!
I also want to give a quick plug to some upcoming
events, including one that just came to my attention
the other day:
Actor-writer Even Brenner (a fellow Vassar grad) is
presenting the story of the Buddha’s life in a one-man
play entitled “Buddha: Triumph and Tragedy of the
Great Sage.” Performances take place the next two
Friday evenings — August 17 and 24 — at The Theater
at 56 Brattle Street in Harvard Square, Cambridge. It
sounds quite interesting! You can find out more and
order tickets from his website:
http://www.buddhacom.com/info.htm
Also coming up this Saturday evening (8/18) is Thich
Nhat Hanh’s public talk entitled “Walking the Path of
Love with Muddy Shoes.” This takes place at the Boston
Opera House, and tickets do still seem to be available
through Ticketmaster.
Also this Friday and Saturday is the 11th annual
Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival in Lowell. It
should be a very interesting cultural event, including
a performance Friday night by a Laotian dance troupe
supported by Wat Buddhabhavana.
Of coure coming up in a few weeks we are hosting our
own half-day retreat with Doreen Schweizer from noon
to 4 on Sunday, August 26, at First Parish. Please
feel free to spread the word to anyone you know who
might be interested; the more the merrier! I can
forward further details as needed. (Also, I may need
some logistical assistance from any one who knows he
or she will attend.)
Please take a moment to check out our webpage
(http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com), too, to see
what else is going on.
Finally, I want to pass along some links for freeware
meditation timers for your computer. It makes
sitting/walking practice much easier if one is not
constantly checking the time! I have one (Mindful
Clock) installed on my PC at work, and another
(Meditation Timer 1.2) on my Mac at home. I think
they’d work especially well on a laptop, where one has
a little more freedom to practice where one wants:
Mindful Clock (for PCs):
http://www.mindfulnessdc.org/mindfulclock.html
Meditation Timer Widget (for Macs):
http://www.meditationresources.com/
Meditation Timer 1.2 (for Macs):
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/20879
(I can post these links on the website, too.)
Well, there’s always more, but that’s probably enough
for this week. I hope to see most of you tomorrow
night.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 8/21/07 meditation group
Hello everyone!
We should be back in the Chapel tomorrow evening, now
that the Chelmsford Town Band summer concert series is
over. We’ll meet at the usual time: 7:30-9:30pm.
As seems to be usual of late, there’s a whole bunch of
stuff to mention:
First, of course, is our own half-day retreat with
Dorren Schweizer this Sunday afternoon, 8/26, from
noon to 4pm in the Chapel at First Parish (although
please try to arrive a few minutes early so we can
start on time).
A few of you have already mentioned that you won’t be
able to make it, but hopefully we’ll see most of you
there. It should be a good day. The retreat will be
followed a “tea hour” in the Vestry.
I’ll probably send out another e-mail later in the
week to ask for some set-up/logistical help (e.g.,
flowers, tea, arranging chairs, etc.).
For those who are interested, Dharmaseed actually has
one of Doreen’s recent dharma talks available for
listening: “By Love Alone Does Hatred End: Practice as
non-violence,” from this past Martin Luther King Day
weekend:
http://www.dharmaseed.com/teachers/?q=Doreen%20Schweizer
Also coming up this weekend is an afternoon of
meditation with Sharon Salzberg on Saturday, 8/25, at
Flowforms Yoga in Worcester:
http://www.dharma.org/ims/retreat_detail.php?id=91
And Friday night, 8/24, is the final performance of
Evan Brenner’s “Buddha: Triumph and Tragedy of the
Great Sage” in Harvard Square, Cambridge.
http://www.buddhacom.com/info.htm
Speaking of goings on about town, Brenda and I had a
chance to see Thich Nhat Hanh and the monks and nuns
of Plum Village at a very full Opera House in Boston
this past Saturday evening.
The evening began with some audience-participation:
chanting/singing and guided meditation led by the
monks and nuns before Thich Nhat Hanh himself spoke.
Thich Nhat Hanh delivered a two-hour dharma talk on
“Walking the Path of Love with Muddy Shoes” which
concerned nourishing the seeds of love:
lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. He
then spoke for a while about how much needless
suffering comes about through wrong perceptions, and
how the antidote to wrong perception is communication.
(I’m paraphrasing quite a bit here, of course.)
He suggested four practices for correcting wrong
perceptions: 1) Always being fully present for our
loved ones; 2) Expressing our gratitude for the
presence of our loved ones; 3) Regularly asking our
loved ones what we might have done to cause them
suffering; and 4) Asking why our loved ones might have
done a thing that has caused us to suffer.
Sister Chan Khong finally ended the evening with a
haunting song sung in both French and English.
Hopefully Brenda will share her thoughts here or on
the Blog (http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com)
when she has a chance.
In other news:
- I came across some dharma videos on YouTube from
Ajahn Brahm of the Buddhist Society of Western
Austrlia. British-born Ajahn Brahm is an ordained monk
in the Thai forest tradition, and practices what he
calls “Haha-yana” Buddhism. If you watch his dharma
talks, you’ll see why:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BuddhistSocietyWA
Two that I’ve particularly enjoyed are “How to change
the world” and “The Right to Believe?”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R6rUeUJZ5c)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Prm3nAvFs
Moving right along…:
- The Buddhist Channel has a short but interesting
interview with Rev. James Ishmael Ford, Zen teacher
and minister at First Unitarian Society in Newton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Prm3nAvFs
- A recent study at Oregon State University and the
University of Hawaii has found that “handling stress
properly” can actually lead to an increase in “good”
cholesterol. While no direct reference was made to
meditation, one can reasonably infer that it would
qualify as what the study authors consider a “good
coping mechanism.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20070819/hl_hsn/handlingstressproperlyincreasesgoodcholesterol
- And finally, for those who are interested, Northern
Arizona University is conducting its own “Buddhist
Health Study.” One needn’t necessarily identify as a
“Buddhist” to participate — which entails taking
about 45 minutes to complete a completely confidential
online survey. I’ve taken the survey and am very much
looking forward to seeing the results.
More information can be found here:
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~hs-p/bhs/index.php
Well, that’s probably more than enough for this week.
Hopefully we’ll see most of you tomorrow evening, and
again on Sunday afternoon.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 8/28/07 meditation group (Abhaya returns)
Hi all…. Tomorrow evening’s meditation group will be
a very special one as we welcome back Abhaya to teach
the group during this short break in her long retreat.
We will meet, as usual, from 7:30 to 9:30 at First
Parish. Things are a little up in the air room-wise;
hopefully the Chapel will be free, but please look for
signs in case we have to relocate.
Yesterday’s half-day retreat with Doreen went very
nicely I thought. She led a small group of us through
an afternoon of seated, walking, and “non-walking”
meditation, and dharma teaching. It was very nice to
have the opportunity to spend that extended period of
time for practice, and hopefully we can have her back
again in a few months to lead another half-day. If
anyone feels like sharing their thoughts, I’d
encourage posting your comments on the blog:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com
I believe a few people also headed out to Worcester on
Saturday for a half-day retreat with Sharon Salzberg.
Matt (and others), if you’d like to share a bit of how
that went for you, that would be great.
On Friday night Carrie and I headed to Harvard Square
to watch Evan Brenner’s one-man performance of
“Buddha: Triumph and Tragedy of the Great Sage.”
Adapted from the Pali suttas, Brenner did a fantastic
job of bringing the Buddha’s story to life. I think
what struck me the most — besides Brenner’s skill as
a playwright and actor — was how different it was to
hear the Buddha’s teaching from “his own mouth,” as it
were. Somehow, hearing the story/teaching transmitted
orally — as it once was — gives it a extra vitality
that is really hard to describe, or to get from the
written word. The short Q&A session after the
performance was also very interesting. While Friday’s
was the last scheduled performance, Brenner is hoping
to add more dates in September and/or October; we’ll
keep you posted as it’s very much worth going to see.
Finally, there a couple of nice, short articles I
wanted to bring to your attention:
First is an article from Bhikku Viradhammo on using
intelligence to observe life, particularly dukkha or
suffering:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,4685,0,0,1,0
Second is a Tricycle “web exclusive” by Zen teacher
Lin Jensen on choice, karma, and consequence:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4036-1.html
Well, that’s all for now — hopefully we’ll see as
many of you as possible to welcome back Abhaya
tomorrow night.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 9/4/07 meditation group
Hello everyone!
This week’s meditation group reminder is going out a
little earlier than usual as Carrie and I will be
travelling this weekend, off to visit friends in the
Buffalo area. We’ll be back on Tuesday — hopefully
arriving in enough time to vote in the Massachusetts
5th Congressional District primary and pick up Ajahn
David or Ajahn Mangkone from the monastery. (If it
looks like we’ll be delayed, we may make a panicked
phone call to see if someone else can perform
chauffeur duty!)
In the way of a public service announcement, I do wish
to remind folks that Tuesday is indeed Primary Day for
the Massachusetts 5th Congressional District special
election to replace US Rep. Marty Meehan. It’s a bit
unusual to have an election the day after Labor Day,
so voter turnout looks to be particularly important.
(More info via the Secretary of State’s website:
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ELE/elespeif/5congressionalcal.htm)
So, what exactly does politics have to do with
practice? My personal take (the short version, anyway)
is that political participation really is an integral
part of bringing one’s private practice into public
life, an expression of Right Intention and Right
Action.
For those who are interested, there’s a great book
from Wisdom Publications entitled “Mindful Politics: A
Buddhist Guide to Making the World a Better Place.”
http://www.wisdompubs.org/Pages/display.lasso?-KeyValue=32942&-Token.Action=&image=1
Speaking of books, Abhaya — whom it was very nice to
welcome back this past week — referred to the
Bangladeshi teacher, Dipa Ma, in context of trying to
bring one’s practice into everyday life — if only for
just 5 minutes at a time!
The book Abhaya read from, “Knee Deep in Grace: The
Extraordinary Life and Teaching of Dipa Ma” seems to
now be out of print, but might be available from the
library. Amy Schmidt, the author, does have another
book out called “Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a
Buddhist Master” which is more widely available:
http://www.amazon.com/Dipa-Ma-Legacy-Buddhist-Master/dp/0974240559/ref=pd_sim_b_1_img/103-9078402-8763807
Shifting gears slightly, I wanted to also mention
yesterday’s On Point show about Mother Theresa’s
crisis of faith — the subject of a upcoming volume of
her letters and diaries, “Mother Theresa: Come Be My
Light”:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/08/20070830_a_main.asp
Regardless of one’s personal predilictions it’s
unquestionable that Mother Theresa is a monumental
figure in contemporary religion and spirituality. As
such it’s really quite interesting to hear in her own
words her struggle with suffering, her “long, dark
night of the soul.”
This also reminds me of an article that came out last
month in the Christian Science Monitor about the
stuggle of spiritual leaders — of all kinds — to
address tragedy and suffering:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0725/p01s02-ussc.html
Finally, on a lighter note, there’s another old
article via the Buddhist Channel that relates the
interesting story of Buddhist monk and a Catholic monk
who teamed up for a 100-mile trek across Minnesota:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=62,4587,0,0,1,0
Anyhow, enough babbling for now…. I hope to see
everyone on Tuesday, 7:30-9:30pm at First Parish.
Again, we’ll try to be in the Chapel, but please do
check for signs!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 9/11/07 meditation group
Hello everyone!
Well, I’m freshly back from a very interesting
day-long with Joseph Goldstein at BCBS on “liberating
practice in daily life.” Joseph covered a lot of
ground over the course of the day: The morning was
spent primarily in discussion of generosity, attitude,
and intention; the afternoon focused on anatta, or
non-self, particularly in relation to conventional and
ultimate reality. He really seems like a wonderful
teacher, even from just this small sampling. I hope to
receive the CD recording in a few weeks and would love
to share with anyone who is interested.
For anyone who has not been to BCBS in a while, work
on the Farmhouse extension is coming along a great
pace. I had a chance to check out the particularly
impressive, massive dry-masonry wall that is being
constructed as part of a bulwark (for lack of a better
word) supporting a sitting area behind the library.
Renowned mason Jim Dowd has been commissioned for the
project.
Meanwhile, Brenda spent the weekend just down the road
on a metta retreat at IMS. I’ll be very interested to
get her impressions either here, in person, or on the
blog. (Or all of the above!)
As an aside, BCBS has just published their 2008 course
schedule (available online here:
http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/index.htm#cal08). The IMS
2008 retreat schedule is not yet available online, but
I do have a hard copy if anyone is interested.
Per usual there are a number of articles and links to
share this week:
The first is a wonderful essay by Beth Roth entitled
“The Fragility of Silence”
(http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4068-1.html)
The second is a short commentary, also from Tricycle,
by Martha Henry on the question of whether or not
she’s considers herself a Buddhist:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4078-1.html
Shifting scope slightly, we have a longer article by
Nicholas Bennett on “The Economics of Enough,” which
seems to me to be a good reminder of the relationship
between one’s personal practice and the world around
us:
http://www.inebnetwork.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=18
Finally, a couple of calendar notes:
First, the September 18 guest teaching by Laura Howell
of Great Pond Sangha in North Andover has been
postponed until October 9. The reason is that Abhaya
will be on hiatus again from her retreat, and it is
our good fortune that she will join us again next
week.
Second, Ajahn David mentioned that Wat Buddhabhavana
will be holding a special celebration for the
consecration of their new shrine this coming weekend.
There is some confusion on my end as to whether this
will take place on Saturday or Sunday, but I will let
you all know as soon as I get more information.
Apparently this is a very big deal for the temple, and
we are all encouraged to attend.
Finally, this Saturday, September 15, is also Tricycle
magazine’s “Change Your Mind Day”
(http://www.tricycle.com/foundation/change.html). It
does not appear as though there are any local events,
but it’s something we can bear in mind throughout the
day. (Perhaps one of these years we can help
coordinate something in the Lowell area….)
As for this week’s meditation group, we’ll meet
tomorrow night from 7:30-9:30pm at First Parish. Now
that the church year has officially begun, I’m still
not sure what our exact location will be. We’ll aim
for the Chapel again, but please check for signs in
case we’ve had to relocate.
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 9/18/07 meditation group
Happy Monday!
We’ll meet at the usual time — 7:30 to 9:30 –
tomorrow evening, upstairs in the High School room at
First Parish. We’re also very fortunte to be able to
welcome back Abhaya to teach the class.
There are a number of goodies to pass along this week:
Last Monday I happended to listen to a very
interesting broadcast of WBUR’s On Point on “9/11,
Fear, and Politics.”
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/09/20070910_a_main.asp
A number of thoughts crossed my mind at the time, and
later that week — while I was reading Ajahn
Thanissaro’s collection “Purity of Heart” — I came
across an essay entitled “Freedom from Fear.”
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/fear.html
Ajahn Thanissaro is very much a Buddhist scholar, and
much of his writing serves to dispel some popular
“myths” about Buddhism — at least from his
perspective. While much of his writing can perhaps be
best described as an “espresso shot” of dharma –
short, but pretty intense — one of his more
accessible works is a neat piece entitled “The Roots
of Buddhist Romanticism.”
http://www.mettaforest.org/Article/The%20Roots%20of%20Buddhist%20Romanticism.htm
For those who care to delve further, more of his
writings can be found via Access to Insight
(http://www.accesstoinsight.org) or the Metta Forest
Monastery (http://www.mettaforest.org/).
Also, a couple of weeks ago Ajhan David referred to
his friend and mentor, Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda, a Sri
Lankan monk who spent many years as a dharma teacher
in Malaysia.
It just so happens that the Buddhist Channel recently
published the text of Ven. Dhammananda’s final dharma
talk, given about two months before his death on
August 31, 2006:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,4794,0,0,1,0
There is also a short Web documentary on his life
available for download here:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=12,2800,0,0,1,0
Finally, I want to give a heads up that I’ll be
forwarding a great e-mail from Mike regarding some
items that have recently caught his attention.
Again, I hope to see you all tomorrow….
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 9/25/07 meditation group
Hello, everyone.
First, a couple of quick things:
1) We’ll meet tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30,
upstairs in the High School room at First Parish.
Brenda will lead the practice.
2) IMS has just released their 2008 retreat schedule:
http://www.dharma.org/ims/retreats.php
Per usual, there looks to be a number of interesting
retreats this year, and hopefully many of you will
have the opportunity to make it out to Barre.
Now on to more serious matters:
As many of you may already know, the political
situation in Burma has reached a critical level over
the past few weeks as thousands of monks and nuns
across the nation have launched peaceful protests
against the military dictatorship. Just this morning
the military leaders have threatened to “take action”
against the protestors
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7010839.stm).
The BBC, the Christian Science Monitor
(http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0924/p01s02-woap.html),
and the Buddhist Channel
(http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/) all provide excellent
coverage of developing events in Burma.
The Buddhist Peace Fellowhip last Thursday issued a
statement in support of the monks
(http://www.bpf.org/html/whats_now/2007/burma_peace.html),
and the Buddhist Channel is coordinating a campaign
for solidarity with the monks and nuns
(http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,4945,0,0,1,0).
Tomorrow morning at 10:30EST there will be a 15-minute
period for silent prayer and meditation in support of
the monks, nuns, and all people of Burma:
——————————–
An appeal to pause and meditate
The monks of Burma are taking a great chance, trying
to transform the brutal, deluded generals of the
ruling military regime with metta (loving-kindness),
quiet courage, and discipline.
They have asked the people of Burma and those who
support them, to meditate and pray silently in their
doorways for 15 minutes at 2000 hours this Tuesday:
Can you join them?
2000 hours Rangoon time
1430 hours GMT
1030 hours New York
0630 hours Los Angeles
2030 hours Bangkok
2130 hours Kuala Lumpur/Singapore/Hong Kong
2230 hours Tokyo
——————————–
Even if you are not able to take part tomorrow
morning’s observance, I would still strongly urge you
to extend your metta practice to include all people of
Burma: the Sangha, the laypeople, and the soldiers
alike.
May all beings be safe and protected
May all beings be free from suffering
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 10/2/07 meditation group
Hi all…. We’ll be upstairs in the High School room
at First Parish from 7:30-9:30 tomorrow evening. As
tomorrow is the first Tuesday of the month, we’ll be
joined once again by Ajahn David. (Thanks to Sue for
providing the chauffeuring duties this month!)
I’m sure you’re all aware of the ongoing political
crisis in Burma, and the unfortunate direction in
which events have unfolded. The BBC
(http://news.bbc.co.uk) and the Buddhist Channel
website (http://www.buddhistchannel.tv) continue their
excellent coverage of the situation, even as getting
reliable news becomes increasingly difficult.
There’s a lot to read for those who are interested,
but here are a couple of articles I found particularly
interesting this past week:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2007/burma/default.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7015465.stm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0927/p08s01-comv.html
Also, WBUR’s On Point featured a discussion of the
Burmese situation this morning:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/10/20071001_a_main.asp
This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend two
workshops out at the Barre Center for Buddhist
Studies: on Saturday, CIMC teachers Narayan and
Michael Liebenson Grady led a workshop on
“Investigating the Nature of Fear,” and on Sunday
Harvard psychologist Jack Engler led a workshop
entitled “What is Enlightenment?” Both were very
interesting — particularly Sunday’s session, which
unsurprisingly covered a lot of ground. You can get a
sense for how things went on Sunday morning from this
1998 Insight Journal article:
http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/1998b/jack_engler.htm
In the afternoon Engler showed the parallels between
the 17 stages of meditation (per the Theravada
tradition) and John Bowlby’s 4-stage model of the
grief process. Heady stuff — which probably explains
why Enlightenment isn’t talked about very much!
Engler is a former Catholic monk who has practised
vipassana meditation for nearly 40 years and studied
with Munindra and Dipa Ma, themselves students of
Burmese meditation master Mahasi Sayadaw.
BCBS is also home to Dhamma Dana Publications,
distributor of free dhamma books primarily from the
Theravadan tradition
(http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/publications/index.htm). I
picked up a couple of books by Ajahn Thanissaro (aka
Geoffrey DeGraff) the last time I was out at Barre.
Some of his stuff is pretty intense to get through,
but other of his writing is much more accessible. I’d
highly recommend checking out “Meditations 3,” which
is the third volume of a collection of dhamma talks.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/meditations3.html
All of his writing can be found on the Access to
Insight website.
“Ajahn Geoff” also wrote a nice article for Shambhala
Sun entitled “Creating a Good Ground for Meditation”
which might be of interest:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1463&Itemid=0&pop=1&page=0
Well, that’s probably more than enough for this
week…. See everyone soon!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 10/9/07 meditation group
Hello everyone!
Tomorrow evening we’ll meet at our usual time and
place: 7:30 to 9:30 at First Parish. We’re scheduled
to be upstairs in the High School room, but if the
Chapel is fee we may end up staying downstairs. In any
event, please keep a lookout for signs when you
arrive.
This week we welcome guest teacher Laura Howell of
Great Pond Sangha, the sitting group affiliated with
North Parish Unitarian Universalist in North Andover.
Laura will introduce us to the Tibetan Buddist
practice of Dzogchen (natural great pefection).
For those who are interested learning more about the
common ground shared by Dzogchen and Vipassana, I
again recommend Ajahn Amaro’s book “Small Boat, Great
Mountain: Theravadan Reflections on the Natural Great
Perfection” available as a PDF from the Abhayagiri
Monastery web site:
http://www.abhayagiri.org/index.php/main/book/138/
Per usual I have a few links to pass along:
The BBC continues to present excellent coverage of the
situation in Burma — at least as much as possible. I
thought this article was particularly interesting:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7022475.stm
I also thought this piece from New England Ethnic News
offers an interesting analysis from a political
scientist’s perspective:
http://www.gonewz.com/news/292/15/
Shifting gears slightly, this past week marked the
800th anniversary of the birth of the Sufi poet Rumi,
who’s work is often used by Jack Kornfield and other
teachers in the American Vipassana tradition. The BBC
(again) had a good feature piece –
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7016090.stm –
and WBUR’s On Point also did an hour’s segment this
week:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/10/20071005_b_main.asp
Interestingly, Rumi was born in a part of what is now
Afghanistan in which Buddhism (among many other
traditions) flourished before the arrival of Islam.
One of Jack’s (and Abhaya’s) favorite Rumi poems is
“The Guest House,” translated here by Coleman Barks:
http://www.gratefulness.org/poetry/guest_house.htm
Perhaps it is not surprising, but I find it
interesting to see the parallels between Rumi’s “Guest
House” and the Tibetan poet Gotsampa’s “Seven
Delights,” which was the focus of the day-long
teaching offered a couple of months ago by Great Pond
Sangha and Lama Choying Palmo:
http://www.ktdpublications.org/excerpts/vajrasongs.php
Well, that’s probably enough for this week; hopefully
we’ll see most of you tomorrow evening.
Metta,
Tim
PS — Just a quick reminder that Laura’s teacher, Lama
Surya Das, will be teaching at 7:30 this evening at
the Friends Meeting House in Cambridge.
REMINDER — 10/16/07 meditation group
Hi all…. Well, Carrie and I will be away next week
celebrating our 5th anniversary. We kick things off by
going down to NYC to hear the Dalai Lama give a public
talk on “Peace and Prosperity” at Radio City Music
Hall on Sunday.
The meditation group will meet at its usual time
(7:30-9:30) on Tuesday evening at First Parish, and
Priscille will lead the practice. I believe the
Religious Education committee will be in the Chapel on
Tuesday evening, so you all will probably be back
upstairs in the High School room.
As usual, there are a couple of links to leave you
with:
I mentioned my “What is Enlightenment?” workshop with
Jack Engler a few weeks ago. I also sent out a link
(http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/1998b/jack_engler.htm)
to an article he wrote for Insight Journal about 10
years ago. Well, the second half of that article can
be found here:
http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/1999a/jack_engler1.htm
Also, Jack will be back at BCBS this coming September
for a workshop on “Seeking the Seeker,” which he wrote
about more recently:
http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/SeekingtheSeeker–JE.pdf.pdf
Shifting gears again slightly, I also came across an
interesting chapter by Gil Fronsdal from the book “The
Faces of Buddhism in America.” Entitled “Insight
Meditation in the United States: Life, Liberty, and
the Pursuit of Happiness,” Fronsdal presents an
interesting history of vipassana meditation as
introduced to and practisd in the United States. The
book is almost 10 years old, so some of the
information is a bit dated, but it’s still very
intriguing reading:
http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/articles/InsightintheUS.html
In a similar vein, Shambhala Sun has a great article
by Charles Prebish (co-editor of the aforementioned
book) entitled “Surveying the Buddhist Landscape”
which provides a brief survey of the wide variety of
Buddhist practice in the United States:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1697&Itemid=24
Shambhala Sun also has a nice collection of articles
on insight/mindfulness/vipassana practice on their
website:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=
Finally, Tricycle magazine essayist Marth Henry has a
wonderful, short Web Exclusive entitled “Among Other
Things.”
She begins:
“This January, in the bleak days of a New England
winter, I was unemployed, mournfully alone, and having
a bad hair day. It suddenly occurred to me that I
could solve all of my problems by becoming a Buddhist
nun.”
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4121-1.html
Oh, and one last final thing:
As I’m sure most of you already know, Tuesday is also
the day of the Special Election in the Massachusetts
5th Congressional District to fill the seat recently
vacated by UMass Lowell President Marty Meehan. Again,
more information can be found via the Secretary of
State’s website:
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ELE/elespeif/5congressionalcal.htm
Well, keep well and see you all in a couple of weeks!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 10/23/07 meditation group
Hi all! Well, Carrie and I are back from a wonderful
vacation; I hope everyone had a good couple of weeks
since we last saw you.
Brenda says that the Girl Scouts have a meeting in the
Vestry tomorrow evening, so we’ll be better off
meeting upstairs in the High School room at our usual
time (7:30-9:30). Brenda will lead the practice
tomorrow night.
As I mentioned in my last e-mail, Carrie and I began
our vacation by attending the Dalai Lama’s public talk
at Radio City Music Hall. His talk on “Peace and
Prosperity” was the culmination of the weekend
teaching to which Mike referred to in his e-mail last
week. (Thanks, Mike!)
The public talk was naturally geared for a more
general audience than those attending the weekend
teaching and focused on what His Holiness refers to as
“secular ethics” — that is the common ethical values
shared by all major religious traditions, specifically
love and compassion. The Dalai Lama says these values
can be called “secular” because they do not depend on
a particular religious doctrine.
He began by speaking briefly about “prosperity” and
the responsibility for affluent nations to share with
poorer nations. He emphasized interdependence and that
by helping others out of abject poverty we are in fact
helping ourselves.
In speaking of “peace,” the Dalai Lama emphasized the
necessity to engage in dialogue — particuarly
interfaith dialogue — from the common ground of our
shared “secular” values.
He prefaced his remarks by stating that anyone who
came to hear him expecting some sort of transcendent
wisdom was bound to be disappointed, but it was clear
that he spoke from the heart about what has become a
key part of his life’s work.
He came across as very warm and down-to-earth — a
point that was made clear as he tried to sit
crossed-legged in a chair that was a little too narrow
for such use. He chuckled, shrugged, and eventually
made himself comfortable as best he could.
All in all it was an interesting afternoon, and I’m
glad to have had the opportunity to hear him.
A couple of quick notes to pass along:
1) The Boston Globe had a feature a few weeks ago on
Lama John Makransky, colleague of Lama Surya Das and a
well-respected teacher in the Dzogchen tradition.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/30/sharing_enlightenment/
2) This past weekend the New York Times Magazine had a
short essay on one reporter’s recent visit to Burma,
and the situation there in the aftermath of last
month’s protests:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/magazine/21lives-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin
And, finally…
3) An oft-cited show here — Krista Tippett’s
“Speaking of Faith” — is finally coming to WBUR
(90.9FM) at noon on Sundays:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/
Keep well, and see you all soon!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 10/30/07 meditation group
Hi all! Just the usual reminder for this week’s
meditation group: 7:30-9:30 this evening at First
Parish. We’ll be back in the Chapel this evening.
