A long time ago a real estate developer decided to set fire to an old growth forest. By clearing the forest, he could then develop it and he and his friends could make more money than they ever dreamed of. We will master the forest forever.
Eventually, he started this inferno, he did not consider all the animals that made their home there. As the fire spread the animals were trying to come up with ways to contain and stop the fire. While this intense conversation was going on amongst the animals, a tiny Hummingbird was flying furiously back