A couple of quick notes today:
The Buddhist Channel has an interesting first-hand
account of the Burmese protests from Ashin Kovida, one
of the main monastic organizers:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5271,0,0,1,0
The Washington Post and International Herald Tribune
also have features on Kovida’s escape here:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?protest_news
In non-Burma news, the Buddhist Channel also has a
couple of interestnig pieces, one on an American monk
who recently established a Vietnamese Theravada temple
in Port Arthur, Texas. (Vietnam is unique among Asian
countries in that it is home to both the Mahayana and
Theravada Buddhist tradtions.)
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=61,5261,0,0,1,0
Going back a few months, there’s another interesting
article on couple of monks — one Catholic, one
Buddhist — who joined forces for a walk for religious
harmony along the Paul Bunyan State Trail in
Minnesota:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=62,4587,0,0,1,0
Finally, if anyone is interested in heading down to
New York next weekend, the American Museum of Natural
History is hosting the Margaret Mead Film and Video
Festival. One of the offerings is “The Thread of
Karma”:
“In 1991, filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam made
The Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche (Mead Festival
1992), which followed the search and discovery of a
4-year-old reincarnated lama, Phara Khenchen Rinpoche.
Sixteen years later, the directors revisit the
reincarnation at Drepung Monastery in South India. The
film offers an intimate look at the life of a young
lama as he aspires to live up to the reputation of his
former incarnation. It also explores his moving
relationship with the two people closest to him, his
attendant and his spiritual master, both of whom were
connected to him in his previous life. By focusing on
these ties that cut across lifetimes, the film paints
a touching portrait of the Rinpoche even as it
demystifies the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of
reincarnation.”
http://www.amnh.org/programs/mead/mead2007/php/films.php?f=Thread
Sounds interesting….
Anyhow, enough for this week; hopefully we’ll see
everyone this evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 11/6/07 meditation group
Hello to everyone!
We’ll meet at the usual time and place again this
week: 7:30-9:30pm in the Chapel at First Parish. Ajahn
David is away, so we’ll be joined by Ajahn Mangkone
this week. (Thanks to Sue for providing the
transportation from the temple!)
There are a number of items to pass along this week:
First, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, Krista
Tippett’s public radio show Speaking of Faith recently
hit local airwaves on WBUR. This past week she was
joined by Ingrid Jordt, and anthropologist who also
spent time in Burma as a Buddhist nun. Jordt gives an
insightful view into the dynamics between faith and
politics in Burma in “Burma – Buddhism and Power:
Compassion in the Face of Sorrow” — an absolutely
must-hear.
Tippett offers her reflections on Gather
(http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977166251),
and the interview itself can be found on the Speaking
of Faith website
(http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/burma/index.shtml).
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s Alan Senauke and Nyunt
Than of the Burmese American Democratic Alliance were
also featured in an October 7 interview with KPFA’s
Peter Laufer. This interview is available on the BPF
Radio website:
http://www.bpfradio.org/audiopages/102007-AlanSenaukeAndNyuntThanh/102007-AlanSenaukeAndNyuntThanh.html
So as you may know, this past week the Burmese sangha
resumed their protests in open defiance of the
military regime. Yesterday the New York Times’ Richard
Bernstien offered a intersting comparison between the
protest of Burmese monks today and the protests of the
Vietnamese sangha in the 1960s:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5337,0,0,1,0
Thailand-based journalist Robert Ehrlich also has an
interesting commentary on the reaction (or lack
thereof) of the Thai sangha to the situation in Burma:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5297,0,0,1,0
The BBC of course continues to provide great coverage
of the situation in Burma:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7070551.stm
and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7071018.stm
Moving right along to some other things, Tricyle has
posted on its website a couple of interesting articles
from the upcoming issue:
First is an interview with the Burmese monk Sayadaw U
Tejaniya on practice in everyday
life(http://www.tricycle.com/issues/editors_pick/4188-1.html);
second is a piece by Huffington Post blogger RJ Eskow,
who wonders “if he can practice right speech and
cultivate equanimity without losing his edge as a
political advocate”
(http://www.tricycle.com/issues/editors_pick/4189-1.html).
Also, last week Matt kindly shared with us his
thoughts following a day-long session at CIMC with
Joseph Goldstein. As Matt mentioned, one of the
teaching devices Joseph likes to use is the example of
the Big Dipper as something (a pattern or concept)
that we perceive, but that lacks an inherent
existence. Well, by karmic coincidence, Tricycle’s
“Daily Dharma” from last Thursday shares one of
Joseph’s contributions to the anthology “Everyday
Mind”:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/2_549/dailydharma/4148-1.html
Meanwhile, I just want to quickly share my own
enthuisasm for Ajhan Thanissaro’s “Meditations 2″ –
the middle volume of three-part collection of dharma
talks. While some of his writing can be quite dense,
the Meditations series (I’ve read v.2 and 3 so far) is
very accessible and well worth reading. Better yet,
you can download sections for free via the Access to
Insight website (http://www.accesstoinsight.org).
Finally, I just want to remind everyone that tomorrow
is Election Day; please go out and vote!!
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 11/13/07 meditation group
Hello again!
We’ll meet at the usual time and place again this
week: 7:30-9:30pm, in the Chapel at First Parish.
Carrie will be this week’s practice leader.
In the news this week:
The Buddhist Channel points us to an interesting
article from the Wall Street Journal on how Buddhism
has evolved into a force for political action (for
better or for worse). While I question the inclusion
of Falun Gong — which to me is more of a syncretic
movement, and not strictly “Buddhist” per se — it’s
an interesting article:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,5343,0,0,1,0
Of course, this is only a snapshot, neglecting any
mention of Buddhist political action in Thailand,
(both in terms of the relationship between the Sangha
and poltical officials, and also lay Santi Asoke
movement); Japan, where the Nichiren group Sokka Gakka
International has been particularly active; and Sri
Lanka, where the Sangha has played a significant role
in the conflict between the Buddhist Sinhalese
government and Tamil separatists.
Speaking of political action, and following Mike’s
forward from the Campaign for Burma, I couldn’t help
but pass along the following “very personal” protest
against the Burmese government, courtesy of Jim
Hightower via the Buddhist Channel (again):
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5350,0,0,1,0
Shifting gears slightly, I wanted to mention an
excellent radio series this week being put together by
American Public Media. Several shows are collaborating
on the special series “Consumed: Is our consumer
society sustainable?”
http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumed/
I caught Marketplace’s contribution on Friday evening,
and about half of Krista Tippett’s Speaking of Faith
broadcast yesterday afternoon. Fascinating stuff, as
always, and got me thinking about how much Buiddhism
emphasises the virtues of renunciation/simplicity and
generosity….
I’ll also throw a quick plug in here for the Center
for the New American Dream, which has been encouraging
a more conscious approach to the way we live for
several years now:
http://www.newdream.org/
Finally, a couple of quick hits from the Tricycle web
site:
First, Beth Roth’s latest essay on “choosing our
actions wisely.”
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4206-1.html
Second, Spirit Rock/IMS teacher Gil Fronsdal is the
latest participant on the “Tricycle Q&A”:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4218-1.html
Both are brief and well worth reading. (Check out
previous Q&As, too!)
So, that’s about it for now; see you all tomorrow
evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 11/20/07 meditation group
Hello!
The usual time and place for meditation this week:
7:30-9:30pm in the Chapel at First Parish UU in
Chelmsford. Brenda is out of town this week, so I’ll
substitute for her as practice leader.
There are a whole bunch of items off the internet to
pass along this week:
The BBC has a couple of very interesting video
segments on the situation in Burma, including
interviews with some of the monks involved in the
protests:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7090000/newsid_7095700?redirect=7095772.stm&news=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&asb=1
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7100000/newsid_7101900?redirect=7101913.stm&news=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&asb=1
In addition, the BBC has a couple of short web
articles:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/7087588.stm
and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7094731.stm
The Buddhist Channel weighs in again as well:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5389,0,0,1,0
In non-Burma news, the Buddhist Channel has a couple
of interesting articles today.
The first is an interesting op-ed piece from New York
Newsday about builing community across religious
differences:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,5407,0,0,1,0
The second is about Buddhism and “the art of
negotiation”
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,5400,0,0,1,0
Also, I just want to give a heads up that the current
(winter) issue of Tricycle has a number of very
interesting articles. Unfortunately most are available
online only by subscription: http://www.tricycle.com
Finally, Brenda just received an interesting e-mail
from Rev. Ralph Galen of the UU Congregation in
Andover. He is interested in starting a local chapter
of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and inquired as to
our interest. If anyone is interested, I’ll be happy
forward his contact information.
For more in the BPF itself:
http://www.bpf.org/html/home.html
Also, for any writers among us, the BPF journal
“Turning Wheel” is soliciting submissions for the
Spring 2008 issue. The theme is “In the Struggle:
Dharma as a Vehicle for Social Liberation (Special
Focus: Burma)”
http://www.bpf.org/html/turning_wheel/submissions_and_guidelines/spring_08.html
Well, that’s it for now. Hopefully we’ll see many of
you tomorrow evening. For those we don’t have a very
happy Thanksgiving!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 11/27/07 meditation group
Hi, all…. I hope that everyone had a wonderful
Thanksgiving!
We’ll meet tomorrow evening at our usual time
(7:30-9:30) at First Parish. I believe that there’s
another Girl Scouts meeting in the Vestry, so let’s
plan on meeting upstairs in the High School room.
(There should be a bit less traffic.) Brenda will lead
the practice.
We venture slightly off the usual path this week:
First, Krista Tippett hosted another fascinating
edition of Speaking of Faith this weekend. Her guest
was physicist and Hindu scholar V.V. Raman, talking
about the interplay between spirituality and science
in his life and thought.
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/heartsreason/index.shtml
Also, NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday aired the first
segment of a new Philip Reeves series exploring the
River Ganges:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16467150
And as we begin the 2007 holiday season the media
seems to be sharpening its focus on the consumerist
phenomenon.
A brief article from today’s Christian Science Monitor
features UVM professor Stephanie Kaza, editor of
“Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism”
and “Hooked! Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire and
the Urge to Consume.” Professor Kaza is a Zen teacher
and participated in the “BCBS forum on Buddhist
Responses to Violence” that I attended a few years
ago.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1126/p13s02-wmgn.html
http://www.amazon.com/Hooked-Buddhist-Writings-Desire-Consume/dp/1590301722
http://www.amazon.com/Dharma-Rain-Stephanie-Kaza/dp/1570624755
In a similar vein, the blog Alternet.org features an
excerpt of Bruce Levine’s new book “Surviving
America’s Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale,
Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy” in which
the author begins his discussion of the relationship
between technology, consumerism, and depression, with
a spiritual reflection on Jesus, the Buddha, and
Spinoza:
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/68043/
There’s been little news from Burma in the past week,
although the Buddhist Channel offers this Amnesty
International report U Gambira and other leaders of
the protests against the military regmie:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5419,0,0,1,0
The Burmese protests have also inspired essayist
Pankaj Mishra to offer his thoughts on Buddhism and
political activism:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,5441,0,0,1,0
The BBC also recently reported that the Dalai Lama is
considering diverging from centuries of tradtion by
picking his own successor:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7103841.stm
This, of course, follows on the rather curious Chinese
decree in September that reincarnated lamas would have
to meet with government approval:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6973605.stm
Finally, stay tuned to music events around First
Parish. Ruth e-mailed last week to say that “Alash” –
a group of Tuvan “throat singers” — will be in the
area, and she hopes that our meditation group can
coordinate with the First Parish Music Committee to
arrange a concert towards the end of January.
More info on the group here:
http://www.alashensemble.com/
I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 12/4/07 meditation group
Hi all! Just the usual reminder that we’ll meet
tomorrow evening from 7:30-9:30 at First Parish. We’ll
be in the Chapel, unless it’s too cold. Ajahn David is
back from his trip and will join us again this week.
As usual, a hodge-podge of things to mention this
week:
Last week Brenda read from Gil Fronsdal’s book “The
Issue at Hand.” As she mentioned, you can download it
for free from the Insight Meditation Center website
(http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/imc-iah.html),
and you can also write to request bound copies. Gil is
a long-time teacher at Spirit Rock, and this short
volume is really quite a wonderful read. (I also have
a copy if anyone is just interested in borrowing it.)
There are, of course, several items from the Buddhist
Channel website from the past week:
UNESCO funding for Buddhist art projects throughout
Asia is running dry, forcing the groups involved to
scramble to find support elsewhere.
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=5,5447,0,0,1,0
There is also a short interview with Robert Thurman,
noted schloar/practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism (and
also Uma Thurman’s dad) on the “Buddhist Ethic of
Kingship” in particular as it applies to the
democratization of Bhutan:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=40,5455,0,0,1,0
Much has been made lately of the “feud” between the
Dalai Lama and the Chinese government regarding the
future of the institution.
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,5465,0,0,1,0
There’s also a great interview with the Dalai Lama
himself from his recent visit to Japan:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,5495,0,0,1,0
And then on the Burma front it seems as though U
Gambira, one of the leading monks during the recent
demonstrations, has indeed been arrested by the
military government and charged with treason:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5497,0,0,1,0
Tricycle magazine’s “Editor’s Blog”
(http://tricycleblog.wordpress.com/) has been worth
reading lately, especially this guest post by Lama
Surya Das (which, as it says, was supposed to be
posted before Thanksgiving):
http://tricycleblog.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/resacralizing-the-holidays-holy-day-mindfulness/
Speaking of which, if anyone is interested in
contributing to our own blog
(http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com), please let
me know!
Finally, I believe I mentioned a week or two ago that
Rev. Ralph Galen — the UU minister in Andover — is
interested in establishing a Merrimack Valley chapter
of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
(http://www.bpf.org/html/home.html). It looks like
there will be a formational meeting starting at 2pm
this Saturday, December 8, at his church (6 Locke
Street, Andover). There will be sitting, tea, and
discussion. The meeting is open to anyone who is
interested, so please feel free to spread the word.
http://uuandover.org/directions.shtml
I think that should be it for now; hope to see you all
tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 12/11/07 meditation group
Hi all! The usual time and place for the meditation
group tomorrow evening: 7:30-9:30 in the Chapel at
First Parish. (If it’s too cold, we can try to move
upstairs to the High School room.) Priscille will be
practice leader.
As I mentioned last week, on Saturday Carrie and I met
Rev. Ralph Galen of the Andover UU Congregation to
discuss a emerging Merrimack Valley chapter of the
Buddhist Peace Fellowship. In addition to Rev. Galen
and ourselves, we were joined by another member of the
Andover church, and a couple from Great Pond Sangha in
North Andover, who brought their 10- and 12-year old
sons. It was neat to have the young men join us — the
older one, Kai, in particular seemed pretty well
tuned-in to the proceedings.
We began with a short period of sitting, followed by
each of us sharing our connection to Buddhist practice
and our inspiration for attending the BPF meeting. The
tone was largely exploratory — there seems to be a
shared sense that there is a niche for a Buddhist
peace group, but questions about what that means in
terms of practice. Building bridges with the many
Southeast Asian Buddhist communities in the area seems
like it may emerge as a leading focus of the naescent
group.
It was nice to have relatively broad representation of
the Buddhist traditions — Zen, Theravada, and Tibetan
– within a very small group, and nice — as Reverend
Galen noted — that not everyone there was associated
with the UU church or the UUBF. I’m not quite sure
what the next steps will be, but please let me know if
anyone is interested in being put on the e-mail list
for future updates.
On to this week’s Web highlights….
… From the Buddhist Channel:
- An interesting feature on alms bowl makers in
Thailand:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,5535,0,0,1,0
- A profile of the Tzu Chi Foundation of Taiwan, noted
for their civic engagement:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=48,5538,0,0,1,0
- An article on the art and archeology of Pakistan’s
Buddhist herigate:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=4,5504,0,0,1,0
- And one on how Buddhist culture has gone
“underground” in post-protest Burma:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5508,0,0,1,0
And in other news…
Tricycle essayist Martha Henry shares her thoughts on
meditation and multitasking around the holidays:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4265-1.html
The Tricycle editors are not particularly sanguine
about the situation in Burma:
http://tricycleblog.wordpress.com/
… And the BBC offers their own take:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7133239.stm
To end things on a slightly cheerier note, the BBC
also has a nice piece on “Amma — the Hugging Saint.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7130151.stm
Those of you who’ve been around a while probably
remember hearing Abhaya mention her on occasion.
Hopefully we’ll see you all tomorrow night; until
then….
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 12/18/07 meditation group
Hello again! I hope everyone emerged relatively
unscathed from the two snowstorms of the past week.
Ah, the joys of living in New England!
We’ll meet at our usual time (7:30-9:30pm) at First
Parish tomorrow evening. Since the weather is expected
to be quite cold, let’s plan on meeting upstairs in
the High School room. Brenda — fresh off her weekend
retreat at Kripalu — will lead the practice.
Before I get into the weekly round up, I do want to
mention that the meditation group will be on hiatus
the next two weeks (12/25 and 1/1) due to the
Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays. I expect
turnout would be pretty meager anyway. That said,
don’t forget to take breath (or two or three) during
those stressful moments that sometimes pop up at this
time of the year. And if you get a chance to sit for a
bit, so much the better!
We will resume our regular meetings on January 8, when
Ajahn David — our own “celebrity monk” — will join
us once again.
On to the news:
Priscille’s talk last week inspired me to pick up a
copy of Shambhala Sun (http://www.shambhalasun.com)
for the first time in a while. I’ve just started into
it, but there looks to be a number of interesting
articles in addition to the one on fear and
fearlessness that she mentioned. Unfortunately these
are not available online.
That said, the Shambhala Sun website does publish
articles from the archives every now and again, and
couple in particular caught my attention this past
week:
First, teacher Reggie Ray provides an interesting look
at the various permutations and meanings of the word
“dharma”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2239&Itemid=24
Then there’s a Sharon Salzberg 2005 article on
“Generosity’s Perfection” — which came home to me in
a very serendipitous and profound way this weekend:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1304&Itemid=247
Finally, Burmese meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita
offers wonderfully succinct instruction the practice
of vipassana meditation:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1465&Itemid=244
I also picked up the current issue of Shambhala Sun’s
sister publication “Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s
Quarterly” (http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/index.php).
It also looks to have a number of interesting
articles, particularly a forum on Buddhism and
psychology.
Not to be undone, Tricycle magazine’s website has an
ongoing “Q&A” series with noted Buddhist teachers;
they’ve just published Joseph Goldstein’s responses to
readers’ questions:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4268-1.html
As mentioned earlier, Rich Barlow of the Boston Globe
interviewed Ajahn David for Saturday’s edition of the
paper. The transcript (and a wonderful photo of Ajahn
in situ at Wat Buddhabahvana) is available here:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/15/meditation_practice_frees_inmates/?p1=email_to_a_friend
(The article also made it to the Buddhist Channel!)
On a semi-related note, I wanted to mention again the
documentary “Dhamma Brothers” about a vipassana
meditation program for prisoners at a maximum security
facility in Alabama. I don’t know if/when there will
be another local screening, but I highly recommend
watching the trailer in the meantime:
http://dhammabrothers.com/trailer.html
A couple of other items off the Buddhist Channel
newswire this week:
An op-ed piece by Paul Richardson of Religious
Intelligence on religion and politics in Burma:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,5555,0,0,1,0
And a couple of reports on the aftermath of the
Burmese protests:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5584,0,0,1,0
and
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5579,0,0,1,0
(The latter is the report of an investigative
delegation sent by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.)
Finally, there’s a wonderful profile of 100-year old
Zen master Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=60,5593,0,0,1,0
I think that just about does it for now; I suppose I
have to save some things for next week.
Hopefully we’ll see you all tomorrow evening.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — no medtitation group 12/25/07
Hi all…. As noted in last week’s e-mail, we will not
meet tomorrow evening.
That said, there are always some (hopefully)
interesting web links to pass along:
Last Tuesday Brenda shared some of the poetry she’d
collected while on her Kripalu retreat the weekend
before, including several works by Rumi, the 13th
century Sufi poet.
Coincidentally, Rumi’s enduring legacy was recently
the topic of a fascinating discussion between Krista
Tippett and Fatemeh Keshavarz on “Speaking of Faith”
(http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/rumi/index.shtml)
Rumi was also featured back in October on WBUR’s
“OnPoint” with Keshavarz and translator Coleman Barks:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/10/20071005_b_main.asp
Several Buddhist Channel articles caught my eye this
past week, including one by Huffington Post
contributor Karen Kisslinger, who provides an timely
(re-) introduction to metta practice in “Peacefulness
on Earth… Good Will Toward Everybody”:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,5611,0,0,1,0
Since the Huffington Post is primarily a political
blog, this piqued my curiosity, and I was interested
to see that there have been quite a few
Buddhist-related articles.
Perry Garfinkel offers his reflections on the recent
DVD release of John Bush’s “Yatra Trilogy”:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/perry-garfinkel/this-pilgrimage-like-the_b_77668.html
Garfinkel is perhaps best known for his 2005 National
Geographic feature “Buddha Rising, Buddhism in the
West”
(http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0512/feature4/)
and the book “Buddha or Bust: In Search of Truth,
Meaning, Happiness, and the Man Who Found Them All”
(Buddhist Channel review here:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=10,3037,0,0,1,0)
Some of Garfinkel’s other interesting contributions at
the Huffington Post are:
“Interviewing the Dalai Lama: He Had Me At Hello”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/perry-garfinkel/interviewing-the-dalai-la_b_70804.html
“An Appeal For Mindful Speaking”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/perry-garfinkel/an-appeal-for-mindful-spe_b_71760.html
and
“Thich Nhat Hanh’s ‘Relationships For Dummies’”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/perry-garfinkel/thich-nhat-hanhs-relati_b_75598.html
Joining Kisslinger and Garfinkel is occasional
Tricycle contributor RJ Eskow (“Dalai Lama Asks — If
Buddhist Doctrine of ‘No-Self’ Is Wrong, Who Are
These People?”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/dalai-lama-asks-if-bud_b_68925.html)
Another great article is Susan Smalley’s “Mindfulness
And Meditation In The Modern World”
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-smalley/mindfulness-and-meditatio_b_64753.html)
Getting back to the Buddhist Channel, Jamyang Norbu
offers his take on the future of the institution of
the Dalai Lama in “The Jewel in the Ballot Box:
Electing a New Dalai Lama”
(http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,5598,0,0,1,0)
Meanwhile the Business Standard (India) provides an
update on the reincarnation (of sorts) of another
Buddhist institution, Nalanda University:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=42,5613,0,0,1,0
There’s not been much news on the Burma front, however
things are getting quite interesting elsewhere in
Southeast Asia. It’s a little early to tell if
yesterday’s elections in Thailand will have any effect
on the Sangha there, but Human Rights Watch has
expressed concern over a clash in Cambodia between
police and Buddhist monks protesting at the Vietnamese
embassy:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=53,5627,0,0,1,0
Finally, Joe Lebkowsky of WorldChanging weighs in on
the holidays and the notion of “voluntary simplicity”
(http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,5629,0,0,1,0),
and James Bowley reminds us of the importance of humor
(http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,5626,0,0,1,0).
With that, I wish everyone a very merry Christmas with
peace on earth and metta to all!
- Tim
REMINDER — no meditation group 1/1/08
Hello everyone and happy new year! The meditation
group will remain on hiatus this week, but will resume
meeting next week (1/8) when Ajahn David is scheduled
to join us.
A couple of quick hits from the headlines:
The Buddhist Channel has published Jill Jameson’s
account of the situation in Burma. Jameson was part of
the Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s recent exploratory
delegation to Burma, and reports that all is far from
“normal” — despite outward appearances:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5635,0,0,1,0
Krista Tippett’s hit another home run (in my opinion)
with the latest edition of Speaking of Faith. This
past week she interviewed physician and storyteller
Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen on the practice of “listening
generously.”
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/listeninggenerously/index.shtml
Digging into my archives a bit, I’ve come across a
number of articles on the psychological aspect(s) of
Buddhist practice — an aspect I personally find to be
quite fascinating:
AlterNet recently published an article from the UK
newspaper The Independent on the relationship between
mood and health, which ends with a number of very
familiar sounding recommendations:
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/70342/
Back in July the LA Times ran a story on the
introduction of meditation practice (particularly TM
and mindfulness) in public schools, and the dilemma
over whether this infringes on separation of church
and state:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,4541,0,0,1,0
The blog LiveScience weighs in with a short post on
meditation and brain plasticity:
http://www.livescience.com/health/070507_mental_training.html
And Dan Goleman’s “The Lama in the Lab” from Shambhala
Sun takes a look at meditation and neuroscience:
http://www.livescience.com/health/070507_mental_training.html
More recently I came across an entertaining and
enlightening article in Psychology Today entitled
“Mastering Your Own Mind” which takes a look at
medtiation practice as a means for becoming “a
high-performance user of your own brain” in day-to-day
life:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20060828-000001.xml
Thus inspired, I found a few more articles on Buddhism
and psychology that as a layperson in both domains I
found to be quite interesting:
“Buddhism & Psychology @ Y2K” is a 1999 article that
takes a look at the complext and changing dynamics
between Buddhist practice and western psychology:
http://mindis.com/CONTENT/buddhism_and_psychology.htm
This topic is explored a bit further in Eric
Pettifor’s 1996 article from Personality and
Consciousness:
http://pandc.ca/?cat=buddhist&page=buddhist_psychology
Finally, Padmal Silva offers a more thorough overview
of Buddhist psychology in theroy and practice in this
1990 paper:
http://pandc.ca/?cat=buddhist&page=buddhist_psychology
Incidentally, Jack Kornfield’s next book “The Wise
Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist
Psychology” is due out in April. In the meantime, I’m
very much looking forward to getting my hands on a
copy of Padmasiri DeSilva’s “An Introduction to
Buddhist Psychology” which is often cited in the
aforementioned paper by Padmal Silva.
And so with that, I wish each of you a happy, healthy,
and safe new year filled with much joy, compassion,
and equanimity!
With metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 1/8/08 meditation group
Hello all! I hope everyone’s 2008 is off to a good
start; the meditation group will be back in action (?)
tomorrow evening, 7:30-9:30, at First Parish. Given
the spring-like weather, I think we’ll be okay to meet
in the Chapel. Ajahn David will be with us for a
belated “first” Tuesday.
A couple of items to forward along this week:
From the Buddhist Channel:
- An interview with Tibetan teacher Ven. Thubten
Chodron on finding the “right” teacher:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,5680,0,0,1,0
- Gary Zukav weighs in on “Compassion and Courage”:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,5694,0,0,1,0
- A brief excerpt from Eknath Easwaran’s book
“Conqeust of Mind” on detachment and joy:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,5714,0,0,1,0
- And, finally, a Burma update from the Irrawaddy:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5704,0,0,1,0
Not specifically Buddhist, but I did come across an
interesting article from the BBC on living with
terminal illness:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7167947.stm
Ajahn Thanissaro has a new article at Access to
Insight in which he offers encouragement by way of a
familiar metaphor in “Strength Training for the Mind”:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/strengthtraining.html
Access to Insight has also published the calendar of
Upostatha days — or “days of renewed dedication to
Dhamma practice — for 2008 (at least as observed in
the Thai tradition):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sila/uposatha2008.html
Finally, I wanted to give a heads up on a couple of
upcoming events:
On the evening of Saturday, January 26, BCBS will host
an evening of live “dharma music” by Ravenna
Michalsen:
Beautiful and original songs written and performed by
Ravenna Michalsen:
“Ravenna Michalsen trained as a classical cellist for
fourteen years until developing arthritis and
fibromyalgia. Dharmasong is Ravenna ’s second album.
After two years of concerts on the songs from Bloom,
it became apparent there was, and is, an appetite and
an audience for American Buddhist-inspired music.
“Both Bloom and Dharmasong are devotional: sadness,
joy and anger are combined with openness and
acceptance. Songs range from supplications to praise;
from requests to questions; from statements to
apologies. Many feature prominent figures from Indian
and Tibetan Buddhism, including Yeshe Tsogyal, Machig
Labdrön, Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava), Marpa Lotsawa,
Milarepa, Arya Tara and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. To
preview Ravenna’s music, please visit
http://www.ravennam.com.
“JANUARY 26 * SATURDAY * 7:00 PM * FREE AND OPEN TO
THE PUBLIC (No registration required.)”
http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/schedule/index.htm
Sylvia Boorstein will be holding an afternoon retreat
at Cambridge Insight on Sunday, February 3:
Sunday Afternoon with Sylvia
A half-day workshop/retreat with Sylvia Boorstein
“In this three-hour mini retreat, through
instructions, periods of silent meditation, and time
for questions and answers, Sylvia will focus on the
challenge of cultivating happiness—and the spontaneous
good will that is its reflection—in the middle of our
complex, demanding, and often distressing lives. Her
presentation will emphasize Wise Effort, Wise
Mindfulness, and Wise Concentration—literally and
figuratively the ‘heart’ of the Eightfold Path—as the
ever-available tools for transforming struggle and
confusion into clarity, a solid and grounded sense of
happiness, and even joy.
Sylvia also will read short passages from her newly
published book, Happiness Is an Inside Job.”
http://cimc.info/schedule_special.html
Finally, on Sunday, April 13, the Museum of Fine Arts
is hosting an afternoon symposium on “The Roots of
Happiness: Positive Psychology and the Art of
Meditation.”
“The search for happiness is ancient. Explore the
Buddhist path to happiness as illustrated by
selections from Evan Brenner’s Buddha Play, assembled
from original Buddhist texts. Sara Lazar presents
current research on the brain and the effects of
meditation, and Tal Ben-Shahar, teacher of ‘Positive
Psychology,’ the most well-attended course at Harvard,
talks about what really makes us happy.”
Participants include: Evan Brenner, actor and
playwright; Sara Lazar, assistant professor of
psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, psychology
instructor, Harvard Medical School; and Tal Ben
Shahar, author, Happier and professor, Harvard
University.
http://www.mfa.org/calendar/event.asp?eventkey=31557&date=4/13/2008
(Some of you may remember that Carrie and I thought
Brenner’s “Buddha” play was fantastic!)
Well, that’s it for this week; I hope to see you all
tomorrow evening.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 1/15/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! It seems winter’s decided to return
with a vengeance. We’ll meet tomorrow evening at our
usual time (7:30-9:30) at First Parish. We’ll probably
be warmer if we meet upstairs in the High School room;
Matt will be practice leader for the evening.
As usual, there’s a whole slew of info to pass along
this week:
First, American-born Tibetan monk Ven. Lama Marut will
be conducting a series of classes this Tuesday through
Friday of this week at the Cape Ann Asian Classics
Institute and high school in Rockport. According to
the blurb: “There will be afternoon teachings, where
he will teach a full review course of the Asian
Classics Institute, which will give an overview of
Buddhism.
“In the evenings, he will talk in a less formal format
at the Rockport High School auditorium on the subject
of emptiness.”
More information can be found via the Buddhist Channel
(of course!):
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=60,5735,0,0,1,0
Also from the Buddhist Channel this week is an
interesting article on palliative care services in
Thailand –
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,5725,0,0,1,0
– and another report on the situation in Burma:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5717,0,0,1,0
The BBC’s Andrew Harding also shares a Burmese
activist’s account of the “Hidden Life of Burma’s
Opposition”:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7177658.stm
A bit off topic, but this past week’s Speaking of
Faith was yet another gem. Host Krista Tippett has a
fascinating conversation with theoretical physicist
Janna Levin on mathematics and “the nature of truth,
free will, and purpose in life.”
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/mathandtruth/transcript.shtml
Just in case anyone is curious, Thanissaro Bhikku
offers the following as the traditional Buddhist view
of the “problem” free-will v. determinism:
“The Buddha’s teachings on karma are interesting
because it’s a combination of causality and free-will.
If things were totally caused there would be no way
you could develop a skill – your actions would be
totally predetermined. If there was no causality at
all skills would be useless because things would be
constantly changing without any kind of rhyme or
reason to them. But it’s because there is an element
of causality and because there is this element of
free-will you can develop skills in
life.”
Bhikkhu, T. (1997) Dhammapada: A Translation, Barre,
MA: Dhamma Dana Publications (via Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will)
Speaking of Ajahn Thanissaro, most of you have heard
me rave about the online library at the Access to
Insight website. I also wanted to mention that I’ve
come across another online library at the Buddhist
Publication Society of Sri Lanka. While there is some
overlap between the two collections, there is also
much original material at BPS, drawing on their
“Wheel” and “Bodhi Leaves” series. I’ve posted the
link on the blog, and I highly recommend browsing!
http://www.bps.lk/onlinelibrary.html
And speaking of the blog, in the past several of you
have suggested that I post an archive of these weekly
e-mails. Well, I’ve finally gotten around to doing so,
and you can now view all past meditation group
reminders:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/newsletters/#comment-62
I’ll be adding this one shortly!
Finally, I want to remind everyone of some special
music events coming up:
Alash, the group from Tuva, are performing at several
local venues this week and next: Friday, 1/18, at the
Lily Pad in Cambridge; Saturday, 1/19, at the Amazing
Firehouse in Framingham; Monday, 1/21, at the
HeARTbeat Collective in Jamaica Plain; and Wednesday,
1/23, at the New England Conservatory in Boston.
Please ask Ruth C. or myself for more information.
On Saturday, 1/26, Ravenna Michalsen will be giving a
free concert at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
Again, please let me know if anyone wants more
information.
Well, that’s all for now…. I hope to see everyone
tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 1/22/08 meditation group
Hello everyone, and Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
The meditation group will meet at our usual time
tomorrow evening (7:30-9:30) at First Parish. Due to a
Girl Scouts event in the Vestry tomorrow night, we’ll
meet upstairs in the High School room; Priscille will
lead the practice.
While we take today to reflect upon Dr. King’s legacy,
I thought it would be appropriate to begin by sharing
his letter nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the 1967
Nobel Peace Prize:
http://www.iamhome.org/mlkletter.htm
Also worth sharing is Nhat Hanh’s open letter to Dr.
King, written two years earlier, in which the former
sought to persuade the latter to openly oppose US
involvement in the conflict in Vietnam:
http://www.aavw.org/special_features/letters_thich_abstract02.html
And while much has changed in the world in the
intervening 40 years, there is much that remains sadly
familiar.
John C. Holt has written a poignant op-ed piece
reflecting on the “Public Face of Buddhism” in Burma:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,5784,0,0,1,0
… Meanwhile, the LA Times also has a great article
on the role of the Burmese Sangha in keeping alive the
spirit of the Burmese people:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5747,0,0,1,0
And The Irrawaddy reports on a recent forum in
Thailand on the “unfinished business” of the Saffron
Revolution:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5757,0,0,1,0
A few more links from the Buddhist Channel:
The Hartford Courant reports on the first ever
Boston-to-Washington peace walk undertaken by members
of the New England Peace Pagoda:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=65,5786,0,0,1,0
(Some of you might remember that the group visited
First Parish a few years ago in the midst of their
annual peace walk across the state.)
The Boston Globe profiles Lowell artist Virigina Peck
and her Buddhist-inspired painting now on display at
the Gallery Anthony Curtis in Boston:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=5,5780,0,0,1,0
And there’s an interesting article from Business Week
on China’s “spiritual awakening”:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=46,5761,0,0,1,0
In the past week I’ve also come across quite a bit of
writing that has spoken to me, in particular this
piece by Susan Piver from last May’s issue of
Shambhala Sun:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3083&Itemid=24
Another piece that hit home for me is Bill Morgan’s
article on “Resistance in Meditation” from the Fall
2002 issue of Insight Journal:
http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/2002b/resistance.htm
Finally, I want to remind people that the Tuvan band
Alash has two more local concerts: This evening they
will be appearing at the HeARTbeat Collective in
Jamaica Plain, and they will be performing at the New
England Conservatory on Wednesday.
Also, a reminder that Ravenna Michalsen will be giving
a free concert at BCBS on Saturday at 7pm.
I do have a few more links I want to pass along, but
we’ve probably had enough for this week already.
Anyhow, I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow
night.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 1/29/08 meditation group
Hi all…. We’ll meet at our usual time and place
tomorrow evening: 7:30-9:30 at First Parish. It should
be warm enough tomorrow so that we’ll be okay in the
Chapel. Mike will lead the practice.
As usual there’s a whole bunch of odds and ends to
pass along this week….
A few weeks ago while perusing Access to Insight I
came across an interesting collection of four essays
on lay Buddhist practice: “Principles of Lay
Buddhism,” “Right Livelihood: The Noble Eightfold Path
in the Working Life,” “Having Taken the First Step,”
and “Detachment.”
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/wheel294.html
On a related note, the CIMC web site has a link to an
old (2005) Buddhadharma interview on “Theravada
Practice off the Cushion” with Michael Liebenson
Grady, Gil Fronsdal, and Marcia Rose (one of Abhaya’s
teachers):
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/faithinawakening.html
I came across a pair of intriguing essays on Buddhism
and psychotherapy, one of which was written by Sylvia
Boorstein’s husband Seymour. Both essays approach
practice from more of a therapeutic than spritual
perspective, per se:
http://www.bps.lk/wheels_library/wheels_pdf/wh_290_291.pdf
I also recently rediscovered another great essay by
Ajahn Thanissaro. This one, “Faith in Awakening,” was
originally published in the Summer 2006 issue of
Tricycle:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/faithinawakening.html
The IMS web site also has a couple of interesting
articles hidden away. The first is a brief excerpt
from Joseph Goldstein’s latest book, “A Heart Full of
Peace”
http://www.dharma.org/ims/ai_news_worth_spacious_heart.html
The other is a paper that appeared recently in the
Public Library of Science journal PLoS Biology. A team
from the University of Wisconsin – Madison studied the
effects of meditation on attention among retreat
participants at IMS:
http://www.dharma.org/ims/documents/PLoSBiologyResearchArticle_000.pdf
(I think most of us will get by just fine reading the
author’s summary on page 2!)
Finally, the usual selection of articles off the
Buddhist Channel newswire (mostly) from this past
week….
A couple of views into Buddhist monastic life in
Taiwan:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=48,5799,0,0,1,0
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,5801,0,0,1,0
Controversy over the increasing commercialization of
the famous Shaolin temple on mainland China:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=46,5821,0,0,1,0
An interesting article on the history of lama
reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,5828,0,0,1,0
And some background on mandalas and thangkas in
Buddhism (again, primarily in Tibetan practice):
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=5,5825,0,0,1,0
A couple of updates on the situation in Burma:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5820,0,0,1,0
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7209419.stm
Some worrisome news about a government crackdown
against the Buddhist minority in the Chittagong hills
of Bangladesh:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=41,5794,0,0,1,0
And, finally, an update from our friends at the
Leverett Peace Pagoda as they continue their walk to
Washington, DC:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=60,5819,0,0,1,0
Well, that’s all for this week; I hope everyone is
well and look forward to seeing you tomorrow!
Metta,
Tim
Hi all! Ajahn David will again join us for tomorrow
evening’s meditation group. We’ll meet upstairs in the
High School room at First Parish at our usual time,
7:30-9:30. Thanks to Brenda and Sue for taking on
chauffeuring duty this month!
I want to start by passing along a link to the
Archbishop Desmond Tutu article that Dena brought in
last week. For those who weren’t able to make it, the
article is available online here:
http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/yogaplus/Article.aspx?id=2319
While it seems to be available from the public
library, I also wanted to share the Amazon link to the
Roger Walsh book “Essential Spirituality” from which
Mike read last week:
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Spirituality-Central-Practices-Awaken/dp/0471392162/ref=cm_taf_title_featured?ie=UTF8&tag=tellafriend-20
Another author who has been on my radar screen for
some time is the late German-born Theravada nun, Ayya
Khema.
Khema was a prolific author, and I recently had an
opportunity to read through a couple of collections of
transcribed dharma talks on Access to Insight –
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khema/index.html.
I also came across some audio recordings (in English!)
via Buddha-Haus, the retreat center she established in
Germany:
http://www.jhanaverlag.de/showd.php?rb=7&nav=6&left=j&det=&st=1
They also have a nice, short biography:
http://www.buddha-haus.de/ayya_khema_engl.htm
Speaking of authors, last year Krista Tippett
published her own book “Speaking of Faith,” and this
past week’s radio broadcast of her show featured a
reading of exceprts from the book before a live
audience in Minneapolis. As someone who has very much
enjoyed Tippett’s radio show, it was nice to hear her
account of her own journey, and I very much look
forward to picking up a copy the book:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/rememberingforward/index.shtml
Keeping in the media for a moment, I came across a
rather interesting blurb on the Buddhist Channel about
a 2006 movie entitled “Buddha Wild — Monk In A Hut.”
Despite the somewhat odd title, it looks to be a very
interesting movie:
“‘Buddha Wild’ journeys to and provides an
‘affectionate glimpse’ into the cultural and monastic
lives of Thai and Sir Lankan missionary monks living
on a remote monastry in the Western world. The film
explores the basic tenets of Buddhism, celibacy,
politics, the role of women in Asian society and the
day to day lives of monks.”
The trailer can be viewed here:
http://www.buddhawild.com/v20/index.html
Updates on the situation in Burma also continue to
come in pieacemal via the Buddhist Channel, including
this article from The Irawaddy which tells of the
resiliency of the Burmese Sangha:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5866,0,0,1,0
In somewhat lighter news, the Buddhist Channel also
gives us this brief report of a Thai research
institute that has developed mosquito-repellent robes:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,5843,0,0,1,0
In other developments of interest to
socially-conscious investors, Dow Jones Indexes and a
company called Dharma Investments has unveiled the
“Dharma Global Index,” the first index series based
specifically on the principles found in the religions
of Buddhism and Hinduism:
http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/2455.html
(No, I really can’t make this stuff up!)
Meanwhile, somewhat closer to home, the Boston Globe
reports that a research a UMass Amherst has received a
$50,000 grant to discover happiness. Nice work if you
can get it, I guess:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/02/50000_to_discov.html
Finally, although slightly off-topic, I couldn’t
resist passing along the news that Marharishi Mahesh
Yogi, the Indian guru and master of Transcendental
Meditation, has decided to retire:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/01/29/maharishi_retreats_into_silence/
I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow night — and
don’t forget, tomorrow’s Primary Day, so be sure to
get out and vote!
Metta,
Tim
Hi all! We’ll meet at the usual time and place this
week: 7:30-9:30 upstairs in the High School room at
First Parish. Brenda will lead the practice this week.
I wanted to mention a couple of things in follow up to
Ajahn David’s visit last week:
First, as Ajahn mentioned, Bhante Gunaratana (“Bhante
G”) currently teaches from the Bhavana Society
meditation center in High View, WV. (If anyone has
read Dinty Moore’s “Accidental Buddhist” will have
some vicarious familiarity with it.) The Bhavana
Society has an excellent website
(http://www.bhavanasociety.org/) with all sorts of
great resources: books, articles, mp3s, etc.
Bhante G also teaches locally, and in fact will lead a
10-day retreat on the Jhanas (meditative absorptions)
at IMS in April. This is definitely an intensive
retreat, as per the IMS website, participants are
required to have previously sat at least one week-long
retreat:
“Sittings during this course may last one hour or
longer. There will be an opportunity to observe the
eight monastic precepts, which include abstaining from
food after noon each day. An exception will be made
for those who prefer to eat in the late afternoon – a
tea meal will be served.”
Anyhow, for those who are up to it, I’m sure this
would be quite a remarkable experience.
http://www.dharma.org/ims/retreat_detail.php?id=99
Ajahn David also spoke reverently of Ven. Dr. K. Sri
Dhammananda, the late British-born Theravada monk who
spent most of his monastic life in Malaysia. There is
another very good website that provides additional
biographical information and downloads of a selection
of his writings:
http://www.ksridhammananda.com/
Ajahn David’s mention of his “prison monastics” at
Devens also reminded me of a Zen monk, Rev. Kobutsu
Malone, now based in Sedwick, ME, who has been
involved in similar work for several years. He has
contributed frequently as a columnist on the Buddhist
Channel website, and I found this essay in particular
to be quite poignant:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,2845,0,0,1,0
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s own “Prison Project”
is coming up on its 10th anniversary. (More
information can be found here:
http://www.bpf.org/html/current_projects/transformative_justice/transformative_justice.html)
Thich Nhat Hanh has also spent much time working to
transform the justice industry: “Be Free Where You
Are: A talk given at the Maryland Correctional
Institute” and “Keeping the Peace: Mindfulness and
Public Service”
http://www.parallax.org/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=BOOKBFW
http://www.parallax.org/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=BOOKKTP
It’s also worth listening again to former Wisconsin DA
Cheri Maples intereview on speaking of faith’s feature
on TNH “Brother Thay”:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/thichnhathanh/index.shtml
Another group, the Prison Dharma Network, was founded
by Fleet Maull in 1989 while he himself was
incarcerated. The PDN supports “prisoners in the
practice of contemplative disciplines, with an
emphasis on sitting meditation practice and the
practice and study of Buddhist teachings and other
wisdom traditions. We promote these paths of
wakefulness and non-aggression as ideal vehicles for
self-rehabilitation and personal transformation. We
believe in the power of the various
mindfulness-awareness practices and body-mind
disciplines of the world’s contemplative traditions to
change behaviors, transform lives, and ultimately to
reduce recidivism, prevent crime, and enhance
community safety and well-being.”
http://www.prisondharmanetwork.org/index.html
And, finally, I just wanted to mention again the film
“The Dhamma Brothers,” a documentary about the
meditation program at the Donaldson Correctional
Facility in Alabama:
http://www.dhammabrothers.com/film.html
Great Pond Sangha screened this a few months ago, and
it might be something to track down at some point.
Until tomorrow evening….
Metta,
Tim
Hi all…. Sorry for the short notice, but yes we will
be meeting at our usual time and place this week:
upstairs in the High School room at First Parish from
7:30-9:30pm. Carrie will lead the practice.
Just a few items to pass along this week:
The Shambhala Sun website features articles from its
archives, and a couple in particular caught my
attention recently. First is actually a recent article
by Sprit Rock teacher Phillip Moffitt entitled
“Awakening in the Body”
(http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3126&Itemid=24);
the next takes us back nearly a decade to an dialog
between Pema Chodron and bell hooks entitled
“Cultivating Openness When Things Fall Apart”
(http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2043&Itemid=24);
and finally Dan Goleman’s fasctinating report from
2003 on scientists’ efforts to measure the effects of
meditation
(http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1611&Itemid=24).
A couple of notes re: the situation in Burma:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5871,0,0,1,0
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7242346.stm
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,5889,0,0,1,0
In other news, a couple of months ago I’d mentioned a
Huffington Post article on metta by Karen Kisslinger
(“Peacefulness
on Earth… Good Will Toward Everybody”:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,5611,0,0,1,0).
Well, somehowe Kissingler found that I’d linked to her
article from our websited and sent me an e-mail about
a new article she’s written, “Hey Love, I Have A
Present for You… The Present Moment”
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-kisslinger/hey-love-i-have-a-presen_b_86548.html).
(Speaking of the blog, be sure to check out Mike’s
latest post on Marie Curie:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/quotes-of-note-marie-curie-1867-1934/)
This past week’s Speaking of Faith was quite powerful.
Krista Tippett hosted Robi Demlin, an Israeli woman
who lost her son to a Palestinian sniper, and Ali Abu
Awwad, whose brother was killed by an Israeli soldier:
“Instead of clinging to traditional ideologies and
turning their pain into more violence, they’ve decided
to understand the other side — Israeli and Palestinian
— by sharing their pain and their humanity. They tell
of a gathering network of survivors who share their
grief, their stories of loved ones, and their ideas
for lasting peace. They don’t want to be right; they
want to be honest.”
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/nomore/index.shtml
Finally, I want to mention the Sylvia Boorstein now
has a website: http://sylviaboorstein.com/index.html
Frankly I find it leaves a little to be desired at
this point, but it does have some of her articles,
some audio, and a calendar of her upcoming events.
Hopefully she’ll continue to develop it:
http://sylviaboorstein.com/index.html
Well, that’s all for this week; I hope to see everyone
this evening.
Metta,
Tim
Hello again! We’ll meet at the usual time and place
for this week’s meditation group: upstairs in the High
School room at First Parish, 7:30-9:30pm.
There are a whole bunch of links to pass along this
week…:
First off, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
just (as of noon today) published an very interesting
survey of the American religious landscape. They do a
wonderful job presenting the data, and it’s definitely
worth browsing through (as is the rest of the site,
for that matter):
http://religions.pewforum.org/
Another interesting site I stumbled across this past
weekend is the Center for Contemplative Mind in
Society, based out of Northampton, MA. The
organization’s aim is to “to integrate contemplative
awareness and contemporary life, to help create a more
just, compassionate, and reflective society,” and it
has programs in higher education, law, social justice,
business, and so on. One neat feature is a “Tree of
Contemplative Pratices” which is a particularly nice
graphical representation of a range of contemplative
practices. The site also has links to more or less
detailed write ups on many of the practices on the
tree:
http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/tree.html
I want to give a hat-tip to Doreen and the folks at
Valley Insight for passing along this link to
Ecobuddism a site billing itself as “a Buddhist
response to global warming.” I haven’t had a chance to
peruse it in much detail, but it looks very
interesting at first glance:
http://www.ecobuddhism.org/index.php
Speaking of Vally Insight, I want to pass along this
note from Doreen in the latest edition of their
e-newsletter:
“About two months ago I announced our efforts to get
more books into the Chapel Library at the NH State
Correctional Facility in Berlin, NH. Many thanks
to those of you who donated money for this purpose.
Over the last three years, a group of us from Valley
Insight have been going to the prison monthly to
practice and study with men there. The library needs
had become increasingly apparent. In the last two
months we have been able to get them a lot of new
material by purchasing books as well as subscriptions
to TRICYCLE, BUDDHADARMA, and SHAMBHALA SUN. Also,
other Upper Valley Buddhist sanghas have contributed
some books relevant to their traditions, and we
received donated books from Wisdom Publications. We
are continuing this effort; and if you would like to
donate to this cause, please send check to Valley
Insight c/o Claudia Brandenberg, PO Box 975, Wilder,
VT 05088.”
I’m sure they’d be thrilled if any of us was
interested in helping out in any way.
Last week WBUR’s “On Point” featured an interesting
discussion on the current research behind happiness,
some of which will sound familiar to meditators. That
said, I would have been really interested in hearing a
Buddhist perspective. Worth a listen here:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/02/20080218_b_main.asp
In semi-related news, the BBC has an article on
research on the relationship between anger management
and the body’s ability to heal:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7252415.stm
The BBC also had a nice pictorial feature on the
Buddhist monks of Luang Prabang, a little-known UNECSO
World Heritage Center in northern Laos:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/asia_pac_monks_of_luang_prabang/html/1.stm
Salon.com has an interesting feature — “Dive-Bar
Dharma” — on the Ethan Nichtern and Noah Levine, a
pair of 30-something authors, dharma teachers, and
representatives (?) of the new generation of American
Buddhists:
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/02/20/dharma_in_dive_bars/
There have been more than a few interesting gems from
the Shambhala Sun archives recently. A couple that I
found particularly interesting were these:
- A neat profile of long-time Buddhist
scholar/practitioner Robert Thurman (yes, Uma’s dad):
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2971&Itemid=24
- A great article by Thich Nhat Hanh on letting go of
afflictive emotions:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1756&Itemid=24
- And a interesting essay by Zen teacher John Tarrant
on practice and the political realm:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2952&Itemid=24
As always, there’s also been quite a bit off the
Buddhist Channel newswire in the past week:
- From the Atlantic Free Press, David Edwards weighs
in with a provocative op-ed piece on “Non-violence and
the Self-Cherishing Mind”:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,5937,0,0,1,0
- Author Deepak Chopra shares his thoughts on the
Buddha and the world:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,5932,0,0,1,0
- There’s a nice article from the Jerusalem Post on
Jack Kornfield’s recent trip to Israel to give a
lecture on meditation:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,5955,0,0,1,0
- A nice profile from the Bangkok Post on British-born
Thai monk Ajahn Brahm:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,5951,0,0,1,0
- And also a profile from the Sydney Morning Herald on
the world-famous “Tiger Temple” in Thailand:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,5960,0,0,1,0
Finally, I want to mention that the Barre Center for
Buddhist Studies has just launched a new (and greatly
improved) website, which includes improved access to
Insight Journal archives, and (finally) the ability to
register for classes online:
http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/index.html
That should do it for this week; I hope to see
everyone tomorrow night!
Metta,
Tim
Hello! The meditation group will meet upstairs in the
High School room at First Parish tomorrow evening,
from 7:30-9:30pm. Ajahn David will join us again. This
month marks the first anniversary of our “First
Tuesdays” with the monks from Wat Buddhabhavana!
Speaking of the monks, I just wanted to follow up on
the response to Carrie’s e-mail from last week. The
consensus seems to be that we might be able to find
better ways of supporting the monks at Wat
Buddhabhavana than by donating a half share of
vegetables from Bear Hill Farm once again this summer.
I’ve asked Ajahn David to let us know if the monastery
has particular needs that we might be able to support,
and will let you all know what he says.
As seems to be typical these days, I have a plethora
of links to share this week:
First is an interesting segment from 60 Minutes a
couple of weeks ago on “Happiness” — in particular
what makes Danes happy, as they seem to have come out
on top of a recent international survey:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/14/60minutes/main3833797.shtml
The whole segment is about 12 minutes long, but
additional footage can be found here:
http://60minutes.yahoo.com/segment/140/happiness
Tal Ben Shahar is a Harvard psychologist interviewed
for the 60 Minutes piece, and actually is scheduled to
partipate in the April 13 symposium “The Roots of
Happiness: Positive Psychology and the Art of
Meditation” at the Museum of Fine Arts on April 13.
Actor/playwright Evan Brenner (“The Buddha in His Own
Words” — http://site.thebuddhaplay.com/info.htm — a
great piece of theater) and MGH/Harvard psychologist
Sara Lazar are also due to participate.
Following along the mind-body theme, the Times of
London recently ran a report on some interesting
studies measuring the influence of meditation on
helping “the mind control physical processes once
thought to be uncontrollable.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/related_features/surprise_yourself/article3432227.ece
Rummaging around in the Shambhala Sun archives has
yielded another treasure trove this week:
- A profile of Jon Kabat-Zinn and the mainstreaming of
mindfulness-based therapy in Western medicine:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1859&Itemid=24
- Toni Packer and Pico Iyer each weigh in on the
weather… among other things:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1677&Itemid=24
and
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2944&Itemid=24
- As does Norman Fisher, in a way:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2913&Itemid=24
- And, finally, Joseph Goldstein writes about
mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom as the means to
peace:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2913&Itemid=24
The Christian Science Monitor has a few links on the
ongoing situation in Burma:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0221/p01s04-woap.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0228/p01s02-wosc.html
… as does the Irrawaddy (via the Buddhist Channel):
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=51,5995,0,0,1,0
I wanted to be sure to mention (if I haven’t
previously) that Doreen Schweizer will be leading
Valley Insight’s residential retreat in Etna, NH, the
weekend of March 28-30. Registration is $155 and due
by March 12. More details can be found here:
http://valleyinsight.org/events/33/weekendresidentialretreat/
Finally, I wanted to send out the link to the Blanche
Hartman lecture on “Beginner’s Mind” from which I read
excerpts last week:
http://www.intrex.net/chzg/hartman4.htm
Well, that’s probably enough for now. I have a some
links to pass along regarding retreat and online
learning opportunities, among other things, but all
that will just have to wait until next week.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 3/11/08 meditation group
Hello again! We’ll meet upstairs in the High School room at First Parish tomorrow evening at our usual time: 7:30 to 9:30. Matt — schleping all the way up from Boston — is on tap to lead the practice.
There seems to be a growing number of links to pass along each week, so I’ll try to share as many as possible without being overwhelming.
First, just a reminder that Wendesay 3/12 is the deadline to register for the March 28-30 Valley Insight weekend retreat being led by Doreen Schweizer. The cost is $155 per person to cover room, board, and administrative fees. More details can be found here:
http://valleyinsight.org/events/33/weekendresidentialretreat/
Between IMS, BCBS, Omega, Kripalu, and so on, there are a number of opportunities to attend a retreat locally, whether it’s just a weekend or for a couple of weeks. Scheduling, however, is often an issue. As it turns out, there are also quite a few smaller retreat facilities in the area where one can go on a self-led retreat. The Western Massachusetts Retreat Association is a regional consortium of such centers, and has a listing of a dozen places in Western Massachusetts that might be of interest to anyone intrigued by the idea of taking some time to get away.
http://www.massretreats.com/
Some, such as the Rowe Center (affiliated with the UUA), run their own programs; others, such as Temenos — founded by Quakers with a strong interest in Buddhism — are geared towards the more independent-minded.
If you haven’t previously sat a retreat, you might want to check out Sylvia Boorstein’s “Don’t Just Do Soemthing, Sit There,” which outlines and walks the reader through a 3-day self-retreat (that can be scaled up or down as necessary):
http://www.sylviaboorstein.com/sit.html
For those who just can’t get away, there are also a number of learning opportunities on the internet. Brenda just signed up for the Eckhart Tolle/Oprah Winfrey course:
http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/webevent_registration.html
Spirit Rock co-founder, James Baraz, also offers an online course called “Awakening Joy”:
http://www.awakeningjoy.info/index.html
For the more academic-minded, Ashoka “the eDharma university” offers numerous online courses on Buddhism by a wide range of respected teachers. (Some of the classes are free, too!)
http://www.ashokaedu.net/
Catching up on some old stuff, National Geographic has an article on Bhutan’s ongoing experiment in democratization:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/bhutan/larmer-text
In semi-related news, the BBC had a feature this past week on “transformation and tradition” in Tibet:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7279789.stm
And this morning, they reported on the Indian government’s response to a planned protest march from Dharamsala to Tibet:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7288072.stm
From the Shambhala Sun vaults, Jack Kornfield lays out in plain Engish what this meditation practice is really all about. (This is an absolutely must-read article, in my opinion!)
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3101&Itemid=24
And, finally, from yesterday’s Boston Globe, an interesting article on “the joy of boredom…”
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/03/09/the_joy_of_boredom/
… Which I thought was an interesting juxtapostion to Martha Henry’s latest Tricyle web essay on “Waiting Meditation”:
http://www.tricycle.com/issues/web_exclusive/4392-1.html
Again, there’s much more to share, but that’s probably enough for this week.
I hope to see everyone tomorrow night!
Metta,
Tim
PS — Sorry, two more things:
1) Ajahn David has invited questions from anyone who is interested; he can be reached by e-mail at venerablechutiko[at]yahoo[dot]com.
Also, tomorrow he will be filiming a pilot for a potential English-language dharma teaching for (I believe) Chelmsford public access TV; stay tuned!
2) Mike has been quite busy with posting on the blog lately, for which I am very thankful! (I seem to have my hands full with these weekly reminders!) Please be sure to stop by, check it out, and leave your comments: http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com
Ok; that’s really, really it for this week!
REMINDER — 3/18/08 meditation group
Good morning! We’ll meet at the usual time and place
tomorrow evening: 7:30-9:30 upstairs in the High
School room at First Parish. Carrie will pinch-hit as
practice leader this week as Mike had a last-minute
schedule conflict.
As I’m sure you already know if you’ve been following
the news lately, protests by Tibetans against the
Chinese occupation have met with violent suppression
over the past week. There are naturally many echoes of
the pro-democracy protests in Burma last fall.
One silver lining is that the press has been able to
provide modest coverage of events in and around Tibet,
despite the PRC government’s best attempts. As always,
it seems the BBC, the Christian Science Monitor, and
the Buddhist Channel have had the most comprehensive
accounts.
There are far too many links to provide here beyond
this sampling:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0317/p01s02-woap.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7296041.stm
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2008/03/14/tibetan_says_cars_on_f
ire_in_lhasa/
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=46,6040,0,0,1,0
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship offered this statement
regarding the situation in China:
http://www.bpf.org/html/resources_and_links/statements/statements/tibet_08.html
And the non-profit organization Save Tibet publishes
regular updates on their website:
http://www.savetibet.org
Of course, the Buddhist Channel also published a
couple of articles in the past couple of weeks that
show another side of Buddhism in China:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=46,6034,0,0,1,0
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=46,6020,0,0,1,0
There is, of course, some danger that recent events in
Tibet might overshadow the ongoing persecution of
Burmese monks following last Fall’s protests; the
Buddhist Channel is doing a great job of keeping the
situation in the spotlight:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,6042,0,0,1,0
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,6031,0,0,1,0
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,6006,0,0,1,0
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,6005,0,0,1,0
In the midst of the recent headlines about protesting
Buddhist monks, Newsweek’s Christian Caryl wrote a
provocative article on the rising phenomenon of
“militant” Buddhism in his article “Armies of the
Enlightened” — http://www.newsweek.com/id/117810
Well, of course Buddhists — even Buddhist monks –
are only human, and subject to the same stresses as
anyone else. And the Dharma, just as much as any other
ideology, can be misappropriated for political means.
Still, the article serves as a good reality check for
anyone thinking that Buddhism (especially
institutionalized Buddhism) is necessarily beyond
reproach.
Of course the Dharma, at its best, does offer skillful
means for both “inner and outer disarmament,” as HH
the Dalai Lama is wont to say.
From the Shambhala Sun archives, Pema Chodron shares
her thoughts on “Choosing Peace”
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3143&Itemid=24
… and bell hooks writes about creating a “worldwide
culture of love”
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2940&Itemid=24
Finally, also from the Shambhala Sun archives, is this
week’s must-read Dharma Gem of the Week: Trish Deitch
Rohrer’s wonderful profile of Sharon Salzberg:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1629&Itemid=24
Well, that’s all for this week; I know we’ll miss a
couple of you tomorrow evening, but I look forward to
seeing the rest!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 3/25/08 meditation group
Hello everyone; happy Spring! We’ll meet at First
Parish at our usual time tomorrow evening: 7:30-9:30.
We’re scheduled to meet in the Chapel, however, due to
the Girl Scouts meeting in the Vestry we might be
better off upstairs in the High School Room if it’s
available. Please be sure to check for signs on your
way in! Priscille will lead the practice.
Again, there are quite a number of things to pass
along this week….
First, I wanted to provide the link to Thanissaro
Bhikku’s dharma talk on “The Sublime Attitudes” from
which Carrie read last week. The full talk is
published in Ajahn Thanissaro’s book “Meditations 2,”
which is available online via Access to Insight. I highly
recommend it!
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/meditations2.html#sublime
Ajahn Thanissaro will be actually be in town to give a
dharma talk at Cambridge Insight on Wednesday, April
26; it should be an interesting evening. The full CIMC
event schedule can be found here:
http://cimc.info/schedule_wedeve.html
Ayya Khema also has a wonderful essay on the
Brahmaviharas (aka, Sublime Attitudes, Heavenly
Abodes, etc., etc.) — or as she calls them, “The Four
Highest Emotions” — published in the Spring 2001
issue of Shambhala Sun:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1766&Itemid=24
Also from Shambhala Sun is this short 2003 article by
Robert Thurman on the meaning of the Dalai Lama for
today’s world, which I find to be very interesting in
light of recent events:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2414&Itemid=24
For a slightly different take, today’s Christian
Science monitor has an article on the precarious
position His Holiness finds himself in as both the
political and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0324/p01s03-wosc.html
While details continue to be sketchy, it’s been hard
to avoid news of the situation in Tibet. These are
just a couple of the other news articles I’ve found
particularly interesting over the past week:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7302661.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7302956.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7307495.stm
Meanwhile Tibet’s neighbor to the south, Bhutan, is
holding first-ever elections today as the country
prepares to make a rather sudden transition to
democratic government. Both the BBC and Christian
Science monitor have coverage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7310832.stm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0324/p01s01-wosc.html
Not to be overlooked, of course, is ongoing situation
in Burma. The Buddhist Channel reports that Buddhist
monks — along with criminals, the mentally ill,
Christians, and Muslims — have been barred from
participating in the country’s upcoming “elections”:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,6092,0,0,1,0
Shifting gears a quite bit, I recently came across a
really neat handbook put together by Andrea Fella for
a five-week intro to meditation class she teaches at
Coastside Vipassana out in Montara, California. The
guide would be great to have on hand — especially for
those of you who aren’t always able to make it to
First Parish on Tuesdays. It also gives a good
overview of the practice for any friends and family
who are curious about what you’re really up to on
Tuesday evenings!
http://www.coastsidevipassana.org/andreasNotes/IntroductionToVipassana.pdf
Incidentally, it looks like Maria Straatman — Abhaya’s
good friend from her hospice chaplaincy training — will
be teaching at Coastside this Wednesday evening!
http://www.coastsidevipassana.org
Finally, to wind things up on an upbeat note: Some of
you may have already seen this story of a remarkable
little dog at the Shuri Kannondo Zen temple in Naha,
Japan:
BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7310993.stm
Buddhist Channel:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=44,6088,0,0,1,0
CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/24/praying.dog.ap/index.html
Of course the question still remains: Does a dog have
Buddha-nature?
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/33/story_3313_1.html
Well, that’s it for this week; I look forward to
seeing you all tomorrow night!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 4/1/08 meditation group
Hello! Just the usual reminder about this week’s
meditation group: We’ll meet from 7:30-9:30pm at First
Parish. Henceforth it looks like we’ll regularly meet
in the Chapel, as another group is scheduled for High
School room. Ajahn David will be joining us for a
special “April Fool’s” edition of First Tuesday
meditation; it should be interesting.
Speaking of Ajahn David, I came across some photos a
week or two ago from the anniversary memorial for
Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda that took place earlier
this month at Wat Triratanaram in North Chelmsford.
Maha Ghonsanada — a former Nobel Peace Prize nominee
dubbed the “Gandhi of Cambodia — was the Supreme
Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism, having nearly
single-handedly restablished the Sangha following the
terror of the Khmer Rouge regime. In his later years,
Maha Ghosananda spent much of his time in Providence,
Rhode Island, but he was still quite a significant
figure among the Cambodian exile community here in
greater Lowell.
Anyhow, you may see some familiar faces among the
amassed monks (#12, 19, 21, 22, 55, 71, 76, 104, 128,
131 and 190):
http://www.templenews.info/galleries/ghosanandaAnniversary/
The New York Times obituary for Maha Ghosananda can be
found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/world/asia/15ghosananda.html?_r=1&em&ex=1174190400&en=f9153b5f93e4a4c2&ei=5087&oref=slogin
Today also marks the 50th anniversary of the Dalai
Lama’s escape to India. It’s interesting to get the
BBC’s take on the event as it took place:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2788000/2788343.stm
While the current situation in Tibet continues to make
headlines in the international press, there is
actually very little in the way of real news from
Lhasa or elsewhere. Perhaps not surprisingly much of
the media’s attention thus has come to rest on
personage of tthe Dalai Lama himself.
Excerpts from His Holiness’s recent Newsweek interview
appear online here:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/124365
Pico Iyer shares this profile of the Dalai Lama in “A
Monk’s Struggle” from Time:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1723922,00.html
And Robert Thurman offers his thoughts on why China
needs the Dalai Lama:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2008/03/dalai.html
Meanwhile, author Pankaj Mishra (“An End to Suffering:
The Buddha in the World”) reviews Iyer’s new biography
of the Dalai Lama:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/03/31/080331crbo_books_mishra
And Louis Bayard seems to take issue with both Iyer
and Thurman:
http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/03/25/dalai_lama/
Bringing things a little closer to home, Doreen
Schweizer shares this report from a friend in
Dharamsala in the latest Valley Insight newsletter:
—————————————————
Here’s part of report on what Dharmasala, the site of
the Tibet government in exile, is like right now. It
came via a friend.
“Tibetans seem to be able to hold, without
contradiction, many different ways of expressing their
grief, and their concern for and solidarity with the
people in Tibet; to wave banners and shout until their
throats are sore, and to sit and pray with heartfelt
devotion to the Buddhas that, one day, may they become
like them for the sake of all.
“Yesterday, I heard about a different kind of
demonstration organized by the monks of the Buddhist
Dialectic School. No face paint, no red bandanas, no
hand-made placards reading Shame on China. They shaved
their heads clean, put on the outer yellow robe
normally only worn for religious teachings, and walked
slowly, heads down, single file through the town,
chanting the refuge prayer in Pali:
“Buddham sharanam ghachamay/dhammam sharanam
gacchami/sangham sharanan gachhani/ahimsa ahimsa. [I
take refuge in the Buddha... the Dhamma... the
Sangha... non-violence, non-cruelty, harmlessness]
“A reporter asked the monks why they were wearing the
yellow robe. The monks replied, ‘We are monks but we
are also human beings. We are not immune to anger.
Wearing the yellow robe reminds us to subdue our
negative emotions.’
“At an intersection, the monks met up with a few
thousand demonstrators led by angry young men with
Tibetan flags draped around their shoulders, shouting
anti-Chinese slogans and punching their fists into the
air. The monks kept walking and chanting.
“At the point where the two groups met, the
demonstrators fell silent and stood aside to let the
monks pass, forming two lines on either side of the
street.
“They brought their palms together at their hearts and
bowed their heads. Many began to cry.
“The monks kept walking and chanting. Buddham sharanam
ghachamay.
“After the monks had passed, the demonstrators picked
up their flags and placards and fell in behind them
chanting another slogan:
“‘May I become enlightened to end the suffering of all
sentient beings.’”
—————————————————
One other story that I’d like to share this week is
from NPR’s “Story Corps.” I can get into some Story
Corps stories more than others, but this one just blew
me away. If you can, give a listen to the audio rather
than just reading the transcript:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89164759
Finally, on a lighter note, Lawrence-based meditation
supplier DharmaCrafts is looking for models for their
upcoming catalog:
—————————————————
Good Afternoon,
I am contacting some of the local meditation groups in
the area to see if there might be some members that
may want to model for us in our upcoming Summer/Fall
catalogs. We are looking for average-sized,
middle-aged, men and women who can sit in meditation
postures for at least 30- minutes at a time.
Please contact me at the below information if you, or
anyone in your group, is interested.
Thank You,
Sincerely,
Meredith Fitzgerald
DharmaCrafts, Inc.
29 South Canal St.
Lawrence, MA 01843
mfitzgerald@dharmacrafts.com
—————————————————
As always, there’s plenty more to pass along but
that’s probably enough for this week.
Hopefully we’ll see you all tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 4/8/08 meditation group
Hi all! Just the usual reminder for time and location
of the meditation group this week: We’ll meet
downstairs in the Chapel at First Parish from
7:30-9:30. Brenda is in line to lead the practice this
week.
A couple of quick items right off the bat:
One, Ajahn David mentioned his participation in the
“Spirituality Feast and Forum” at UMass Lowell this
Wednesday, April 9. The event is open to the public:
——————————————–
Relating to Meaning and Mystery thru Faith & Science.
Panel representing 5 major faith traditions followed
by keynote speaker, NASA scientist Dr. Abdul Hye,
speaking on “God’s Universe.” Discussion and buffet to
follow. Come, feed your spirit! Sponsored by
Protestant Campus Ministry and the Greater Lowell
Interfaith Leadership Alliance (GLILA).
Location: 222 O’Leary Library, UML South
Imogene_Stulken@uml.edu; 978-934-5014
——————————————–
According to Ajahn David, the agenda is as follows:
4pm – Panel
5pm – Keynote Speaker: NASA Scientist, Dr. Abdul Hye
5:30pm – Discussion and Buffet
Parking across the street in UML parking lot
Another upcoming event is Ajahn Thanissaro’s dharma
talk on “The Paradox of Becoming” next Wednesday,
April 16, at CIMC. (I believe when I first mentioned
this a couple of weeks ago, I’d mistyped the date!)
More info here:
http://cimc.info/schedule_wedeve.html
Tibet continues to dominate the headlines,
particularly as the Olympic torch makes its way around
the globe, encountering protest pretty much every
place it goes. (In fact, the police in Paris actually
had to extinguish the flame and load the torch onto a
bus this morning in order to avoid protestors:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7334545.stm)
Pico Iyer, author of a recently-released biography of
the Dalai Lama, has been making the rounds on public
radio recently offering his best insight into His
Holiness’s dilemma.
A one-on-one conversation with Terri Gross on “Fresh
Air”:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89109552
… and a public discussion on “Talk of the Nation”:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89241436
Meanwhile, Deepak Chopra offers the reminder that
unrest in Tibet should not been seen as “litmus test”
for Buddhism:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,6162,0,0,1,0
Actor Richard Gere also checks in via Beliefnet with
his thoughts in what is a very interesting interview:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/231/story_23147_1.html/
However, the situation in Tibet is such that many
Tibetans are growing impatient with the Dalai Lama’s
“Middle Way.”
NPR also aired a couple of stories on Tibetans’
frustration…
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89300345&sourceCode=RSS
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89300348&sourceCode=RSS
… and the Christian Science Monitor ran a story
echoing these same sentiments:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0401/p01s01-woap.html
What is becoming clear is that Buddhists — from Tibet
to Burma to Sri Lanka — are entering a new period of
activism as economic and political pressures come to
bear. A recent AP story touches on this “surprising”
trend:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,6143,0,0,1,0
Incidentally, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship has
recently released the following statements on Tibet
(http://www.bpf.org/html/resources_and_links/statements/statements/tibet_08.html)
and also Tibet, Burma, and Darfur
(http://www.bpf.org/html/TibetBurmaDarfur.html).
I want to wind up this week’s e-mail with a couple of
links from the Shambhala Sun archives that I feel are
especially pertinent:
First, novelist Charles Johnson writes about “Dharma
for a Dangerous Time”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2967&Itemid=24
… Pema Chodron discusses patience as an antidote to
anger and aggression:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1309&Itemid=24
Pema is joined by Jack Kornfield in an interview for
The Buddhadharma on “The Wondrous Path of
Difficulties”
http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2005/winter/wondrous_path.html
Finally, I wanted to mention a very interesting
website that I recently discovered called “Buddhist
Geeks.” The site is home to a weekly audio Webcast
that has been going on for just over a year at this
point. The show has featured all sorts of notable
guests including John Daido Loori Roshi, Sharon
Salzberg, B. Alan Wallace, and many others:
http://www.fallingfruit.tv/buddhistgeeks/
I’ve also added this link to the Audio section of the
resources of our own blog:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/resources/audio-links/
Well, that should do it for this week. I hope to see
you all tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 4/15/08 meditation group
Greetings and salutations! Tomorrow evening the
meditation group will once again meet from 7:30-9:30
at First Parish. We’ll be in the Chapel, and Carrie
will lead the practice.
There are a number of events coming up in the not too
distant future, so I’d like to begin this week just by
making mention of those:
1) Ajahn Thanissaro will give a dharma talk at
Cambridge Insight this Wednesday evening, April 16;
the topic is “The Paradox of Becoming.” Ajahn
Thanissaro is one of the foremost American
scholar-monks in the Theravada tradition, so this
should be an excellent learning experience. For more
info see:
http://cimc.info/schedule_wedeve.html
2) Next Saturday, April 26, CIMC will host a day-long
workshop with Joseph Goldstein and Charles Halpern
entitled “Making Waves and Riding the Currents:
Activism and the Practice of Wisdom.” Again, further
information can be found here:
http://cimc.info/schedule_special.html
3) This Saturday, April 19, our friends at Great Pond
Sangha in North Andover will host an afternoon retreat
on “Organic Awareness” with Lama Choying Palmo, a
teacher in the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition. Mike and I
had an opportunity to hear her teach last spring, and
I’d recommend checking it out if anyone is interested:
http://www.northparish.org/greatpondsangha/4-19-08_Palmo_Flyer.pdf
Of course the Tibet situation continues to make
headlines, especially this past week when the Olympic
torch briefly made landfall in California. The Dalai
Lama was also in Seattle this weekend for a conference
entitled “Seeds of Compassion.”
NPR’s Renee Montange had a brief interview with His
Holiness on this morning’s “Morning Edition”
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89612950&ft=1&f=3),
and he also appeared in an interview with the Today
Show’s Ann Curry this past Friday
(http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24087167/).
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship also has news footage of
last week’s protests in San Francisco. By the way, the
mustachioed gentleman carrying the “Burma Supports
Tibet” placard is Jack Kornfield:
http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1496480847&channel=1274168794
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6070807#bodyText
I’ve mentioned author Pico Iyer’s name frequently over
the past couple of weeks in context of Tibet and the
Dalai Lama. Shambhala Sun has pulled a 2001 interview
between the two from its archives; it is well worth
reading:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1752&Itemid=24
One of the points the Dalai Lama makes in his “Middle
Way” approach to relations between China and Tibet is
the degree of economic development that has come to
Tibet over the past 50 years. While there is much to
be said for this, Treehugger weighs in on the
environmental consequences of such rapid development:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/tibet_protests_environment.php
There was also a very interesting post by David
Wallechinsky on the Huffington Post website regarding
the “dos and don’ts” of protesting the Beijing
Olympics:
http://www.alternet.org/story/81862/
Before I wrap things up for this week, I wanted to
direct your attention to this past week’s Speaking of
Faith — a rebroadcast of Krista Tippett’s 2003
interview with Thich Nhat Hanh. Fantastic stuff; at
least read the transcript if you aren’t able to listen
to the audio:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/thichnhathanh/
Finally, I leave you with some Zen wisdom from Taizan
Maezumi Roshi, courtesy once again of the Shambhala
Sun archives:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1486&Itemid=24
I hope to see you all again tomorrow evening; til
then, take care!
Metta,
Tim
PS — Sorry, one last thing: Abhaya will be back in
the area for a couple of weeks in May. Plans still
tentative, but we look forward to having her back to
teach the class on May 20 and 27. Hopefully all of her
“old” students will be able to make one or the other
of those evenings (if not both), and this should be an
excellent opportunity for any “newcomers,” too. Stay
tuned for further details!
REMINDER — 4/22/08 meditation group
Hello everyone, and happy Patriots’ Day! Tomorrow, of course is Earth Day (http://ww2.earthday.net/); the meditation group will meet at our usual time and place: 7:30-9:30pm, in the Chapel at First Parish. Priscille will lead the practice this week.
As the weather’s gotten nicer, we seem to be getting out and about a bit more. Brenda was at Cambridge Insight last Wednesday to hear Thanissaro Bhikkhu (aka “Ajahn Geoff”), and Carrie and I spent Saturday on retreat at the Insight Meditation Center of Newburyport. You can find our reflections over at the blog, of course:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com
There are a couple of upcoming events at both CIMC and IMCN, too. This Saturday, April 26, Joseph Goldstein and Charlies Halpern will be conducting a day-long workshop at CIMC “Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom”:
“This day will explore the relationship of social action and meditative insight. For most people interested in bringing about need social and institutional change, ther is the ongoing challenge of maintaining balance, compassion, and hope. Through periods of guided meditation, discourse, dialogue, and questions and answers, we will discuss ways of working for a more just, compassionate and sustainable world, while cultivating the wisdom that supports and deepens this work.”
http://cimc.info/schedule_special.html
(Also, note that Sharon Salzberg will conduct a day-long workshop at CIMC in June.)
As mentioned in my blog post, Carrie and I really enjoyed our day-long retreat at IMCN. Matthew Daniell, the guiding teacher, is warm, welcoming, and insightful, and the facility is a reasonably convenient and inexpensive way to do a day of intensive practice. IMCN has day-long (9am-5:30pm)retreats twice a month, and also hosts morning retreats every Tuesday.
Carrie and I look forward to heading back up to Newburyport (West Newbury, actually) on May 31, the Saturday afer Labor Day, for a day-long retreat. Chas DiCapua, currently teacher-in-residence at IMS, will lead an investigation into “the six sense doors”:
“The six-sense doors include the five senses: hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and the mind (through which we perceive and filter experience). Learning to pay close attention in the present moment as to how we actually experience life through the senses can help us to live from a place of greater awareness, responsiveness, and ease. Traditional Buddhist teachings, as well as Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book ‘Coming to Our Senses’, will be supports for our inquiry. Some meditation experience preferred.”
This might be a good opportunity for a few of us to take a field trip up to IMCN — particularly for anyone contemplating doing a long retreat, as well as anyone simply feeling in need of a bit of a tune-up. Space at IMCN is somewhat limited, so if more than a few of us are interested they’d probably appreciate some advanced warning. The cost would be $50 for the day (a pretty good deal), and we could carpool up from Lowell or Chelmsford (about and hour’s drive).
Carrie and I would like to host a potluck on the afternoon of Sunday, May 18. Serendipitously, this will be right around the time of the Buddhist holiday of Vesak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesak), and also coincides with the period of time that Abhaya will be back in the neighborhood. Friends, family, and dogs are more than welcome; please RSVP by e-mail for directions and to let us know how many will attend and what you plan to bring. We’ll plan on kicking things off around 2pm.
This is already a pretty long e-mail, but I just wanted to mention two more things before I sign off:
First, video footage of last week’s Mind and Life conference in Rochester, MN, is available online for a limited time only until May 16:
http://www.mindandlife.org/current.conf.html
The webcasts include the following:
- His Holiness, the Dalai Lama (Panel Discussion)
- Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D.: “Mind-Brain-Body Interaction and Meditation”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.: “Reflections on the Origination, Development, and Scope of
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programs in Mainstream Medicine”
- Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D.: “Compassionate and Mindful End-of-Life Care:
A Relational-Contemplative Approach for Clinicians”
- Linda E. Carlson, Ph.D., R. Psych.: “Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Programs for Patients
and Families Living with Cancer: Overview of a Program of Research”
- Daniel Goleman, Ph.D. (Audience Questions)
Finally, you may recall my discovery of the Buddhist Geeks website a few weeks back. There are many interesting discussions, but my must-hear “Dharma Gem of the Week” is a three-part conversation between Gwen Bell and Sharon Salzberg. Each segment is about 15-20min. long, and fascinating stuff:
http://www.fallingfruit.tv/episodes/sharon-salzberg-now-and-then
Warning: this website can get quite addictive!
Well, as usual that’s plenty for this week; I hope to see you call tomorrow!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 4/29/08 meditation group
Hello! Just the usual weekly reminder that we’ll meet for meditation tomrrow evening from 7:30-9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish. Matt will lead the practice.
A couple of things this week:
First, Jack Kornfield’s new book “The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology” is due to appear in bookstores tomorrow. Carrie and I are still waiting for our copy to arrive, but in the meantime Random House has published the introduction on its website:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553803471&view=excerpt
There are a couple of Earth Day-related articles I meant to recycle last week. The first is by Upasaka Nyanaloka on “Living Lightly on the Earth,” courtesy of the Buddhist Channel (http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553803471&view=excerpt); in the second, from the Shambhala Sun archives, Stephanie Kaza considers “how Buddhist principles can nurse the planet back to health” (http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3050&Itemid=24).
Sort of realted to the above, I was quite intrigued by Charles Shaw’s recent AlterNet article on the psychological factors of out-of-control consumption: http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/82013/
This reminded me of the work of another of my favorite authors, David Loy, who’s new book “Money, Sex, War, Karma: Notes for a Buddhist Revolution” — http://www.wisdompubs.org/Pages/display.lasso?title=Money,%20Sex,%20War,%20Karma — has been on my radar screen for a while now.
One chapter, “The Three Poisons, Institutionalized,” looks to be a revision of a talk I heard Loy deliver out at BCBS a few years ago, subsequently pubished in Insight Journal: http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/TheThreeInstitutionalPoisons–DL.pdf.pdf
Climbing down momentarily from my quasi-political soapbox, this week’s must-read Dharma Gem of the Week is Beth Roth’s reflection “Taking Refuge (On Wings of Angels)” from the Tricycle website:
http://204.9.47.54/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=45A1DE9B63524F6780DEB954CD87F29E&SiteID=6817839757
Finally, I wanted to mention that the trustees of Wat Buddhabhavana are looking for donations to help offset the expense of the new van they purchased for the Children’s Cultural Program. If anyone is inclined to help out, I’m sure it would be appreciated:
http://www.greatwisdomcenter.org/index.php?id=84
That’s all for this week; I hope to see everyone tomorrow!
Metta,
Tim
PS — Per last week’s e-mail, please don’t forget to RSVP if you’re interested in attending the potluck on Sunday, May 18. Also, if anyone is keen on joining Carrie and myself for the day-long retreat at IMCN on May 31, please let us know!
REMINDER — 5/6/08 meditation group
Hello again! The meditation group will meet, per usual, from 7:30-9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish. Because of a schedule conflict, Ajahn David will not be able to join us and Brenda will lead the practice this week. We plan for Ajahn to rejoin us next Tuesday, May 13.
Unfortunately this week’s e-mail will have to be a somewhat abbreviated.
A couple of bulletins from the headlines:
First and foremost, for those who haven’t heard, much of Burma has been devastated by Cyclone Nargis. At last report nearly 4000 people have been killed, and a death toll of nearly 10,000 would sadly not be out of the question. Already suffering from extreme poverty, the Burmese people are in desperate need of food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. Unfortunately much emergency aid is still in limbo awaiting the persmission of the Burmese military government. The BBC has provides more info here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7384041.stm
Another major news item this week was the dialog between representatives of the Chinese government and the Tibetan government in exile. While a certain amount of skepticism is probably warranted, especially towards the motivations of Beijing, one must also remain optimistic that at least a modest degreee of progress is being made. Again, the BBC weighs in with more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7382582.stm
The Buddhist Channel, as always, has more on the ongoing situation in both Burma and Tibet: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/
A little closer to home, yesterday Carrie and I attended the dedication of the new library at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. It was quite the event. Joseph Goldstein, Andrew Olendzki, and Christopher Queen all took time to say a few words about the project and how it reflects the vision of BCBS as a place of both practice and study. Ajahn Sucitto — currently leading the retreat down the road at IMS — gave his blessing to the endeavor and the new extension. BCBS has an amazing wealth of resources on a wide range of subjects across the Buddhist spectrum, and is well worth a visit for anyone with interest.
On a semi-related note, this reminds me of a 2003 panel discussion I came across via the archives of The Buddhadharma:
http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2003/winter/panel.html
Another interesting listen this week is The Buddhist Geeks’ conversation (in two parts of about 20 min. each) with Gregory Kramer, who is pioneering the practice of Insight Dialogue. I haven’t yet read his book yet, but Kramer will lead an Insight Dialogue retreat at BCBS at the end of October: https://bcbs.dharma.org/Pages/course_detail.lasso?-KeyValue=36&-Token.Action=&image=1
Anyhow, the conversation is a very interesting one:
http://www.fallingfruit.tv/episodes/interpersonal-meditation-awakening-relational-beings
Finally, just a few reminders that Carrie and I would appreciated RSVPs for the potluck on Sunday, May 18. At this point I believe Pris and Brenda (w. Abhaya) are the only ones who have confirmed that they will attend. (Am I correct that Mike, Matt, and Christine will not be able to make it?) If we could get an idea of final numbers (and who/what you plan to bring!) by this Sunday, May 11 (Mother’s Day), it would be very helpful in planning. Again, friends, family, and dogs are all welcome!
Also, if there are any more takers for the day-long retreat in Newburyport with Chas DiCapua on May 31, please let us know.
That’s all for now; I hope to see everyone soon!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 5/13/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! The meditation group will meet from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish UU, Chelmsford. Ajahn David from Wat Buddhabhavana in Westford joins us this week to lead the practice.
The headlines have been filled with reports of the ongoing crisis in Burma in the aftermath of Cyclone Nagris. As if the initial disaster were not enough, relief efforts have been stymied by the intransigence of a Burmese government that remains aloof from or indifferent to the plight of the survivors. I’ve posted some urther thoughts on the matter on the blog:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/metta-for-the-junta/
Matthew Trevisan of the Globe and Mail (via The Buddhist Channel) outlines the five of the key challenges that lie ahead:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=51,6369,0,0,1,0
While many foreign aid workers are having problems obtaining visas from the Burmese government, there are fortuantely a few (too few) organizations who have already set up relief operations:
- Alan Senauke of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship suggests directing emergency relief efforts “towards BPF’s affiliate, the Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB), which already has some funds in Burma, and has the resources and connections in country that assure proper distribution and use of your generous gifts:”
http://www.bpf.org/html/whats_now/2008/cycloneburma_000.html
- Avaaz.org is raising funds for the International Burmese Monks Organization “which will transmit funds directly to monasteries in affected areas.” More information can be found here:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/
- Grassroots International directs potential donors to the US Campaign for Burma and also the United National World Food Programme:
http://www.grassrootsonline.org/news-publications/articles_op-eds/an-effective-response-burma-tragedy
- The Taiwanese Tzu Chi foundation also has members already on the ground in Burma:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=88,6396,0,0,1,0
The BBC, Christian Science Monitor, and Buddhist Channel websites continue to have extensive coverage of the crisis in Burma for anyone who is concerned — as does the Burmese dissident newspaper The Irrawaddy (http://irrawaddy.org/).
In other news, the Buddhist Geeks website now has a new home on the Web, but can still be reached via http://www.buddhistgeeks.com. This week’s guest is author Susan Piver, who is also a teacher in the Shambhala Tibetan tradition.
In honor of Mothers’ Day I want to direct your attention to a couple of articles:
First, from the Shambhala Sun archives, is Susan Moon’s take on “grandmother mind”: http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3132&Itemid=24
Second, from The Buddhadharma, are Ajahn Amaro’s reflections on a mother’s love: http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2006/summer/reflecting.html
Finally, Vesak — the holiday marking the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha — will be celebrated at Wat Buddhabhavana this Sunday, May 18, starting at 10am. More details can be found via the temple website:
http://www.greatwisdomcenter.org
Also that afternoon, at 2pm, Carrie and I are will host our own a potluck for the meditation group. At the moment I only Pris, Brenda, and Abhaya have confirmed that they will attend. If anyone else is interested, please e-mail to let us know. Friends, family, and well-socialized canines are all welcome.
That’s it for this week; I hope to see you all soon!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 5/20/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! The meditation group will meet as usual from 7:30-9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish UU, Chelmsford. I am very happy to announce that Abhaya is back to teach and lead the practice both this week and next. This will be a wonderful opportunity for her older students to reconnect, and for new students to introduce themselves.
There are quite a few items of note to pass along this week.
First, Brenda and Ruth attended the Vesak Day celebrations at Wat Buddhabhavana yesterday. It sounds like they had a good time, and I look forward to a blog post in the near future (hint, hint).
A little further from home, the situation in Burma continues to be dire, largely due to intransigence and incompetence of the military government. There are signs that the junta’s attitude might be finally be shifting, but there is much catch-up work to be done and aid channels are still highly restricted.
Unfortunaetly the disaster in Burma has been somewhat overshadowed by the equally devastating earthquake in western China, no doubt in part due to the greater openness of the Chinese government. The BBC website has an article this morning comparing the responses of the Chinese and Burmese goverments:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7407927.stm
One upshot has been that aid agencies have been having an increasingly difficult time securing assistance for the Burmese people. Friday’s All Things Considered had a short report on this phenomenon:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90534248
Over the past couple of weeks I mentioned a few of the agencies that were having some success providing assistance to survivors of Cyclone Nargis. Recently, UNICEF has issued an update on its activities (http://www.unicefusa.org/news/releases/), and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has informaton on its Cyclone Nargis Relief Fund (http://www.uusc.org/info/article051408.html).
Meanwhile over Tricycle’s “Editor’s Blog” Jack Kornfield has issued the following appeal on behalf of the people of Burma: http://tricycleblog.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/an-open-appeal-on-behalf-of-the-people-of-burma-by-jack-kornfield/
I also recently discovered Jack’s own website, which not surprisingly has some pretty interesting stuff. One thing that really caught my attention was this article on “Dharma and Politics”: http://www.jackkornfield.org/index/articles?id=dharmaandpolitics
Finally, before I sign off for this week, I want to reiterate the invitation to offer “water dana” for the monks at Wat Buddhabhavana. As I mentioned in my e-mail last week, the temple has a standing order with Poland Springs and would welcome financial assistance earmarked for that purpose. It’s probably logistically easiest to collect cash or checks made payable to Wat Buddhabhavana (with “water dana” noted in the memo line).
It would probably be appropriate to offer the dana to Ajahn David at the time of his visit the first Tuesday of June, ahead of the hot summer weather. Please see or e-mail me if you’re interested in contributing, and thank you to those who already have! I also want to reiterate that no one should feel obliged to make a donation, of course.
Well, that should do it for this week; I hope you all can join us this week and/or next while Abhaya is around, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Metta,
Tim
PS — If anyone is interested in joining Carrie and myself for the daylong retreat with Chas DiCapua at IMC Newburport on 5/31, I’d suggest registering as soon as possible:
http://www.imcnewburyport.com/registration.htm
Carrie and I would be more than happy to coordinate a carpool of folks coming from the Lowell area.
REMINDER — 5/27/08 meditation group
Hello everyone; happy Memorial Day! I hope I’m not throwing people off kilter with an early e-mail, but Carrie and I are heading out to Buffalo for the weekend, and won’t be back until late Monday — so better early than late.
Anyhow, the meditation group will meet in the Chapel at First Parish from 7:30 to 9:30 on Tuesday evening (5/27). Abhaya will return for a second week of dharma teaching and to lead the meditation.
Please note that the Girl Scouts are scheduled to meet in the Vestry on Tuesday evening, so parking at First Parish may be a bit tighter than usual. Besides the church parking lot, additional parking is available either behind the Old Town Hall, or at Ginger Ale Plaza (between the Shell gas station and the Bertucci’s).
Just a couple of things to highlight this week:
I don’t normally read the Wall Street Journal, but there was an interesting article on the front page this morning about the underground relief effort underway in Burma (please note the link below is only good for the next 7 days):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121148943496215215-email.html
In my recent blog post on Burma aid(http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/burma-aid/) I mentioned the international debate on foreign intervention. There were a couple of interesting discussions on this topic on NPR this past week, on Tell Me More (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90465527) and On Point (http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/05/20080519_a_main.asp).
Also on NPR, last week’s Speaking of Faith subject was the spirituality of addiction and recovery. One of Krista Tippett’s featured guests was Kevin Griffin, graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader program and author of “One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps”:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/recovery/
In other media, my must-see “Dharma Gem of the Week” is a pair of interviews by journalist and author Robert Wright (“Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information,” “The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology,” and “Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny”). The first is an 75-minute interview with Joseph Goldstein — http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1099853386257692151&q=robert+wright+jose
ph+goldstein&ei=XHQxSKfIKI32rQLj-qmXCg — and the second is a 45-minute interview with Sharon Salzberg — http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6401896320203355759&q=robert+wright+sharon+salzberg&ei=GoMxSPupJ4H4rQK-3smaCg.
Approaching the interview as an outsider to Buddhism, Wright asks some great questions, and Goldstein and Salzberg offer some great responses. A fascinating discussion all in all.
Finally, I came across a good article by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana (author of “Mindfulness in Plain English” and “Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness”) on mindfulness and “Practical Vipassana” via the Bhavana Society website:
http://www.bhavanasociety.org/resource/practical_vipassana/
I’d like to reiterate that Carrie and I will be happy to carpool up to Newburyport with anyone who is interested in attending the day-long retreat with Chas DiCapua next weekend (Sat., 5/31): http://www.imcnewburyport.com/registration.htm
Also, I’ve already received a couple of contributions towards “water dana” for the monks at Wat Buddhabhavana. As I mentioned previously, the temple has a standing order with Poland Springs and would welcome financial assistance earmarked for that purpose.
I’d like to collect donations this week so that we can offer the dana to Ajahn David at the time of his visit the first Tuesday of June. It’s probably logistically easiest to collect cash or checks made payable to Wat Buddhabhavana (with “water dana” noted in the memo line). Please see me on Tuesday if you’re interested in contributing, and don’t hesitate to e-mail me if you have any questions. Thanks again to those of you who have already helped out!
With that, have a happy and safe holiday weekend… and metta to all!
- Tim
REMINDER — 6/3/08 meditation group
Greetings! Ajahn David will join us this week to lead the meditation at First Parish. Per usual, we’ll meet in the Chapel from 7:30 to 9:30-ish. I also want to remind those who are interested that I’d like to collect “water dana” donations to offer to Ajahn tomorrow evening. I’ll set aside a separate envelope next to the usual “teacher dana” envelope in the baskets by the door as you enter the Chapel.
Just as a reminder for those who are new to the group, “dana” is a Pali term meaning “generous giving,” and has been an integral part of Buddhist practice from the very beginning. In the Theravada tradition the practice is made especially clear in the relationship between renunciates (monks and nuns) and the lay community, with the former depending entirely upon the generosity of the latter for the provision of the “four requisites” — food, clothing, shelter, and medicine.
Last summer the meditation group sponsored a half-share of vegetables from the Bear Hill Farm CSA in Tyngsboro, which were then donated to monks at Wat Buddhabhavana. This year we are collecting money to be designated for the temple’s standing order with Poland Springs. The temple is currently home to five monks and hosts many events for the community, so water is in very high demand — especially over the hot months ahead.
For those of you who were unable to attend last week’s meditation, Abhaya was feeling a tad under the weather and was not able to teach. Fortuantely she will be in the area a bit longer than originally expected, so next week (6/10) has been marked as the “rain date.” Thanks again to Brenda for filling in.
Part of our discussion in the group last week revolved around the notion of “socially engaged Buddhism” — which, as I mentioned, I find somewhat redundant. In the West, Buddhism still has the reputation of being primarily a solitary pursuit, especially within the Theravada tradition. Nonetheless, a strong social consciousness has been integral to the practice from the very beginning. I recently found the following in Padmisiri de Silva’s “An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology,” and found it strongly resonant:
“… On certain occasions the Buddha cuts across the somewhat exaggerated dichotomy between the individual and society. It is said, ‘Protecting others one protects onself’ (attanam rakkhanto param rakkhati, parahma rakkhanto attanam rakkhati). Emotions like greed, hatred, pride, jealousy and envy derive meaning in an interpersonal context, but if we begin with ourselves and try to restrain them, we do not spread the seeds of disharmony to others. If others do not excite our sense of greed or hatred by their own greed and hatred, then greed and hatred lose meaning as forms of social encounter. Thus if each of us begins with himself to eliminate the potential seeds of social discord, the ground clearing for a good society has already been done. But if we leave untouched the sources of social conflicts within ourselves, no social institutions can create the conditions for peace and harmony.”
The interdependence of “self” and “other” is expressed explicitly in the so-called Bodhisattva ideal that is more prominent among the Mahayana (e.g., Zen, Tibetan) traditions of Buddhism. Jack Kornfield devotes a chapter of his new book “The Wise Heart” to the Bodhisattva, and presents on version of the Bodhisattva vow that I was desperately trying to recall last week:
Suffering beings are numberless, I vow to liberate them all.
Attachment is inexhaustable, I vow to release it all.
The gates to truth are numberless, I vow to master them all.
The ways of awakening are supreme, I vow to realize them all.”
He also gives the version of the vows taken by the Dalai Lama, based upon the words of the sixth-century master, Shantideva:
May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustanance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.
Sharon Salzberg provides another take in the following article for Shambhala Sun:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1630&Itemid=24
Engagement can take many forms, of course. One can, for examlpe, provide material assistance to those in need. One case in point pulled from the headlines is the activity of the Burmese Sangha in providing relief to the survivors of Cylclone Nagris, in open defiance of the military junta:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/world/asia/31myanmar.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=burmese+monks&st=nyt&oref=slogin
Alternately, one might advocate for a particular cause. In addition to his prison ministry, Ajahn David has also been active in working towards an global ban on cluster bombs, that continue to wreck havoc on the children of Southeast Asia and elsewhere. This vision has moved one step closer to fruition with the signing of an international treaty last week in Dublin, Ireland — although it must be noted that the United States, China, and Russia (among others) were not among the participants.
http://www.legaciesofwar.org/
Engagement can also mean simply bearing witness to a friend’s joy or sorrow, or taking five, ten, or fifteen minutes to sit quietly dispelling one’s own seeds of greed, hatred, and delusion.
As Zen master Shunryu Suzuki said, the practice is simply “to shine one corner of the world.”
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 6/10/08 meditation group
Hi all…. Summer seems to have arrived! The group will meet in the Chapel at First Parish tomorrow evening from 7:30-9:30; Abhaya is expected back to teach and lead the meditation. Again, this will be a great opportunity for old students and new meditators alike.
I want to start off this week by passing along Ajahn David’s thanks — on behalf of all of the monks at Wat Bhuddhabhavana — for our ‘water dana’ contributions. If anyone is still interested making a contribution, please let me know.
Also, Ajahn David gave the Sunday service at Westford’s First Parish Church United a couple of weeks ago. The service was videotaped, and hopefully we’ll obtain a copy on DVD if any one is interested in taking a look.
This past Saturday was “Change Your Mind Day,” an event sponsored by Tricycle magazine for the past 15 years. Unfortunately the folks at Tricycle don’t seem to have been particularly on top of things this year, so I apologize for the lack of advanced warning. You can find out more about CYMD here — http://209.196.57.144/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=7C621AE805594E8DB9D3DA11EC34054D&type=gen&mod=Core+Pages&gid=3464B140B55542A487D16304733A237C — and view a nice collection of related videos here: http://www.tricycle.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=3AF73F5197944CBB99742EE5444170CF
Keeping things on the “ecumenical” side for a bit, I’ve been collecting a backlog of articles on the 17th Karmapa, the 22-year old Tibetan monk who made his first appearance in the United States last month. Of course the US press has already pegged him as the “heir apparent” — at least politically — to the Dalai Lama.
The Karmapa is featured on the cover of the current issue of Buddhadharma magazine — to which he contributes both an interview and an article — and has popped up in a number of other instances in the mainstream media:
NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90840967
New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/nyregion/16karmapa.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref
Time (also via the Buddhist Channel): http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,6433,0,0,1,0
… and again: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,6553,0,0,1,0
It’s particularly interesting to note Robert Thurman’s commentary as he was also a good friend of the 16th Karmapa. (Like the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan tradition holds that the Karmapa is a “tulku” — a lama consciously reborn to continue his or her Bodhisattva vow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulku)
For better or worse Burma remains prominent in the headlines. There seemed to be some progress over the past couple of weeks as the junta seemed to relax their position on allowing foreign aid and aid workers into the country, but institutional intransigence seems to persist.
Last week Jack Kornfield issued an updated statement via Tricycle’s Editor’s Blog: http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=583
Meanwhile, in the Spring issue of Turning Wheel, vipassana teacher Michelle McDonald provides a personal and historical perspective on the Burmese masters who directly influenced the way mindfulness meditation is practiced in the West today:
http://www.bpf.org/html/turning_wheel/current_issue/BPFTurningWheelSpring2008McDonald.html
A couple of the more recent reports:
From NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91303960
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91280006&ft=1&f=1004
The BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7433195.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7432874.stm
And a very interesting profile of the junta by Jacob Leibenluft at Slate.com: http://www.slate.com/id/2192726/
Before wrapping things up for this week, I just want to mention that Brenda recently posted her comments about the Vesak celebration at Wat Buddhabhavana — http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/vesak-at-the-temple/ — and I hope to follow shortly with my reflections on the “Six Sense Doors” at IMCN.
I’ve also tweaked the links under the Resources sections (Audio, Booklist, Links, etc.) so that you now get a little description of each website when you “mouse over” its link. Hopefully people will find this helpful….
As always, I’m sure that’s more then enough for this week; stay cool, and hopefully we’ll see everyone tomorrow night!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 6/17/08 meditation group
Hi all! The meditation group will meet from 7:30-9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish. Abhaya is out of town this week, so either Carrie or I will lead the practice.
A couple of logistical things to deal with first this week:
Carrie and I will be on vacation next week and the week following. Matt is on the bill to lead practice next week, June 24, and Ajahn David is scheduled to join us again on July 1. We will need a volunteer to chauffeur Ajahn David to and from the temple; if anyone (or any combination of people) is interested in helping out, please let me know before the end of the week so I can let Ajahn know who to expect. Also, if anyone is still interested in contributing “water dana” to the temple, please see Brenda.
I received an e-mail last week from Doreen Schweizer, Abhaya’s friend and colleague who came down to teach a couple of times last year. In any event, Doreen’s mother has very suddenly taken ill, so any metta you care to send in their direction would surely be appreciated.
Speaking of Doreen, there are a couple of interesting items in the Valley Insight e-newsletter that she sent out last month, in particular this Dan Rather report on some Buddhist monks who are helping scientists study the “plasticity” of the brain:
video: http://www.hd.net/drr313.html
transcript: http://www.hd.net/transcript.html?air_master_id=A5156
Brenda posted some time ago on neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor’s talk at the TED conference on her “stroke of insight” — http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/a-stroke-of-insight/ — and the New York Times also ran a great feature on Dr. Taylor a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/fashion/25brain.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=jill+bolte+taylor&st=nyt&oref=slogin
While you’re on the blog, also be sure to check out Mike’s latest post:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/happiness-and-meditation/
Last month the Times also ran an intereting piece by columnist David Brooks on “neural Buddhism”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/opinion/13brooks.html
This also reminds me of this article — “Mind Over Matter” — from the Guardian that I found on the Buddhist Channel a while ago:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,6073,0,0,1,0
… and another — “The Lotus and the Synapse” — from Newsweek back in March:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,6117,0,0,1,0
Meanwhile, the Shambhala Sun archives yield a terrific profile of Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the pioneers of mind-body medicine and the application of mindfulness meditation to stress reduction and cognitive therapy:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1296&Itemid=24
For anyone interested in more stuff along these lines, I suggest checking out the Mind and Life Institute: http://www.mindandlife.org/
A few odds and ends before wrapping up this week:
A couple of weeks ago Krsita Tippett hosted author, former nun, and “amateur theologian” Karen Armstrong on Speaking of Faith. While only tangentially about Buddhism, it’s a fascinating conversation nonetheless:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/armstrong/
If anyone is interested in learning Pali, I found an online course courtesy of Bodhi Monastery, an ecumenical Buddhist study and practice center in New Jersey. I’ve listened to part of the first lecture and frankly found it a bit dry, but thought I’d mention it anyways:
http://www.bodhimonastery.net/bm/programs/pali-class-online.html
Finally, I came across this old Greenpeace ad on the TreeHugger website and just thought it was wonderfully appropriate. Enjoy!
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/greenpeace-breathe-in-breathe-out-video-ad-commercial.php
Well, that’s all for me for couple of weeks; I hope to see you all tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 7/8/08 meditation group
Hello; I hope that everyone had a wonderful Indepedence Day and has been well over the past couple of weeks. Many thanks to Brenda for filling in! Meditation with Abhaya will be from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish.
One important piece of logistical information to mention right off the bat is that this Tuesday will be the first of the Chelmsford Community Band’s weekly concerts (through August 12) on the town common. Please note that while parking may be more scarce than usual on Tuesday evenings, additional parking is available in the Ginger Ale Plaza parking lot on Littleton Road (on the other side of the church, between the Shell station and Bertucci’s).
As Carrie and I are freshly back from two weeks in Maine, this e-mail will be a somewhat shorter than usual. It was very nice to get away for a reasonable chunk of time. I can’t remember the last time I actually took a two-week vacation; probably back in college. Being pretty much in the middle of nowhere — Matinicus Island, 20 miles southeast of Rockland, is very much still a down-to-earth lobstering community with little interest in catering to toursits — it was almost like a mini-retreat. Our cabin was right on the water on the east side of the island, and it was really nice to get up realtively early to sit.
There’s plenty of walking on the island, and since the weatehr was pretty good and the mosquitos weren’t too bad, I took the opportunity to dig out the old Minolta 35mm and do some photography. If anything interesting comes out, I’ll be sure to post on the blog.
I also took plenty of time for my summer reading, of course. I started with Jake Davis’s book “Strong Roots: Liberation Teachings of Mindfulness in North America,” which is a comprehensive study of the translation and transmission of the dharma from (as he puts it) Burma to Barre. It’s a fascinating look at how and what exactly gets translated as the teachings are introduced into a new cultural setting. The book is not yet published in printed format (pending further funding), but a PDF is freely available for download via Dhamma Dana: http://dharma.org/%7estudy/strongroots/StrongRoots.pdf
I re-read Jon Kabat-Zinn’s seminal “Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life” and reaffirmed my recollection that it really is one of the better general introductions to mindfulness practice currently available. It’s secular perspective makes is especially good for those who might otherwise be put off of meditation by the practice’s spiritual/religious roots.
Finally, I had a chance to read Susan Mucott’s “First Buddhist Women: Poems and Stories of Awakening” which is basically a commentary on and translation of the Therigatha, the section of the Pali canon comprising poetry attributed to the earliest Buddhist nuns. (The Theragatha is the equivalent for the first male renunciants.) While the poetry itself is quite interesting, I was frankly drawn more to Murcott’s commentary on the individuals and her modern reflections on these “first Buddhist women.”
On a serendipitous note, I noticed that Shamabhala Sun recently unearthed a Rita Gross article entitled “How American Women Are Changing Buddhism.” While I’ve not yet had a chance to read it, it should be quite interesting in view of the work of both Murcott and Davis.
http://shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1319&Itemid=247
Finally, I just wanted to mention that this past week’s Speaking of Faith was quite interesting. Krista Tippett’s guest was author Barbara Kingsolver, and the ensuing discussion of Kingsolver’s book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” was thought-provoking:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/ethicsofeating/index.shtml
Well, that’s all for now…. I still have a bunch to catch up on, but at least I’m feeling re-energized. I hope to see you all tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
PS — Mike added a new post to the blog last week, so be sure to check it out when you get a chance: http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com
REMINDER — 7/15/08 meditation group
Hello again! The meditation group will meet per usual tomorrow evening at in the Chapel at First Parish from 7:30 to 9:30pm. Mike will lead this week’s practice. Please bear in mind that parking may once again be a little tight this week due to the concert on the town common.
I also want to remind everyone that Brenda and Mike have just started a Thursday morning sitting group, also in the Chapel at First Parish, from 8 to 8:30. If your interested in participating, or for more information, please contact either one of them.
A week later and I’m still in catch-up mode from my vacation, so this will be another somewhat abridged e-mail this week.
Certainly the most important thing to pass along this week is a reminder about the “Entering the Rains Ceremony” at Wat Buddhabhavana this coming weekend, July 19 and 20. As noted in my e-mail last week (and subsequent post on the blog), the celebration marks the beginning of the traditional three-month “rains retreat” period, known as Vassa (Pansa in Thai).
Wikipedia has a short article on Vassa here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassa
Again, details about the celebration are posted here:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/entering-the-rains-ceremony-at-wat-buddhabhavana/
In other goings on, this past week’s PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly featured a profile — including a brief interview — of the 17th Karmapa, who seems to have been quickly thrust into the international limelight as the Dalai Lama’s “heir apparent,” at least as an international advocate for the Tibetan people:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1145/profile.html
The Karmapa, who just turned 23, was also interviewed in a recent issue of Newsweek (via the Buddhist Channel):
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,6719,0,0,1,0
By the way, the Dalai Lama himself just turned 73 on July 6!
The Asian Tribune profiles a couple of interesting websites (including BuddhaNet and the Buddhist Channel) in its recent article on Buddhism online:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,6784,0,0,1,0
… and also takes a look at “angry monk syndrome” as Buddhist clergy are becoming increasingly involved in political issues across Asia:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,6770,0,0,1,0
And finally, over at the Huffington Post, Joan Borysenko offers her thoughts on honoring “your inner guru”:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,6689,0,0,1,0
Well, that’s going to be it for this week; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 7/22/08 meditation group
Greetings and salutations! The meditation group will meet tomorrow evening from 7:30-9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish; Brenda will lead the practice. Again, please be mindful of the scarcity of parking in the vicinity due to the concert on the town common; additional parking is available at Ginger Ale Plaza.
As I finally get back up to speed, there are quite a few things to pass along this week:
I don’t know if anyone from our group made it over to Wat Buddhabhavana for the Boon Kaw Pansa celebration this past weekend, but it inspired me to dig around in the Buddhist Channel archives to find this article from the Asian Tribune on Vassa, the “Buddhist Lent,” of which the Boon Kaw Pansa celebration marks the beginning:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,5140,0,0,1,0
There’s been quite a bit about Buddhism in the media recently. This past week’s Speaking of Faith topic was “Recovering Chinese Religiosities,” a fascinating look at the Chinese relgious milieux, in which Buddhism has been and continues to play a significant role:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/chinese_religiosities/index.shtml
Coming up this week PBS will air the widely acclaimed documentary “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama,” beginning at 9pm on Wednesday on ‘GBH44 (http://www.wgbh.org/schedules/program-info?program_id=4001029&episode_id=4001031).
More information on the film can be found via its website: http://www.thedalailamamovie.com/
Meanwhile, Time magazine has an article on an interesting controversy surrounding the Dalai Lama that has gained traction in the press recently:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,6833,0,0,1,0
In other news, the BBC has a short video segment on rediscovering the ancient Buddhist treasures in Bamiyan, Afghanistan:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7508917.stm
A couple of months ago Brenda posted a link on the blog to neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor’s “stroke of insight” (http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/a-stroke-of-insight/). Since that time Dr. Taylor has been cropping up all across the media, including a stint on Oprah and a feature in the New York Times. More recently she’s had several appearances on National Public Radio, including Talk of the Nation (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91965230), Fresh Air (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91861432), and WBUR’s “Here and Now” (http://www.here-now.org/shows/2008/07/20080715.asp).
Going back even further to one Tuesday evening in December, Priscille mentioned an interesting article in the then-current issue of Shambhala Sun (http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/newsletters/#comment-59). Well, the article “Fear and Fearlessness: What the Buddhists Teach” (featuring Judith Lief, John Daido Loori, Robert Thurman, Sylvia Boorstein and Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche) has finally made it to the magazine’s online archives and is definitely worth checking out:
http://shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3177&Itemid=247
Finally, I was quite suprised to find Sharon Salzberg’s name among the bloggers over at the Huffington Post, but there she is sharing her thoughts on how to deal with praise and blame:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharon-salzberg/how-to-deal-with-praise-a_b_111693.html
Well, that’s plenty of fodder for this week; I hope to see everyone tomorrow night — and don’t forget about additional practice time at First Parish on Thursday mornings from 8:00 to 8:30.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 7/29/08 meditation group
Hello! The meditation group will meet from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish. Abhaya will be back to teach and lead the practice this week.
As usual, there are a few things to share:
With a nod to our UUBF connections and our hosts at First Parish, Chelmsford…. Worship at First Parish is lay-led throughout the summer months, and Brenda will lead the service this Sunday, August 3, from 9:00am to 9:30am. She plans to speak about “awareness” so I imagine it should be quite interesting. Visitors are always welcome.
Abhaya has expressed interest in offering a half-day or 3/4-day retreat sometime in the coming weeks. We still need to confirm space availability at First Parish, but we’re looking at the weekends of August 23/24, 30/31, or September 6/7. If anyone has a strong perference, please let me know and I’ll see what we can arrange.
Speaking of retreats, I recently received an e-mail from the folks in Newburyport. Chas DiCapua will be leading a day-long retreat on Saturday, August 9, from 9am to 5:30pm. The theme will be “Simplicity of the Present Moment”:
“When we can connect deeply with the present moment, we find that life has a natural simplicity to it. We discover it is the concepts and stories that we overlay experience with that makes life seem stressful, complex, difficult… not simple. In this day long retreat, we will practice connecting with our experience just as it is. We’ll use sitting and walking meditation, as well as exercises designed to connect us with things just as they are, as supports for our practice. Beginning and more experienced students alike should find this day long retreat beneficial.”
For registration and more information, please see the IMC Newburyport website: http://imcnewburyport.com/
The other thing I really want to mention this week is the most recent podcast from the folks over at Buddhist Geeks. This week and last (epidsodes 80 and 81) hosts Vince Horn and Ryan Oelke interviewed Melvin McLeod Editor-in-Chief of Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma on his take on “Buddhist” media. (McLeod also edited the Wisdom Publications volume “Mindful Politics.”)
http://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/236-buddhist-geeks
Before I sign off completely for this week, a few weeks ago the Buddhist Channel had a neat profile of Ethan Nichtern and the ID Project down in New York City:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,6757,0,0,1,0
And over at Tricycle columnist Beth Roth offers a mother’s take on metta:
http://209.196.57.144/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=40ACA23AA9DB43A1A07072A52A9EA57E&SiteID=6817839757EF4441818726B97A2175A5
That’s all for this week; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening — and don’t forget about the additional opportunity to sit on Thursday mornings.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 8/5/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! Ajahn David will join us once again to lead the meditation and teaching this week. Per usual, we will meet in the Chapel from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening. Please note that parking at First Parish may be somewhat limited to to the concert on the town common, but that additional space should be available across the street at Ginger Ale Plaza.
If anyone is still interested in making a “water dana” donation to Wat Buddhbhavana this is another opportunity… I have at least one check to pass along as it is. (For those who’ve just recently joined us, “water dana” is a contribution towards the Temple’s standing order for bottled water — a valuable commodity, especially during the hot summer months. A five-gallon bottle is about $7.)
Also, Matt S. mentioned to me yesterday that Ajahn Mangkone has recently started Friday evening yoga and meditation at the Temple. Ajahn David will hopefully be able to provide more information tomorrow evening for anyone who is interested.
The most exciting news this week is that plans have been finalized for an all-day retreat to be offered by Abhaya on Saturday, August 30 (Labor Day weekend). The event will take place in the Chapel at First Parish from 10am to 4:30pm, followed by an informal tea in the Vestry. The day will be open to the public, beginners and experienced meditators alike, so please feel free to invite anyone who might be interested. Also, Abhaya has invited participants to bring a poem for sharing. I’ll send out the flyer as a separate e-mail, and details will also be posted on the website: http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com
I also want to remind folks of the Chas DiCapua retreat coming up at IMC Newburport this Saturday, August 9. The theme will be “Simplicity of the Present Moment”:
“When we can connect deeply with the present moment, we find that life has a natural simplicity to it. We discover it is the concepts and stories that we overlay experience with that makes life seem stressful, complex, difficult… not simple. In this day long retreat, we will practice connecting with our experience just as it is. We’ll use sitting and walking meditation, as well as exercises designed to connect us with things just as they are, as supports for our practice. Beginning and more experienced students alike should find this day long retreat beneficial.”
For registration and more information, please see the IMC Newburyport website: http://imcnewburyport.com/
Also, a quick heads-up that the Lowell Water Festival is coming up on Saturday, August 23: http://www.lowellwaterfestival.org/
Starting off this week’s collection of odds and ends, I was absolutely floored by Robert Krulwich’s science report on NPR’s Weekend Edition this Saturday: “Virginia Woolf, At Intersection of Science and Art” Do give a listen to the 7-minute segment and you’ll likely hear some themes that will resonate with anyone who’s familiar with meditation:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93184407
One minor quibble with the piece is that the question explored by Woolf and today’s neuroscientists has been a core Buddhist practice for about 2500 years!
There’s been a good deal of Buddhist-related programming on television lately… although I’ve somehow managed to miss all of it thus far!
On Friday evening WGBH aired the final installment of the documentary series “China from the Inside,” which looks at the issue of freedom and justice, including the issue of religious freedom. The film examines Tibetan Buddhism as well as Chinese Catholicism and syncretic Falun Gong movement: http://www.pbs.org/kqed/chinainside/freedom/index.html
I’m not sure of the ‘GBH rebroadcast schedule, but NHPTV will air this show again on August 11 at 11am.
Last night WGBH also aired the two-part documentary “Women of Tibet” (http://www.womenoftibet.org/pages/index.php). The first hour profiles Gyalyum Chemo, the mother of the current Dalai Lama:
“Set against the backdrop of the Himalayas, this program recounts the life story of Dekyi Tsering, the mother of one of the world’s leading ambassadors for peace, the Dalai Lama. During the course of her life, Tsering, known by Tibetans as “Gyalyum Chemo,” or “Great Mother,” gave birth to 16 children, two of whom were recognized as incarnate lamas. The program weaves together a life history of anecdotal threads and personal reflections from Tsering’s children, grandchildren, and friends, who share the details of her life. By following the journey of Dekyi Tsering, the program celebrates the selfless acts and simple gestures of motherhood. The program also explores the mythic stories of the Great Mother archetype throughout history with commentary from authors Marion Woodman (Addiction to Perfection) and Alice Walker (The Color Purple) and anthropologist, educator, and author Angeles Arrien.”
http://www.wgbh.org/schedules/program-info?program_id=4094289&episode_id=4094291
The second hour profiles the 1959 Tibetan women’s uprising against the Communist Chinese army:
“In 1959, 15,000 unarmed Tibetan women took to the streets of Lhasa to oppose the Chinese occupation of their country. They suffered torture, isolation, and religious oppression. The exiled elders, of which only a handful remain, are the last generation of women left to share the story of the Tibetan Women’s Uprising and to impart their cultural legacy.
“These women have lost everything, survived perilous escapes across the Himalayas, and decades in prison, yet they have transformed the brutality of invasion into a community of compassion and nonviolence. From their principal refuge in Dharamsala, India, to small settlements scattered across the globe, these women have become the architects of a new Tibet in exile while navigating the shifting complexities of the modern world. Their goal is to impart their cultural heritage and spiritual wisdom to future generations of Tibetans.
“The Dalai Lama expresses his admiration and gratitude for his countrywomen in their fight for Tibet’s freedom and speaks about their significance in rebuilding their community. He draws parallels to the civil rights movements in the West while offering examples of how the Buddhist faith shapes their view of spiritual and peaceful leadership in the world.”
http://www.wgbh.org/schedules/program-info?program_id=4094297&episode_id=4094299
Again, it’s uncertain when ‘GBH will next rebroadcast these shows.
Also yesterday evening, correspondent Christiane Amanpour got an inside look at the world of Buddhism in the CNN Special Investigations Unit report “Buddha’s Warriors”: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/siu/
Finally this week I’d like to leave you with a wonderful profile of Sylvia Boorstein from the Shambhala Sun archives:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3175&Itemi
That’s all for now, folks; I hope to see you all tomorrow evening and will follow up with more information on the August 30 day-long retreat.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 8/12/08 meditation group
Hi all! The meditation group will meet tomorrowing from 7:30 to 9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish. Abhaya is on retreat, so I will facilitate the meditation and discussion this week. Please note that parking may once again be scarce due to the concert on the town common — but the good news is that this is the final concert of the season.
A couple of announcements in follow up to Ajahn David’s visit last week:
First, Ajahn briefly mentioned the book “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me).” While I’ve not yet read it myself, it sounds interesting and has been on my radar screen for a while. You can find out more, of course, via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-But-Not/dp/0156033909
Ajahn David also spoke highly of the the TV special “Buddha’s Warriors” that appeared on CNN a couple of weekends ago. Unfortunately I missed it, but blogger Danny Fisher offers some interesting comments here:
http://chaplaindanny.blogspot.com/2008/08/thoughts-about-cnns-buddhas-warriors.html
I also spoke briefly with Ajahn Mangkone last week. As far as Friday evening yoga at the Temple, he described it as “light yoga, meditation, and chit-chat.” This takes place from 7:00-9:00pm, and participants are invited to bring a yoga mat or a beach towel.
Ajahn Mangkone also reminded me of the Lowell Water Festival (http://www.lowellwaterfestival.org) coming up this weekend (August 16, to be precise). The Temple is looking for volunteers to help out with taking money for parking at the event (parking money goes to the Temple), and I can pass along his contact information to anyone who might be interested.
Other items of interest this week include this video of Professor Lewis Lancaster’s lecture — “Buddhism in a Global Age of Technology” — at the UC Berkeley this past April. While the lecture clocks in at nearly an hour, it’s well worth the time. I was particularly intrigued by the notion of Buddhism’s “portability” (especially in relation to other religions) in both historical and contemporary contexts:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,6875,0,0,1,0
Keeping with an slightly academic bent for the moment, I also recently finished reading David Loy’s new book “Money, Sex, War, Karma: Notes for A Buddhist Revolution” (http://www.wisdompubs.org/Pages/display.lasso?-KeyValue=33015&-Token.Action=&image=1).
Many of you have probably heard me speak glowingly of Professor Loy, as he’s had a profound influence on my understanding and practice. His latest work is really the fruit of his previous books, and is written for a more general audience. Indeed, many of the chapters have previously appeared as journal articles or public talks; fortunately a few are available online, including:
“The Suffering of Self”
http://staff.xu.edu/~Tan/handouts/buddhism/Loy-Suffering.pdf
“The Three Poisons, Institutionalized”
http://www.bpf.org/chicago/html/pdf/Loy_3PoisonsUnity.pdf
“How To Drive Your Karma”
http://www.mro.org/mr/archive/26-4/articles/drive.html
“Why We Love War”
http://www.transnational.org/Resources_Treasures/2007/Loy_WhyWeLoveWar.html
For anyone who’s interested in some additional reading, I also recommend the paper “Buddhism and Poverty” — http://www.wfdd.org.uk/articles_talks/loy.pdf — which is not included in the new book.
Keeping things in the public domain for a moment, I’d like to also suggest checking out Sharon Salzberg’s latest contribution to the Huffington Post “Working With Your Enemies”: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharon-salzberg/working-with-your-enemies_b_116322.html
The Tricycle website also has a couple of interesting articles going at the moment. First is the wonderful RJ Eskow piece “Election Returns: The Karma of Politics, the Politics of Karma”
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/election-returns
And, finally, Gail Seneca, board member of the Foundation for the People of Burma, takes readers questions and gives an update on a situation that has largely slipped from the headlines of late:
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/gail-senecas-answers
That’s all for now; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 8/19/08 meditation group
Hi all…. Just the usual reminder that the meditation group will meet tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish. Matt will lead the practice.
This week’s e-mail will be somewhat briefer than usual, but there are a couple of interesting things to pass along:
Last week I wrote in glowing terms about David Loy’s new book “Money, Sex, War, Karma.” Well, Nagapriya over at the Tricycle Editor’s Blog weighs in with her (?) thoughts as well:
http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=689
In a similar vein, the Shambhala Sun archives yield a short but interesting article by Richard Reoch, a longtime human rights worker and teacher in the Shambhala Tibetan tradition, on “The Seeds of Peace”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3160&Itemi
Not surprisingly, some similar themes came up in this past week’s Speaking of Faith conversation between Krista Tippett and her guest Echkart Tolle. I’ve tended to be somewhat circumspect of Tolle, but I know Abhaya thinks highly of him and Brenda enjoyed the online class he offered via Oprah’s website. Anyhow, it’s a very good interview and he comes across as being a very insightful and genuine teacher — and clearly one who’s message resonates with a lot of people:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/tolle/
Also worth reading is Tippett’s commentary via Gather:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977422210
Finally, Brenda’s post (http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/a-stroke-of-insight/) on Jill Bolte Taylor’s book “My Stroke of Insight” seems to keep reverberating. While not directly related, I found Terry Gross’s recent interview with neuroscientist and author Michael Gazzaniga an interesting look at some similar territory:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92944337&sc=emaf
Don’t forget about the day-long retreat with Abhaya coming up on the 30th. I’ll send out some reminders as we get closer.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 8/26/08 meditation group
Hello again! The meditation group will meet, per usual, from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish. Abhaya is back to teach and to lead the practice this week. Also, don’t forget Thursday morning meditation from 8 to 8:30.
The most pressing order of business this week is, of course, the day-long retreat offered by Abhaya at First Parish this Saturday from 10am to 4:30pm.
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/a-day-of-insight-meditation-teaching-and-poetry-with-abhaya-sandy-kopka/
Participants are invited to bring a poem for sharing. Chairs will be available, but feel free to bring meditation cushions/benches as desired.
In a slight change of plans, Brenda has offered to provide a light lunch, so please let me know if you plan to attend so I can give her an approximate head count.
I would like to request that anyone from our group planning to attend please show up around 9:30 to help set up. We’ll need to arrange chairs in the Chapel and set up some tables and chairs for lunch in the Vestry. There is another group using the Vestry in the afternoon (from 2 to 4, I believe) but we should be okay for this space at lunchtime and also for tea after the retreat.
It would be nice to have some flowers for the “altar,” so I’d like to open the invitation to anyone interested in bringing some. (Please bring a vase or something to put them in, too!)
The tea afterward will be essentially “potluck,” so please feel free to bring a small selection of teas and/or munchies for sharing.
Finally, Abhaya has requested that we try to find a cover for the “dana” box — something with a slot in the top for donations. If anyone has a cash box we could borrow, that would be ideal. Equally functional but far less fancy would be a modified shoebox, I suppose, if anyone has the time/inclination to craft something.
If folks could please e-mail me to let me know what if anything you’d like to help out with, it would be very much appreciated!
I have just a couple of articles to recommend this week, fresh from Tricycle’s web site:
First, is a wonderful interview with Jack Kornfield on the power of poetry, first published in the journal Rattle:
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/unfinished-poetry
“Chewing the Buddha” is Greg Palast’s thought-provoking reflection on Tibet and the Beijing Olympics:
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/chewing-buddha?page=0%2C1
And Peter Popham describes about the resilience of the Burmese people in “The Power of Metta”:
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/the-power-metta
Finally, to wind things up this week, the Foundation for the People of Burma and the BBC have published a poignant collection of children’s illustrations depicting life in Burma following Cyclone Nagris:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/asia_pac_sketching_burma0s_cyclone/html/1.stm
I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening, and again at the day-long retreat on Saturday.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 9/2/08 meditation group
Hello everyone, and happy Labor Day!
The meditation group will meet at the usual time and place tomorrow evening: 7:30 to 9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish. Ajahn David will be with us for his monthly teaching/meditation/discussion.
In exciting sangha news, Priscille’s great nephew was welcomed into the world this past weekend. Mother and son are doing well, and I’m sure we all send metta and mudita to the family.
We also had a very successful day-long retreat on Saturday, with Mike, Brenda, Christine, Carrie and myself from the Tuesday night group, plus a couple of new faces who we hope to see again sometime. It really was a wonderful day and fruitful practice.
Just a couple of things to pass along this week:
From the Shambhala Sun archives, Barry Boyce has an extraordinary piece on how contemplative practice can transform the meaning of education: http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3004&Itemi
Also from Shambhala Sun, Sylvia Boorstein offers “I’m not O.K., You’re Not O.K. — and That’s O.K.”: http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2263&Itemi
There have also been a couple of interesting items of the Tricycle website recently:
Dharmachari Nagapriya shares “an altruistic view of karma” in “Donating the Future, which is quite good despite being somewhat heavy on the Mahayana Buddhist doctrine towards the end of the article: http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/donating-future
And off of the Tricycle Editor’s Blog, Lin Jensen discusses the dilemma of “Getting What You Want”: http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=715
Finally, the Global Oneness Project has a great video featuring the 17th Karmapa:
http://www.globalonenessproject.org/videos/wordsfromthekarmapa
(It looks to be quite an interesting website in its own right, though I’ll have to explore more later.)
That’s it for this week; I hope everyone’s had a restful and safe holiday weekend and look forward to seeing you tomorrow night.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 9/9/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! Just the usual weekly reminder that the meditation group will meet tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish from 7:30 to 9:30. Christine will lead the practice.
I also want to give folks a special heads up that next Tuesday, September 16, will be the last teaching by Abhaya for the foreseeable future. She is about to start a 3-month retreat in Barre, and it is likely she will move across country thereafter. I just want to give some extra advance warning in hopes that many of her old students can attend.
Looking ahead Abhaya is trying to arrange for another guest teacher to visit periodically (once every 4 to 6 weeks or so), but details are still in the works, so we’ll keep you posted as things firm up.
In other sangha news, I want to annouce that Carrie is a first-time aunt as of 4:30 Sunday morning. Baby, brother, and sister-in-law are all doing well, and “Aunt Carrie” is very excited!
Finally a couple of offerings from the Shambhala Sun archives:
Pema Chodron’s “Turn Your Thinking Upside Down” — http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3087&Itemi — from the May 2007 issue, and Sayadaw U Pandita’s instructions on vipassana practice from “Inner Victory” (May 2006): http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2919&Itemi
Speaking of which, I just finished the current issue of Buddhadharma, am currently ensconced in the current issue of of Tricycle, and have the new issue of Shambhala Sun waiting on deck: some great stuff in each journal, and I highly encourage tracking down copies if at all possible.
Visit the websites for more info:
http://www.tricycle.com/fall-2008
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=114
http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/current/sample/index.php
That’s all for now; see you tomorrow night!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 9/16/08 meditation group
Hello! This week’s meditation will be Abhaya’s last teaching for the foreseeable future. As I mentioned in last week’s e-mail, she will start a 3-month retreat at IMS starting this Saturday, after which she plans to relocate to warmer climes. Tomorrow evening would be an especially good opportunity for old students to wish her well in her new endeavors. The meeting time and place will be, as usual, in the Chapel at First Parish from 7:30-9:30pm.
Incidentally, registration is now open for 2009 retreats at IMS: http://www.dharma.org/ims/retreats.php
I’ve gotten way behind in my reading lately, so I have only a few items to share this week:
First, some time ago Mike wrote a fascinating blog post called “America Needs A Buddhist President”:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/america-needs-a-buddhist-president-serious-thoughts/
I’ve been remiss in not mentioning the post sooner, and I certainly intend to submit my own comments. It should make for an neat discussion if others care to chime in.
Speaking of blogs, I recently came across and have been impressed by “Barbara’s Buddhism Blog” at About.com: http://buddhism.about.com/b/
Barbara O’Brien is a journalist and long-time Zen student who covers a range of Buddhist-related subject matter in a deep yet accessible style. I highly recommend checking it out.
Over at the Tricycle website, Sylvia Boorstein and Gregory Kramer both recently participated in the magazine’s Q&A forum, and their answers to reader-submitted questions now appear online:
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/tricycle-q-a-sylvia-boorsteins-answers-0
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/tricycle-q-a-gregory-kramers-answers
And finally, a couple of items from the BBC this past week:
First, archaeologists in the Bamiyan province of Afghanistan have unearthed a 62-foot statue of a reclining Buddha not far from the standing Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7604519.stm
A colossal 300-meter reclining Buddha has long been rumored to exist nearby, and is the ongoing the subject of an Indiana Jones-like expedition:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=4,7096,0,0,1,0
Also, a study from the Chester Zoo in Britain suggests that hugging can actually reduce stress in primates — well, chimpanzees at least: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7603691.stm
This just makes me wonder if Amma — “The Hugging Saint” — isn’t onto something after all!
Well, that’s all for this week; hopefully we’ll have a good turnout tomorrow evening for Abhaya’s send-off.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 9/23/08 meditation group
Hi all…. The meditation group will meet from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish. Carrie will lead the practice.
The Insight Meditation Center of Newburyport has just opened its new retreat center. IMCN will hold the official opening and open house on Saturday, September 27, from 10am to 2pm. Larry Rosenberg, who founded both IMCN and CIMC, will be on hand to “share his insights.” The day will include meditation, a talk, tour, and optional potluck lunch. More information and directions to the new center can be found on the IMCN website: http://www.imcnewburyport.com/
If enough people are interested in heading up on Saturday, perhaps we can coordinate a carpool.
I’m still facing a backlog of reading, so I just want to share a couple of profiles that appeared on the Buddhist Channel a little while ago:
First, a profile of Ouyporn Khuankaew, a Thai activist working to help victims of gender-based violence: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,7026,0,0,1,0
Second, another article from the Bangkok Post on Rosana Tositrakul, another “engadged Buddhist” activist from Thailand and newly-elected member of parliament: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,6722,0,0,1,0
And, finally, in a web exclusive from the Tricycle site, Beth Roth offers her take on “Right Speech Reconsidered”: http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/family-dharma-right-speech-reconsidered
I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow night!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 9/30/08 meditation group
Hi all…. Sorry for the belated reminder, but the mediation group is indeed meeting tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish. I’ll be leading the group this week, although I’m still working on a discussion topic.
I want to thank Mike for pretty much singlehandedly keeping the blog up and running these days; he’s written a couple of very thought-provoking posts recently that seem very timely as this year’s Presidential campaign comes to its climax:
http://kaylanamittasangha.wordpress.com
There’s also been an inordinate amount of politicking in the Buddhist press of late.
A number of Buddhist teachers recently posted the following call to action on the Tricycle Editor’s Blog — http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=749 — which drew a couple of noteworthy responses from elsewhere in the blogosphere. I found Jeff Wilson’s response (also via Tricycle — http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=754) to be a particularly good one, and also this post at the curiously named “The Buddha is My DJ” blog: http://www.djbuddha.org/?p=444
Meanwhile over at Shambhala Sun, Zen teacher John Tarrant uses the traditional imagery of the Ten Ox-herding Pictures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Bulls) as a jumping-off point for a discussion of the “messy, neurotic, imperfect world of politics”: http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2952&Itemi
In a couple of other items this week, the latest Insight Newsletter recently arrived, featuring an interview with IMS/CIMC teachers Michael and Narayan Liebenson Grady: http://www.dharma.org/ims/pdf/2008_fall_insight_newsletter.pdf
Be sure to also check out the 2009 course/retreat schedules at IMS and BCBS!
Also, Somerville-based Wisdom Publications has just released “The Best of Inquiring Mind: 25 Years of Dharma, Drama, and Uncommon Insight” edited by Barbara Gates and Wes Nisker: http://wisdompubs.org/Pages/display.lasso?-KeyValue=33048&-Token.Action=&image=1
For those who aren’t familiar, Inquiring Mind is a fantastic semiannual publication: http://www.inquiringmind.com/
Well, that’s it for now; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening for a little sitting… and walking!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 10/7/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! Ajahn David will join us for meditation this week; thanks to Brenda for taking on the chauffeuring duties this month! We’ll meet at First Parish, per usual, from 7:30-9:30 tomorrow evening.
There are quite a few things to pass along this week:
I just received a come-on in the mail from Greater Good magazine the other day. Of course the last thing I need is another magazine subscription — I have a hard enough time making it through the ones I already get — but this looks really interesting. I guess it’s actually been around for a couple of years, as a publication of The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, but this is the first I’ve been aware of it: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/
I took a quick gander through their archives and not surprisingly found quite a few articles that might be of interest from a Dharma practitioner’s perspective:
From the inaugural (Spring 2004) issue “The Compassionate Instinct” takes a look at the biological bases for compassion:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/archive/2004springsummer/keltner_spring04.pdf
From the Fall 2004 issue on forgiveness, a couple of articles: “The Choice to Forgive”
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/archive/2004fallwinter/Fall04_Luskin.pdf
… and “The New Science of Forgiveness”:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/archive/2004fallwinter/Fall04_Worthington.pdf
The Summer 2005 issue asks “Is Goodness Contagious?” which is answered in part in Jonathan Haidt’s “Wired to be Inspired”:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/archive/2005springsummer/SpringSummer05_Haidt.pdf
The Fall/Winter 2005-06 issue explores the biological roots of empathy, with an interesting article by Frans de Waal on “the evolutionary roots of our empathic instincts”:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/archive/2005fallwinter/FallWinter0506_deWaal.pdf
Finally, the Spring/Summer 2006 issue tackles “everyday ethics,” and Joshua Halberstam takes on “Right and Wrong in the Real World”:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/archive/2006springsummer/halberstam.html
Really neat stuff!
For a more tradtional Buddhist view of compassion, IMS teacher Christina Feldman offers us “She Who Hears the Cries of the World” from the May 2006 issue of Shambhala Sun:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2915&Itemi
Also from the Shambhala Sun archives is Sylvia Boorstein’s “Suffering’s Not the Only Story”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2412&Itemi
And this week’s must-read is Joseph Goldstein’s “Mindfulness, Compassion, and Wisdom, Three Means to Peace”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1489&Itemid=24
I should also mention that Shambhala Sun has recently launched a new blog called “SunSpace” that looks to be quite good:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/
Meanwhile over at the Tricycle Editor’s Blog, Lin Jensen recently contributed this great post on kindness:
http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=740
I want to mention a couple of items coming up on the calendar in the next few weeks:
Valley Insight will host a meditation retrreat with Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia this Saturday, October 11, from 8:30am to5pm at the Congregational Church on the Green in Lebanon, NH.
For registration and more information: http://69.5.17.97/events/35/meditationretreatwithgloriataraniyaambrosia/
On Sunday, October 19, Wat Buddhabhavana is hosting the annual celebration marking the end of the “Rains Retreat”. Guests are invited to arrive at the Temple at 10am; at 10:30 refuges, precepts, and chanting will be followed by the offering of alms to the monks and then a buffet lunch for the guests; at 1pm there will be a Dharma talk (in Lao, translated into English). Ajahn Mangkone also writes, “For those who feel so inclined and weather permitting, this might be a good opportunity to take a leisurely ‘Nature Walk’ in the Conservation Area and Wildlife Refuge to the left and behind the Temple grounds. There are some trails leading to the peninsula with some meditation benches along the way.”
Also on Sunday the 19th, IMC Newburyport will host a special retreat on Lovingkindness with Kate Wheeler:
“This Loving Kindness (Metta) Meditation is a practice that cultivates a good heart. Based on 2600 year old instructions given by the Buddha, this practice of repeating phrases intending good will has helped countless people over the centuries to counter inner fear, anger, confusion and isolation. Periods of guided sitting and walking meditation will be combined with theory and discussion as we explore new ways of nourishing ourselves and others through the power of cultivating our own minds and hearts. Please register by Thursday October 16th by sending in your fee with a registration form.”
For more information please see the IMCN website: http://http://www.imcnewburyport.com/
Well, that’s plenty for this week. Carrie and I will be away celebrating our 6th (!) wedding anniversary next week, so Brenda will send out the e-mail on Monday. Matt’s on deck to lead the practice on the 14th.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 10/21/08 meditation group
Hello again! Just the usual weekly reminder that the meditation group will meet tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish. Priscille is scheduled to lead the practice this week.
Coming back from vacation, I once again feel like I’m in catch-up mode, trying to keep pace with a world that seems to be moving more than a mile a minute. So, I only have a few items to pass along this week:
It’s been a little while since I came across this profile of “child psychiatrist, civil rights activist, and author” Robert Coles in the archives of Shambhala Sun:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2854&Itemi
Also, from a few weeks ago, Thich Nhat Hanh offers what seems to me to be the quintessence of his teaching in “The Moment is Perfect”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3206&Itemi
I’m currently reading the current issue of Shambhala Sun, and highly recommend picking up a copy if you have the opportunity.
I’m also in the middle of going back over the past week’s posts on the Shambhala Sun blog “Sun Spaces,” and there looks to be some good stuff. I noted in particular the following post on Oprah Winfrey’s recent series of interviews with those involved in the documentary film “The Dhamma Brothers”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=903#more-903
As I’m sure most everyone is aware, next Tuesday, November 4 is Election Day. I’d like to briefly ascend my soapbox to encourage everyone to get out and vote in what is certainly a very important election — not only for the presidency, but there are also a number of important ballot questions and some statewide legislative contests.
Since I will need to vote on my way home from work next week, I need to ask for a volunteer to pick up Ajahn David. (I still haven’t figured out the logistics of being two places at once!) If anyone is interested in helping out, please let me know ASAP.
Thanks — I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow night.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 10/28/08 meditation group
Hi all! The meditation group will meet from 7:30-9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish. Brenda will lead the practice this week. Also, just a reminder that as it’s starting to get chilly in the evenings, you might want to think about bringing an extra layer to stay warm.
With the election coming up next week, I wanted to share a “non-partisan” Engaged Buddhist view by Alan Senauke of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship:
http://bpf.org/html/electionsNov.2008.html
Among other things that have recently crossed my path, the Summer 2008 issue of Insight Journal arrived in my mailbox last week. Great stuff, as always, but three articles particularly caught mind: Andy Olendzki’s “Editor’s Essay”; the interview with long-time teacher John Peacock; and Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s essay on mindfulness.
Also worth noting is the 2009 BCBS course listing; online registration is not yet open, but there looks to be some good stuff coming up.
The journal is available online as a PDF: http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/Pages/documents/08SummerFullIssue_000.pdf
I’ve been quite intrigued by Shambhala Sun’s “SunSpace” blog, which recently directed me to this great piece on desire by Phillip Moffitt, posted at Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phillip-moffitt/living-skillfully-knowing_b_133406.html
(Phillip has joined Sharon Salzberg as an occasional columnist at Huffington Post, making Buddhists quite well represented!)
The Moffitt article also reminded me of another article I saw recently via the Buddhist Channel on the difference between making judgments and being “judgmental”:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,7194,0,0,1,0
Tricycle’s Editor’s Blog also recently had a post on some other great Buddhist blogs that are worth checking out:
http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=805
One item that’s been getting some attention in the blogosphere lately is a very unique temple in Thailand… made entirely from used beer bottles. TreeHugger and Green Upgrader both have posts including some amazing photographs:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/temple-built-from-beer-bottles.php
http://greenupgrader.com/4262/one-million-beer-bottles-later-and-its-a-buddhist-temple/
The last article to pass along this week is Diana Winston’s light-hearted Shambhala Sun contribution on trying to establish a daily meditation practice:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3298&Itemi
Finally, I want to reiterate my request for a volunteer to help out by picking up Ajahn David for next week’s meditation. My schedule is not going to allow me to both vote and play chauffeur next Tuesday, and I’d greatly appreciate it if someone is able to help out. Many thanks in advance!
See you all tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 11/4/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! First and foremost, remember to get out and vote tomorrow! Then stop by First Parish tomorrow evening from 7:30-9:30 for our weekly meditation; Ajahn David will be with us again this week. (Special thanks to Brenda for providing transport to I can get to the polls on my way home from work!)
I’ve referred to a number of articles on Buddhism and politics over the past few weeks, a have just a couple more to recommend as we head into Election Day:
First, the Religion News Service takes a brief look at varying Buddhist views on the election (more varied than one might first think):
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,7338,0,0,1,0
Then Shambhala Sun’s Charles R. Johnson takes a broad look at what Barack Obama’s candidacy means for “how Americans view themselves, each other, and their place in the world.” Very interesting stuff, regardless of one’s political inclinations:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3266&Itemi
“Dharma Punx” author Noah Levine has recently joined Phillip Moffitt and Sharon Salzberg among the ranks of Buddhist contributors to the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noah-levine/against-the-stream-the-bu_b_138535.html
He’s also launched his own website “Against the Stream”: http://againstthestream.org/
Speaking of Noah, he was referenced in a recent sermon on forgiveness by First Parish minister Rev. Ellen Rowse-Spero — audio archive available here: http://www.kaffine.com/uuchelmsford/audio/2008-10-12-sermon.mp3
BCBS has now opened registration for its 2009 courses. As usual, there looks to be a lot of interesting offerings:
https://bcbs.dharma.org/Pages/course_registration.lasso
Finally, a little bit of housekeeping:
Before Abhaya left for her retreat at IMS she had been in contact with Maddy Klyne, a long-time teacher at both IMS and CIMC, regarding guidance as our group continues to evolve. Abhaya left with some pretty clear thoughts in mind in terms of her hopes for the group’s future, and last week I finally caught up with Maddy to continue the discussion.
Abhaya was hoping that Maddy (or someone she recommended) might be able to come up and lead the group once every 4 to 6 weeks to provide regular teaching support/mentoring, particularly for the women in our group.
Unfortunately Maddy’s schedule is particularly uncooperative at the moment, but she said she would think to see if she could come up with a suitable Insight Meditation (e.g., Barre/Spirit Rock “lineage”) teacher who’d be willing to make the trek up to Chelmsford every now and again.
In the meantime, Maddy asked me to sound out interest among the group for periodic retreats at CIMC. If we’re interested — and admittedly the logistics of arranging a group trip into Cambridge seem a bit daunting — she’s willing to set up a private session for us.
Anyhow, please give some thought to the offer and let me know if “field trip” of this sort is something you might be interested in doing once every 4 to 6 weeks or so. I can let Maddy know the consensus, and we’ll take it from there.
Well, that’s plenty for this week; see you all tomorrow evening — and don’t forget to vote!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 11/11/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! The meditation group will meet tomorrow evening from 7:30-9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish. Mike is scheduled to lead the practice and discussion this week.
The past few weeks’ e-mails have been rather heavy on theme of politics as practice, so while I don’t want to dwell much longer on the subject I do want to recommend another handful of articles that encourage a wider view of what it means to be engaged politically.
Tricycle contributor RJ Eskow recently interviewed a number of Buddhist teachers for his article “Election Returns: The Politics of Karma, the Karma of Politics” (http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/election-returns?page=0%252C0). Last week he also published transcripts of the individual interviews on his blog. I highly recommend the interviews with Ken Jones and Wes Nisker in particular:
http://nightlight.typepad.com/nightlight/2008/11/pre-election-contemplation-rereading-the-election-returns-interviews-or-third-eye-on-the-news.html
Meanwhile over at the Buddhadharma, a reprise of editor Barry Boyce’s 2006 interview with one teacher from the Shambhala lineage and two Zen teachers (including Bernie Glassman once again) for the forum “How Should I Help? The Relationship Between Social Engagement and Buddhist Practice”:
http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2006/summer/forum-help.html
And Richard Reoch, a long-time human rights worker and also a teacher in the Shambhala tradition, offers his thoughts on “The Seeds of Peace”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3160&Itemi
The new issue of Tricycle magazine also features an exclusive interview with Daisaku Ikeda, president of Soka Gakkai International, the world’s largest lay Buddhist organization and one that is especially noted for its emphasis on social engagement. The interview is also quite interesting in that it provides unique insight into the Nichiren Buddhist tradition:
http://www.tricycle.com/interview/faith-revolution
One important item buried amidst the other headlines this past week was the arrest of Thai social activist Sulak Sivaraksa:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7714798.stm
Sulak founded the International Society of Engaged Buddhists in 1989.
Finally, I want to pass along an e-mail from Swan Keyes, Community and Multicultural Program Manager at Spirit Rock, soliticing feedback regarding the Dharma Friends (formerly Kalyana Mitta) program. If you have the time to respond to the very short survey, I’m sure it would be appreciated:
——————————————————————
Dear Dharma Friends/Kalyana Mitta members,
Spirit Rock is interested in how we can support Dharma Friends/Kalyana Mitta groups.
Would you be willing to fill out an online questionnaire to help us? As someone who has been associated with this program, your feedback will assist us in determining what is going well and what we can do better. If you are willing to share your thoughts, please click on the following link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=k2lwVj6WzAXuUeMIYqdrxQ_3d_3d.
We are also seeking a small group of volunteers to help coordinate the groups (see survey or email me for more info).
Our contact list for group members is quite limited and outdated, so please forward this to all members of your group who might wish to participate in the survey. If you have members without internet access, feel free to print out the attached version of the survey. It can be mailed to me at Spirit Rock, PO Box 169 , Woodacre , CA 94973 .
The survey will close on November 21, 2008.
Also, if you currently coordinate/facilitate or host a Dharma Friends/Kalyana Mitta Group, could you please send an email reply letting us know that? We’re trying to update our files a little so we don’t leave anyone out of important communications. Thank you.
In appreciation,
Swan
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Well, that’s all for this week; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 11/18/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! Due to a double booking of the Chapel tomorrow evening, the meditation group will meet upstairs in the High School room at First Parish from 7:30 to 9:30. (It should be little cozier upstairs anyway.) Carrie will lead the practice this week.
Speaking of heat (or lack thereof), I recently came across a not-really meditation-related article last week that some of you might appreciate:
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/106424/why_do_women_often_feel_colder_than_men
I did find this part particularly interesting:
“Feel warm and you’ll be more generous and trusting, or so a recent study by researchers at Yale University suggests. They gave volunteers a hot cup of coffee or a cold drink and asked them to rate how trustworthy a person looked. Those holding the hot drink rated people as more trusting….
“In addition to this study, researchers in Canada found recently that mood can influence how hot or cold we feel. The study revealed that people who are lonely or socially excluded are more aware of the cold. So if you’re looking to warm up this year, get social, get active, and get enough sleep.”
In a follow-up from last week, I mentioned that Thai activist Sulak Sivaraksa had been arrested for insulting the nation’s royalty; he’s since been released on bail. Danny Fisher has more on his blog:
http://chaplaindanny.blogspot.com/2008/11/news-sulak-sivaraksa-arrested-in.html
The most recent edition of the IMS Sangha News e-mail includes a link to a short (8 min.) but neat interview between Executive Director Bob Agoglia and Sharon Salzberg, recorded the day after Election Day:
http://www.dharma.org/ims/mp3/Sharon_Salzberg_Interview_Nov2008.mp3
Meanwhile monk/author/photographer Matthieu Ricard recently showed up on Ted.com delivering a 20 minute lecture on happiness:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=1913
Mark your calendars: IMC Newburyport is hosting a day-long retreat this Saturday, November 22, on “Deepening Our Practice” led by Chas DiCapua:
————————————————————-
Taking the time to suspend our regular activities and engage in formal meditation practice is enlightened activity. It embodies the wisdom, the view, we want to cultivate. Supported by the continuity of the sitting and walking practice, our connection with the present moment grows stronger. This, in turn, facilitates a clearer understanding into how things are. It is this understanding that brings freedom.
Chas DiCpua is a resident teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre , MA . He began practicing in the Zen tradition in 1989 and is presently studying with Jack Kornfield. He has worked extensively with Joseph Goldstein. Chas has just returned from a three month retreat.
This day long retreat will include instructions for sitting and walking practice, as well as a dharma talk and discussion.There will be an opportunity to meet individually with the teacher. The day will be suitable for both beginning and more experienced students.
Please send your registration and check to IMCN at the address below.The fee for the Day–Long retreat is $55.00 or $40.00 for IMCN members.You may take the first half of the day as a half-day retreat.Please bring your lunch.
————————————————————-
IMCN has also reopened for the final session of classes and retreats in 2008. There looks to be some good stuff coming up, including a day-long retreat on “Experiencing Joy” to be led by Kate Wheeler on Sunday, November 30.
For more information visit the IMCN website: http://www.IMCNewburyport.org
IMPORTANT:
Finally, I am working on putting together the practice leader schedule for 2009. I know we already have a couple of new faces to add to the current rotation, but please be sure to let me know if you are interested and if there are any scheduling constraints I’ll need to work around.
That’s all for this week; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 11/25/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! The meditation group will meet tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish. If the temperature in the Chapel looks to be unbearably chilly we may relocate to the High School room upstairs. Either way we’ll post a sign pointing folks in the right direction.
As we get closer to Thanksgiving, I want to thank Mike in particular for keeping our blog updated on at least a semi-regular basis. This past week he posted on an interfaith “charter of compassion,” the inspiration of author Karen Armstrong and a number of like-minded souls:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/help-write-an-interfaith-charter-for-compassion/
Armstrong shares her thoughts on the project on the Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/karen_armstrong/2008/11/compassion_is_more_than_a_feel.html
The WaPo also had a not-too-terribly fluffy piece on “relational” mindfulness recently; somewhat basic, but good reading nonetheless:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,7377,0,0,1,0
Keeping on the theme of thankfulness for a bit, I wish to express my gratitude for our Tuesday night meditation group: our little sangha. There is great value in a having a community to support and encourage each other in our practice; thank you all for making it possible!
Christina Feldman reflects on sangha — as well as the other two jewels, buddha and dharma — in this recent article for Shambhala Sun, “Alone Together: Finding Friends on the Path”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3201&Itemi
Meanwhile over at the Tricycle Editor’s Blog, Lin Jensen offers a Zen perspective in “Sangha Appears Naturally in Daily Life”:
http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=888
Looking ahead to this weekend, I want to remind people that Kate Wheeler is leading a day-long retreat “To Explore the Path to Unlimited Joy” at IMCN this Sunday, November 30:
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On Sunday, November 30th, the Insight Meditation Center of Newburyport holds a full day Retreat to explore ways to finding Joy.
This retreat led by guest teacher Kate Wheeler will start at 9AM and end at 5PM.
Kate says that it may seem curious, but the Buddhist meditation that leads to unlimited joy is based on generosity, sympathy and support for others.
During the retreat we will meditate together, exploring the effect on ourselves of developing a simple wish for the happiness of others to increase. We will work on affirming joy and happiness for individuals in our lives, as well as for the collective of all living things. Along the way, we may discover an unconscious belief that when others are doing well, our own joy is somehow diminished. Eroding this falsehood is one of the secrets of happiness, and a key to developing gratitude within our own personal sphere.
Kate Wheeler has been practicing yoga and meditation since her early teens. She began formal Buddhist practice in 1977. In the late 1980’s she was briefly ordained as a nun in Rangoon , Myanmar and has been teaching retreats since the early 1990’s. More recently she has assisted Sharon Salzberg at Loving Kindness Retreats at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre , MA . She has just returned from a week long training session in California with Jack Kornfield.
This day long retreat will include instructions for sitting and walking practice, as well as a dharma talk and discussion. There will be an opportunity to meet individually with the teacher. The day will be suitable for both beginning and more experienced students.
The fee for the Day–Long retreat is $55.00. You may take the first half of the day as a half-day retreat.
For more information and to register, check http://www.IMCNewburyport.org or call the Center at 978-499-0325
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I want to close this week by sharing an excerpt from Doreen Schweizer’s notes in the most recent Vally Insight newsletter:
“I often remember that the Chinese character for ‘crisis’ also means ‘opportunity;’ and when I do, I often remember gratitude. There is a verse from the metta practice (the practice of cultivating thoughts of good will and well-being), which is: ‘May we be generous, may we be gentle, may we be grateful.’
“The intentional practice of gratitude is a life-altering one. We all know that gratitude can lighten the heart and change the direction of mind in the space of a second. Sharon Salzburg [sic] writes about the value that the Buddha put on ‘counting your blessings’ as described in the Mangala Sutta, ‘Blessings that can be enjoyed by anyone of us if we create the conditions for them: to live a just life; to have a good home life; to have a livelihood or discipline we like and can perform well; to honor contentedness and gratitude; to have a sense of patience… having good friends, being able to associate with wise and goodhearted people… to be in a situation where we can hear and discuss the Dhamma, or the truth… to have the opportunity to live the Dhamma…’
“I find in my own life that ‘creating the conditions’ for these blessings has a lot to do with seeing those blessings that already exist. To look for the joy already present in our lives seems to clarify and enhance its presence. Mindful awareness itself, as it deepens and matures, has a quality of appreciation in it. We can begin to feel that attending fully to the moment becomes appreciating the moment, giving it its own space and time while being interested in its unfolding.
“Perhaps as Thanksgiving Day once again rolls around we can remember the blessings of our lives and also have the courage to touch a little more clearly into the ‘ten thousand sorrows and ten thousand joys’ of our lives.
“Whatever good fortune there may be in your life, may it prosper, may it grow; and may you be happy.”
Well said!
Metta,
Tim
PS — Mike just (in the nick of time!) sent me the link to the following article “Blessing Time: Gratitude in the Midst of Uncertainty” and short video from the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-judith-rich/a-blessing-time-gratitude_b_143103.html
PPS — I want to remind folks that Friday is the first annual National Day of Listening. It caught my attention this weekend as I was listening to NPR. It seems like a great idea, and you can find out more here:
http://www.nationaldayoflistening.org/
REMINDER — 12/2/08 meditation group
Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The meditation group will meet tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30 in the Chapel at First Parish. Ajahn David is scheduled to join the group this week, however, due to inclement weather his return trip from Wisconsin has been delayed. In the event that Ajahn is unable to make it, I’ve asked Brenda to lead the practice.
I have just a few items to pass along this week:
First is a Sylvia Boorstein SunSpace post on finding peace “with someone who voted differently”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=2620
The Shambhala Sun archive yields this great piece by Joseph Goldstein on “The Power of Mindfulness”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3146&Itemi
Last Monday’s “On Point” on WBUR featured a discussion on the fate of Tibet. (I have yet to listen to the show myself, but I expect it was quite interesting.)
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/11/the-fate-of-tibet/
The changing dynamics of Sino-Tibetan relations has also been the subject of extensive coverage by the BBC lately:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7744769.stm
Beth Roth, fast becoming one of my favorite contributors at Tricycle, recently published this wonderful web exclusive on suffering and compassion:
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/family-dharma-leaning-suffering
And finally, via The Worst Horse, a video that simply defies comment:
http://theworsthorse.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/and-now-a-singing-crocodile-dressed-as-a-cowboy-teaches-you-to-meditate/
Carrie and I will be absent from the meditation group this week. She’s scheduled for a relatively routine surgery tomorrow morning at Brigham and Women’s. However, pre-op testing shows that her lung function is not in good shape, so it’s likely she’ll be admitted into the hospital directly from the OR. We’re not quite sure what sort of timeline we’re looking at for the hospital stay — hopefully only 7 to 10 days or so — but I’ll be sure to keep everyone up to date.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 12/9/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! The meditation group will meet once again in the Chapel at First Parish tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30. Matt will lead the practice this week. This will be Matt’s last time out as practice leader due to the logistics of making the trek up from Boston. I want to thank him very much for his help as practice leader for the past year and a half (or thereabouts) and to welcome him to continue to practice with us as his schedule permits. Deep bows.
I also wish to thank everyone who sent prayers, good vibes, metta, healing thoughts, etc., to Carrie this past week. She returned home from the hospital on Saturday following a successful surgery earlier in the week. She has follow-up appointments with her doctors this week and will remain on home IVs for another couple of weeks… hopefully hale and hearty heading into the new year.
I heard from Priscille last week. The rennovation of her home is near completion, however she recently fell, hurting her knee and wrist, and is off driving for a bit. She hopes to be back to the meditation group by Chrsitmas, if the healing goes well. Again, I’m sure prayers, good vibes, metta, healing thoughts, etc., would be appreciated. I look forward to seeing her soon!
There have been a number of articles in the media this past week about a recent study showing that happiness is actually contagious!
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/12/05/new_reason_to_be_happy_it_may_go_a_long_way/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97848789
The folks over at the Tricycle Editor’s Blog chime in with their own thoughts:
http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=940
Certainly these are preliminary findings, but it does give credence to idea that our meditation practice really can be for the benefit of all beings.
Of course the early Buddhist teachings make abundantly clear that of “admirable friendship” — kalyanamitta) — is integral to spiritual practice:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sacca4/samma-ditthi/kalyanamittata.html
Speaking of happiness, the San Francisco Chronicle recently published a story on the growing interest in the Bhutanese model of Gross National Happiness:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=40,7485,0,0,1,0
Also via the Buddhist Channel, Waylon Lewis at the Huffington Post, has come up with a list of the “Top 10 Buddhist Teachers Living in America”. The list has an admittedly Tibetan bias, but is quite interesting nonetheless:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,7492,0,0,1,0
Finally, I want to mention that Chas DiCapua will return to IMCN this Saturday, December 13, to lead a day-long retreat on “Six Sense Doors Awareness”. Carrie and I attended this retreat a few months ago and really appreciated it (particularly “listening” meditation in the midst of a heavy thunderstorm):
————————————————————————
On Saturday, December 13th we are fortunate to have Chas DiCapua back at the Insight Meditation Center of Newburyport to lead an all day retreat, 9AM to 5PM, on Six Sense Door Awareness.
Vipassana meditation is often known as awareness of the 6 sense doors. These include: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting and thoughts and emotions. In this day long retreat, as a way to deepen our practice, we will spend time meditating with different sense doors. We will undertake practices that allow us to connect with all of our sense doors in a relaxed and open way. The dharma talk and discussion will focus on the effortless nature of both formal and informal meditation. This day long retreat will be especially helpful for those who find they tend to become tense and struggle with practice. Open to beginners and experienced practitioners.
Chas DiCapua began practicing in 1989 in the Zen tradition. In 1995 he started Insight Meditation practice and has worked extensively with Joseph Goldstein and other leading teachers. He is now training with Jack Kornfield and is the resident teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA .
This day long retreat will include instructions for sitting and walking practice, as well as a dharma talk and discussion.
There will be an opportunity to meet individually with the teacher.
The fee for the Day–Long retreat is $55.00 or $40.00 for IMCN members.
You may take the first half of the day as a half-day retreat.
Please bring your lunch.
http://www.IMCNewburyport.org
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That’s all for this week, folks. I hope to see everyone tomorrow night!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 12/26/08 meditation group
Greetings! The meditation group will meet in the Chapel at First Parish from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening. Christine will lead the practice this week.
I’ve slowly started to tackle the backlog of reading that’s accumulated over the past month or two. Among the items that caught my attention recently are a number of odds and ends from our friends over at Shambhala Sun, for whom 2008 marks the 30th anniversary.
Shambhala Sun senior editor Barry Boyce contributes a great piece on what’s transpired in American Buddhism over the past thirty years — picking up where the late Rick Fields left off in his seminal work “How the Swans Came to the Lake”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3303&Itemi
There’s been some criticism online that Boyce’s article is limited to Buddhism as practiced by middle-class European Americans and does not adequately address the impact and condition of Buddhism within Asian-American communities. I would also add that Boyce’s view seems limited to the “Big Three” of Tibetan, Zen, and Vipassana/Insight practice and only hints at the existence of other forms of Buddhism, such as Nichiren and Pure Land, that are practised by relatively large numbers of Americans.
That said, I give Boyce much credit for trying to cover an awful lot in a limited space and suggest that others may be better able to fill these notable gaps.
Fields’ book is definitely a must read for anyone interested in the history of Buddhism in the United States, and I’d be happy to lend my copy to anyone who is interested.
Boyce also provides a list of the books he drew from in writing his article:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=3357#more-3357
Elsewhere in the anniversary issue of Shambhala Sun, Publishers Weekly religion reviews editor Marcia Nelson takes a quick look at some of the Buddhist best-sellers of the past thirty years:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3313&Itemi
2008 also marks the 50th annivesary of the Sri Lanka-based Buddhist Publication Society, the first and foremost English-language publisher in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism.
The current BPS newsletter is available online and includes several brief articles on the history of the Society, in addition to the usual felicitations from friends and colleagues:
http://www.bps.lk/newletter_pdf/nl_59.pdf
There was also quite a nice profile of the BPS in the Sunday Times back in May (via the Buddhist Channel):
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,6449,0,0,1,0
Finally, on a lighter note, I came across the following thanks to the Tricycle Editor’s Blog:
http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=947
It’s a little hard to tell too much from the website, but perhaps we should think about a meditation group game night sometime?
That’s all for this week. Please keep Priscille in your thoughts, prayers, etc., as she continues her recovery.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 12/23/08 meditation group
Hello! I hope everyone has emerged relatively unscathed by the wintery weekend weather. The meditation group will meet tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30 at First Parish. Let’s see how the temperature is in the Chapel, and if it’s unbearably chilly, we may relocate upstairs to the High School room (schedule permitting). Please check for a note on your way in. Brenda will lead the practice.
This past Thursday WGBH aired a wonderful documentary, “Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton.” Merton, a somewhat avant garde Trappist monk, developed a keen interest in Buddhist-Christian dialog late in his life (he died, in fact, while attending a interfaith conference in Thailand), which is reflected in an interesting montage towards the end of the film.
http://www.pbs.org/soulsearching/
I’m not sure exactly what the ‘GBH rebroadcast schedule is. The December viewer guide suggests a rebroadcast tonight (Monday) on GBH-44 at 10pm, but the online schedule shows something else. In any event, I highly recommend this film if you get the chance to watch it.
One Buddhist teacher who was strongly influenced by Merton — although not in the way one might expect — is Harvard psychologist Jack Engler, who briefly lived as a monk at Gethsemani Abbey.
Engler’s own interesting biography is presented in brief at the beginning of his dicussion on “ego” with Andrew Cohen of the journal “What Is Enlightenment?”
http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j17/engler.asp?pf=1
Engler also teaches regularly at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and I’ve previously cited a couple of his talks that were later published in Insight Journal:
“Practicing for Awakening”
Part 1: http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/1998b/jack_engler.htm
Part 2: http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/1999a/jack_engler1.htm
“Seeking the Seeker”
http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/SeekingtheSeeker–JE.pdf.pdf
More on Merton’s interest in Buddhism is covered in the book “Merton and Buddhism” reviewed here at the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue website:
http://www.monasticdialog.com/a.php?id=814
Speaking of monks, Tibetan monastic/writer/photographer Matthieu Ricard (“The Monk and the Philosopher,” “The Quantum and the Lotus”, “Motionless Journey”, and “Happiness”) has a nice, short article on happiness in the current issue of “Yes!”:
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/113080/this_is_your_brain_on_bliss/
And Lin Jensen reflects on the broader meaning of “sangha” in this post on the Tricycle editor’s blog:
http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=969
Finally, I wish to leave you all with a few words that always resonate deeply with me at this time of year:
The first is an excerpt of a letter from the Franciscan friar, Fra Giovanni, written to a friend on Christmas Eve 1513:
https://www.eons.com/groups/topic/516051-Letter-to-a-Friend
The second is Susan Cooper’s poem “The Shortest Day” written for the Christmas Revels when it was first performed in Cambridge back in 1971:
http://jesspages.net/bestofuu/tag/susan-cooper
And with that, I wish you all a happy Chanukah, happy Solstice, merry Christmas, and all the joys and blessings of the season.
In peace,
Tim
REMINDER — 12/30/08 meditation group
Hello everyone! The meditation group will meet from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish. Mike will lead the practice this week.
I want to start off with an addendum to last week’s focus on Thomas Merton. Some of you may have already seen the following article when it appeared in the Boston Globe a couple of weeks ago, but I thought it was particularly interesting in light of the recent theme of Buddhist-Christian dialog:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/12/14/when_jesus_met_buddha/
Bill Moyers aired the documentary “Beyond Our Differences” on his show Bill Moyers Journal on Friday evening. Interviewees include the Dalai Lama, Robert Thurman, Desmond Tutu, and others. Clips can be viewed via the film’s website:
http://www.beyondourdifferences.com/
Moyers also refers us back to his fantastic 2007 series “On Faith and Reason”:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12262008/profile2.html
Shambhala Sun’s “Sun Space” blog recently posted a nice teaching on awakening, delivered by the late Godwin Samararatne and published in the current issue of the Vipassana Fellowship newsletter:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=3482#more-3482
Meanwhile, I’ve been somewhat remiss in passing along news that Somerville-based Wisdom Publications launched its own blog, “Go Beyond Words,” last month:
http://gobeyondwords.wordpress.com/
Finally, if anyone is still looking to make New Year’s Eve plans, CIMC is hosting an evening of chanting and meditation from 7:30pm on Wednesday until 1am New Year’s Day:
“On this last evening of the year, please join the community in periods of sitting, walking and chanting. There will also be a period for sharing readings or reflections. Light refreshments will be served after midnight. You are welcome to attend all or any part of the evening.”
http://cimc.info/community.html#eve
Well, that’s it for this week; I hope to see you tomorrow evening, and wish everyone a happy, healthy, safe, and peaceful 2009!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 1/6/09 meditation group
Greetings; happy 2009! The Tuesday evening meditation group will kick off the new year from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening in the Chapel at First Parish. (Please be mindful of posted notices in case we decide to relocate to the warmer environment of the High School room.) Ajahn David is scheduled to lead the practice and teaching.
Speaking of Ajahn David, Wat Buddhabhavana has added quite a bit of content to its website (http://www.greatwisdomcenter.org) since I last visited. Among the offerings is a nice selection of videos, including some taken this past summer at the kids’ camp. My personal favorites are those of Ajahn Mangkone leading the kids’ chanting:
http://www.greatwisdomcenter.org/index.php?id=27
Some of you may remember my mentioning the innovative opera “Where Elephants Weep”, which had its world premiere in Lowell back in 2007:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/where-elephants-weep/
After the closing in the US, “Elephants” was brought home to Cambodia, where it opened in November.
Unfortunately the show has run afoul of the Cambodian Sangha, which has persuaded the government to ban further performances, claiming that the show “insults Buddhism”:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=53,7586,0,0,1,0
Having seen the show myself, I have to say the Sangha is definitely overreacting… and perhaps should take a good hard look at itself if there are particular elements in the show that hit a bit close to home.
Meanwhile, WGBH-2 will air the first two of the six-part series “The Story of India” from 9-11pm this evening. Hosted by Michael Wood, it should be fascinating:
http://wwd.wgbh.org/tv/program/story-india/beginnings
Finally, I highly recommend a quick look at Sumi Loundon Kim’s recent post on The Worst Horse regarding the use of “metta” as an e-mail sign-off. There’s some funky code on The Worst Horse that makes the post unreadable on certain web browsers, so I’ve taken the liberty of re-posting it on our own blog:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/sumi-loundon-kims-e-dharma-dilemma/
That’s all for now; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening.
Metta,
Tim
PS — Keeping Priscille in your thoughts/metta/etc. would be greatly appreciated, I’m sure. She’s mostly recovered from the injuries sustained in the fall she took a while back, but is now battling a nasty bout of bronchitis. Hopefully we’ll have her back soon, hale and hearty!
REMINDER — 1/13/09 meditation group
Greetings; happy Monday! The meditation group will meet tomorrow evening from 7:30-9:30pm at First Parish. I think we’ll try to meet upstairs in the High School Room this week, if it’s available. That should be a good deal warmer than the Chapel. I’ll put up a notice by the entry indicating where we’ll be. I’m pleased to officially welcome Sue to the practice leader rotation this week.
Last week Ajahn David spoke very highly of Jill Bolte Taylor’s book “My Stroke of Insight”. While I still have yet to read the book myself, I did want to point folks in the direction of Brenda’s blog post from last April on Dr. Taylor’s TED Conference lecture:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/a-stroke-of-insight/
Speaking of which (more or less), the Mind and Life Institute recently released its 2008 annual report, which provides a surprisingly succinct (12 pages) overview of some of the exciting research that’s underway:
http://www.mindandlife.org/MLI-Annual-Report-2008.pdf
There are a couple of recent additions to the Access to Insight website. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (aka “Ajahn Geoff”) has written a pair of short articles: “Ignorance” and “Mindfulness Defined”
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/ignorance.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/mindfulnessdefined.html
Neither article is particularly long, and I very highly recommend reading both of them.
The Burmese teacher Sayadaw U Tejaniya will be teaching at the Forest Refuge at the end of May. His website includes links to free downloads of his books (including the wonderfully titled “Don’t Look Down on the Defilements, They Will Laugh At You”) and reprints of interviews he’s given to in Tricycle, Inquiring Mind, etc.
I’ve been meaning to take a closer look at the site for some time now, and still have yet to get into the longer works, but just want to share briefly Sayadaw’s “What is the Right Attitude for Meditation?” — a meditation in and of itself:
http://sayadawutejaniya.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/right_attitude_23_points.pdf
The Deccan Herald (New Delhi, India) recently published an excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “Calming the Fearful Mind: A Zen Response to Terrorism” that is well worth reading:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=10,7592,0,0,1,0
And, finally, the British newspaper The Guardian published the following from Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor’s forthcoming book “On Kindness” (due out in March):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/03/society-politics
It’s a fantastic article, and I can hardly wait for the book to hit the shelves!
That’s all for this week; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening.
Metta (no matter what Sumi says),
Tim
REMINDER — 1/20/09 meditation group
Hello, everyone! My apologies for getting the weekly reminder out somewhat later than usual this week, but the meditation group will indeed meet tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30 at First Parish. Let’s plan on meeting upstairs in the High School room, but please check for a note on your way in. Carrie will lead the practice this week.
Just a couple of things to pass along this week:
The First Parish Church (UU) of Stow and Acton will host a screening of the film “The Dhamma Brothers” for their Movie Night this Friday evening, January 23, at 7:30pm.
http://www.fpc-stow-acton.org/MovieNight.html
The documentary is described as “East meets West in the Deep South. An overcrowded maximum-security prison — the end of the line in Alabama’s correctional system — is dramatically changed by the influence of an ancient meditation program.”
“The Dhamma Brothers tells a dramatic story of human potential and transformation as itclosely follows and documents the stories of 36 prison inmates as they enter into this arduous and intensive [10-day meditation] program. It will challenge assumptions about the very nature of prisons as places of punishment rather than rehabilitation.”
Brenda wrote a brief blog post about a screening of the film she attended back in May: http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/dhamma-brothers-east-and-west-meet-in-the-deep-south/
You can find out more about the film here: http://dhammabrothers.com/film.html
If anyone is interested in attending the screening on Friday, please e-mail me. If there’s enough interest, we can see about arranging a carpool.
Also, IMC Newburyport opens for its winter session starting this week.
On Wednesday evening, January 20th, Matthew Daniell teaches the first session of a class on finding Contentment in our daily life.
And on Sunday, January 25th, Kate Wheeler, leads an day-long Retreat exploring ways of deepening our Insight Mediation practice.
For more information, visit http://www.IMCNewburyport.org
Finally, late on the eve of the historic inauguration of our 44th President, I’d like to share a few short words from Huffington Post bloggers Ed and Deb Shapiro, whose New Year’s post was previously cited by Mike:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-and-deb-shapiro/what-buddha-might-say-to_b_156947.html
“We wish you luck Mr. President. May the next 4 years be peaceful ones. May your mind be clear and your heart pure.”
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 1/27/09 meditation group
Greetings! The meditation group will meet from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening at First Parish. We’ll plan on meeting upstairs in the high school room again, but be sure to check for notices on the way in.
I only have a couple of things to pass along this week.
First, we were contacted last week by Catherine Senghas of the UUBF board who was looking to confirm/update our group’s contact information for their website.
She also mentioned that registration is now open for the 2009 UUBF Convocation, to be held for the first time on the West Coast, in Oceanside, California, from March 27-29.
http://www25.uua.org/uubf/UUBF-Flyer-2009-GA.pdf
This year’s featured speaker is Shinzen Young (http://www.shinzen.org/), who will lead a discussion on “The Science of Enlightenment”.
I also took the opportunity to catch up on some past issues of “UU Sangha” that have recently been archived online.
I found Douglas Kraft’s “Mindfulness II: Transformation” and Andrew Agacki’s “An American Buddhism” from the Spring 2008 issue to be quite interesting, as well as Wayne Aronson’s “Not Two: Unitarian Universalism and Buddhism” from the Fall 2007 issue:
http://www25.uua.org/uubf/Spring2008.pdf
http://www25.uua.org/uubf/Fall2007.pdf
In other media, author Karen Armstrong recently delivered a TED talk on compassion (video available here: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/karen_armstrong_makes_her_ted_prize_wish_the_charter_for_compassion.html)
… and this past week, Krista Tippett reprised her May 2007 interview with Pankaj Mishra on the topic “The Buddha in the World”:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/buddhaintheworld/
Finally, Carrie and I ventured down to the First Parish Church of Stow and Acton on Friday evening to catch a sreening of “The Dhamma Brothers”. I hope to have a full review up on the blog (http://meditate.shorturl.com) later today, but in brief I very highly recommend seeing this film. You can find out more here:
http://www.dhammabrothers.com/
That’s all for now; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 2/3/09 meditation group
Hello and happy Groundhog Day! It seems we have another few weeks of winter in store….
The meditation group will meet upstairs in the High School room at First Parish from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening. Ajahn David is scheduled to join us for meditation and teaching this week.
There are only a few items to mention this week.
First, as some of you may have already seen, I recently posted a brief reivew of the First Parish of Stow and Acton screening of the film “The Dhamma Brothers”:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/the-dhamma-brothers-take-two/
As I mention in my review, I can’t recommend this film highly enough, and I sincerely hope that its audience continues to grow. If you have an opportuity to see this film, I strongly encourage you to do so — and encourage you to encourage others to do the same.
Interestingly, the current issue of Tricycle has a feature on Fleet Maull and the Prison Dharma Network, who take a slightly different approach to bringing meditation practice to prison inmates:
http://www.tricycle.com/feature/freedom-behind-bars
There are a couple of other short articles worth mentioning this week. First is Tara Brach’s wonderful Yoga Joural essay “Befriend Your Fears” (which I actually had not yet read prior to last week’s discussion):
http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2517?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=site&utm_campaign=editorspicks
In the upcomiong issue of Shambhala Sun, Noah Levine — who coincidentally came to Buddhism himself while he was behind bars — writes on the power of sangha/community to create positive change in the world:
http://shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3338&Itemid=24
And over on the Sun Space blog, Diana Winston offers encouragement (and suggestions) for daily practice in the charmingly titled “Sit Every Day! Advice, plus ‘Ten Suggestions for Having a Regular Daily Practice Even if You Would Rather Be Thrown into a Shark-Infested Ocean’”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=5560
Finally, I just want to get word out that Chas DiCapua will lead a “Mindfulness of the Body Retreat” at IMCN this Saturday, February 7, from 9am to 5pm:
“Mindfulness of the body is the first of the four foundations of mindfulness that the Buddha taught as the direct path to liberation. It plays a central role in both our formal and informal (daily life) meditation practice. Much of our upbringing did not teach us to inhabit our bodies. Societal norms only exacerbate this condition. Both the formal meditation instructions, a movement period, as well as group discussion will focus on how we can inhabit our bodies with awareness. This retreat is very applicable to both beginning and continuing meditation students.
“Chas DiCapua began practicing in 1989 in the Zen tradition. In 1995 he started Insight Meditation practice and has worked extensively with Joseph Goldstein and other leading teachers. Since 2003 Chas has been the resident teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA. He also teaches at other centers in New England.
“We are fortunate to have Chas back at the Center. Several of our practitioners have already signed up to spend another day with him and learn from his vast accumulation of knowledge and his practical way of teaching. Individual interviews will be available along with walking and sitting practice.
“Please bring a brown bag lunch. Fees for the retreat are $55 or $40 for members of The Center. Please register ASAP and send in a check. If you can’t do that in the next few days, send an email or call me on my cell phone 617-784-7522 to let me know that you are definitely going to attend. It helps our teachers in their preparation if they know how many will be attending the retreat.”
For more information, please visit http://www.IMCNewburyport.org
That’s all for this week; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 2/10/09 meditation group
Hello everyone! The meditation group will meet upstairs in the High School room at First Parish tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30. Brenda will lead the practice this week.
This will be a very short e-mail, with a few things to pass along:
I’m in the middle of the current issue of Tricycle and just finished reading a great article on fear written by Ezra Bayda:
http://www.tricycle.com/insights/the-three-things-we-fear-most
There’s also a fun — and informative — piece on finding out which Buddhist “personality type” you are:
http://www.tricycle.com/feature/which-buddhist-personality-type-are-you
Dr. Herbert Benson of “the relaxation response” fame and the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at MGH was recently featured in the Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/02/05/the_guru_of_relaxation/
More on the BHI can be found at the institute’s website:
http://www.mbmi.org/home/
And, finally, from Shambhala Sun’s Sun Space blog, “Monk Chat”:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=5585
I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 2/17/09 meditation group
Hello everyone! The meditation group will meet from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening upstairs in the High School room at First Parish. Mike will lead the practice this week.
I have a whole bunch of great audio links to pass along this week.
First, going back a few weeks, Shambhala Sun editor Barry Boyce sat down with Rod Meade Sperry for a brief (6 min) chat on “Celebrating Buddhism in America – 30 Great Years”, Boyce’s recent article for the Sun:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=5800
Over on Tricycle’s podcast page, Managing Editor Alex Kaloyanides, had an opportunity for a wide-ranging conversation with Sharon Salzberg, on topics including Sharon’s new book “The Kindness Handbook”, and practicing with the Brahmaviharas (lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity) in everyday life. The entire interview is about a 1/2-hour, but well worth a listen:
http://media.tricycle.com/?p=7
Not to be outdone, the Buddhist Geeks recently featured a two-part interview with Joseph Goldstein. In the first segment (45 min), Joseph discusses the benefits of long-term practice, the background and vision behind the Forest Refuge, and finally the future of the insight meditation tradition, and the development of Western Buddhism:
http://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/236-buddhist-geeks/episodes/27396-joseph-goldstein-benefits-long-term
In the second segment (40 min) Joseph shares his perspective on the recent cross-pollination of the Buddhist meditation with scientific investigation:
http://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/236-buddhist-geeks/episodes/27399-joseph-goldstein-science
Speaking of which, Tricycle Editor James Shaheen recently shared some thoughts on the intersection of Buddhism and science. The comments are very much worth reading, too:
http://blog.tricycle.com/?p=1056
Meanwhile, psychologist Paul Ekman wonders if Charles Darwin was inspired by Tibetan Buddhism:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,7786,0,0,1,0
There were a couple of links on the Treehugger website today, which seemed rather apropos:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/how-science-really-works.php
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/sound-of-silence.php
Finally, a reminder from the folks at IMCN that Kate Wheeler will lead a lovingkindness retreat this Sunday, February 22:
“Loving Kindness Meditation is a practice that cultivates a good heart. Based on 2600 year old instructions given by the Buddha, this practice of repeating phrases intending good will has helped countless people over the centuries to counter inner fear, anger, confusion and isolation. Periods of guided sitting and walking meditation will be combined with theory and discussion as we explore new ways of nourishing ourselves and others through the power of cultivating our own minds and hearts.
“We are pleased to welcome back to the Center Kate Lila Wheeler, one of our special guest teachers. She has been practicing yoga and meditation since her early teens. She began formal Buddhist practice in 1977. In the late 1980s she was briefly ordained as a nun in Rangoon, Myanmar and has been teaching retreats since the early 1990s. More recently she has assisted Sharon Salzberg at Loving-Kindness retreats at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA . She lives in Somerville and is an accomplished writer of fiction, travel journalism, and personal essays.
“Kate encourages beginners as well as experienced meditators to attend. The day will include sitting and walking meditations, discussion with time for questions and answers. Kate also is available for one on one consultations during the day.
“This retreat starts at 9am and goes til 5pm, but participants may attend for only a half day. The fee for the day is $55.00 or $40.00 for members. The half-day fee is $30.00. Day-long meditators are asked to bring their lunch.”
More information can be found at http://imcnewburyport.org
Well, that’s all for this week; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 2/24/09 meditation group
Hello everyone! While Carrie and I won’t be able to make it this week, the meditation group will continue to meet from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening. Christine will lead the practice. Please check for signs to see whether the group will be upstairs in the High School room (more likely) or down in the Chapel (less likely).
This Saturday, February 28, marks the 3rd anniversary of Carrie’s and my first foray into formal meditation practice with Abhaya, back when the group was just a couple of us meeting after hours in the Alleigance Hospice offices in downtown Lowell. I’m quite pleased that the group continues — albeit in somewhat different form — and am sure that Abhaya is pleased with our collective efforts. Deep bows and gratitude to everyone of you who has made this group the wonderful refuge that it is.
Saturday will also be Carrie’s first full day on her latest retreat at IMS. She’ll be sitting (and walking) for 5 days under the tutelage of CIMC’s Larry Rosenberg and Michael Liebenson Grady. IMCN’s Matthew Daniell will be an assistant teacher, and it should be a wonderful week.
Speaking of IMS, the latest issue of the Sangha News arrived in my e-mail inbox the other day. The newsletter is available for download (http://www.dharma.org/ims/ai_news_sangha_news.html), but after last week’s Buddhist Geeks interview with Joseph Goldstein, I particularly wanted to draw attention to a much shorter (12 min) conversation between Joseph and IMS Executive Director Bob Agoglia on the past and future of the institution, in honor of its 33rd birthday on February 14. It’s quite a fun listen:
http://www.dharma.org/ims/mp3/Joseph_Goldstein_Interview_Feb2009.mp3
This week I’d like to offer a slight detour from my usual offerings. While I’m not a yoga practitioner myself, I know that many in our group do do yoga, and I wanted to share a few links that may be of interest….
Quite some time ago, Speaking of Faith’s Krista Tippett sat down with instructor Seane Corn to talk about yoga as “meditation in action”:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2008/yoga/
Shambhala Sun has also published several articles on yoga over the years, a couple of which seem particularly apt for sharing:
“Yoga for Meditators” — Desirée Rumbaugh offers a short series of poses that will improve your sitting practice.
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3293&Itemi
“Yoga Body, Buddha Mind” — Cyndi Lee and David Nichtern explain why yoga practice and Buddhist meditation is the perfect mind-body combination.
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3049&Itemi
“Buddhism and Yoga: Where the Paths Cross” — Shambhala Sun asked Phillip Moffitt, Anna Douglas, Stephen Cope, and Sarah Powers — all of whom practice both yoga and Buddhism — how the two practices can work together.
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=6548
Finally, I want to give a heads up for Valley Insight’s weekend retreat coming up April 3-5 at Pierce’s Inn, Etna, New Hampshire. Our old friend Doreen Schweizer will lead the weekend’s practice. Visit Valley Insight’s website to register or for more information:
http://valleyinsight.org/events/39/valleyinsightretreatwithguidingteacherdoreenschweizer/
That’s all for this week; again, Carrie and I will be away, but I look forward to seeing everyone on March 3.
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 3/3/09 meditation group
Warm greetings on this snowy Monday! The meditation group will meet upstairs in the High School room at First Parish from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening. Ajahn David is scheduled to join us; thanks to Christine for providing transportation this month!
I came across this very intriguing quote by writer/teacher/activist Parker Palmer, who recently appeared as a guest on Bill Moyers Journal:
“I think the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of reality because illusion never leaves us ultimately happy.”
At the time I was also reading Bhante Henepola Gunaratana’s “Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness”, where I was struck by a passage that concludes:
“Opening the wisdom eye is the real purpose of mindfulness, for insight into the true nature of reality is the ultimate secret of lasting peace and happiness.”
Anyhow, I thought it was quite an interesting juxtaposition. I posted a few more thoughts, and the full Bhante G. passage on the blog:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/the-pursuit-of-happiness/#more-282
Parker Palmer’s conversation with Bill Moyers can be found here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02202009/profile2.html
In an interesting case of seredipity, Parker Palmer was also a guest of Krista Tippett on this week’s Speaking of Faith “The Soul in Depression” (rebroadcast from 2005, I believe). One of Tippett’s other guests is Anita Barrows, poet, psychologist and practitioner of Theravada Buddhism:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/depression/
Also on NPR this past weekend was a broadcast of Leonard Cohen’s recent hour-long concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York. I was not at all familiar with Cohen’s work — aside from the ubiquitous, yet still wonderful “Hallelujah” — but was absoultely riveted by the performance. (It’s hard to believe that Cohen is 74 years old!) I can only imagine what it would be like to have been there in person; fortunately it looks like Cohen will perform in Boston at the Wang Theatre on May 29.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101034642&sc=emaf
As it turns out, Cohen spent several years as a Zen monk in the mid to late Nineties, a story recounted in part in this 2007 profile in Shambhala Sun:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3144&Itemid=247
Buddhism and meditation practice have certainly been integral to the experience of many artists — k.d. lang (who does a wonderful version of Cohen’s “Hallelujah” herself), Eve Decker, Joan Baez, to name only a few.
One intriguing young musician who is receiving a lot of press lately is singer/cellist Ravenna Michelsen.
Shambhala Sun’s SunSpace blog (http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=5290) has links to a number of reviews of her latest album “Dharmasong”, and she is the subject of a longer profile in the current issue of Tricycle:
http://www.tricycle.com/insights/mindful-music
Ravenna gave a dana performance at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies last January, and will return to BCBS this Saturday, March 7, at 8pm.
For more information, visit Ravenna’s website: http://www.ravennam.com/
Finally this week I wanted to mention another very interesting post on SunSpace on “Digital dharma downloading: Is it sharing? Is it stealing?” — a topic that has generated quite a bit of discussion:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=6923
That’s all for this week; good luck to everyone digging out from the storm, and hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 3/10/09 meditation group
Hello all! The meditation group will meet from 7:30 to 9:30 tomorrow evening, upstairs in the High School room at First Parish. Brenda will lead the practice this week.
In last week’s e-mail I mentioned Leonard Cohen’s May 29 concert at the Wang Theatre. Apparently that show sold out promptly, so a second show has been added for May 30… and tickets do seem to still be available:
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/blog/2009/03/leonard_cohen_r.html
In other upcoming events around town, both HH the 14th Dalai Lama and Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh will include Greater Boston on their 2009 teaching schedules.
Thay will lead a 5-day mindfulness retreat “Be Peace, Be Joy, Be Hope” August 11-16 at Stonehill College in Easton:
http://www.tnhtour.org/sh-aug-info.pdf
The Dalai Lama will give a morning teaching and public talk in the afternoon at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro on May 2. I know Mike U. was trying to get tickets; hopefully there are still some available:
http://www.bostontibet.org/tabhhdl.html
Shambhala Sun continues the celebration of its 30th anniversary. The current issue features some of the best “personal stories” that have appeared within its pages over that time, and a few are now available to read online:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3351&Itemi
The current edition of Insight Journal arrived in my mailbox recently. While the entire issue is certainly worth reading, I particularly liked Ajahn Sucitto’s “Working with Perception” (http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/Pages/documents/WorkingwithPerceptionbyAjahnSucitto.pdf) and Tai and Mark Unno’s article on Shin Buddhism (http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/Pages/documents/ShinBuddhismbyTaitetsuandMarkUnno.pdf).
The full issue can be found here: http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/Pages/documents/09WinterFullIssue.pdf
Finally I’d like to leave off by sharing last week’s Tricycle “Weekly Teaching,” courtesy of Zen teacher Ezra Bayda:
“The deeply ingrained human attitude that we need to be free from problems is really one of our greatest problems. For example, when something unpleasant happens, we’ll almost always react from the deeply held belief that life should be free from discomfort and pain. We might not even be conscious of having this belief, but because we believe it, it colors (or discolors) how we relate to reality.
“What happens when we no longer cling to the belief that we have to be free from problems? Pick one small problem that you have (and don’t want), and ask yourself what it would be like if you could actually say yes when this problem arose, moving toward it voluntarily, consciously, with curiosity?
“This is not a masochistic attitude; rather, it’s the actual (and often gentle) willingness to stop pushing our experience away and demanding that life be different. When we learn what it means to say yes to a difficulty, to be curious about what life is, our whole world turns right side up; it allows us to experience life more as an adventure than as a nightmare. This is similar to how we approach meditation retreats, where we come knowing it may be difficult, yet we’re willing, at least to some degree, to explore whatever arises.”
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/weekly-teaching/cultivating-curiosity
That’s all for now; I hope to see everyone tomorrow evening!
Metta,
Tim
REMINDER — 3/17/09 meditation group
Greetings! The meditation group will meet tomorrow evening from 7:30 to 9:30 at First Parish. We’ll be upstairs in the High School room this week, and Mike will lead the practice. By the way, be sure to check out Mike’s most recent post over at the blog:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/peter-russell/
The Great American Think-Off is an annual amateur philosophy contest held in New York Mills, Minnesota. This year’s essay and debate question is “Is It Ever Wrong to do the Right Thing?” An interesting question to ponder, certainly, and if you think you have a good answer…:
http://www.think-off.org/
There were a couple of great conversations in the media this past week.
First, on Friday evening Bill Moyers and author Karen Armstrong enjoyed a lengthy converastion on compassion, and in particular Armstrong’s recent initiative, The Charter for Compassion, which Mike wrote about a few months ago:
http://kalyanamittasangha.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/help-write-an-interfaith-charter-for-compassion/
More on Armstrong, and video and a transcript of her conversation with Bill Moyers can be found here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03132009/profile.html
Meanwhile Krista Tippett hosted former surgeon Sherwin Nuland in a fascinating conversation on “the biology of spirit” on this past week’s Speaking of Faith:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/biologyofthespirit/
In news a little closer to home, there was an AP report earlier this week on a book of poetry written by the Ly Van, the late abbot of Glory Buddhist Temple, the Cambodian temple in Lowell. Recently discovered, the poems recount details of life in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h3F20io226VgOMJ4U0VD_K9pYsPAD96T4BV80
The late Ven. Maha Ghosananda, another Cambodian monk with strong ties to the Greater Lowell area, is being honored in Providence, Rhode Island, where a new worship hall is under construction on the site of the first Cambodian Buddhist temple in the United States:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=60,7901,0,0,1,0
The Buddhist Channel also features a touching eulogy for the late Taiwanese Ch’an master Shen Yan:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,7911,0,0,1,0
According to the Boston Globe, the Dalai Lama will be in Boston at the end of April to help MIT inaugurate the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/11/dalai_lama_to_help_launch_mits_spiritual_center/
As noted last week, His Holiness will deliver a public talk at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro on May 2.
Also this week the Globe reported on a BU School of Public Health researcher who is integrating Eastern and Western therapies to help Tibetan monks suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder: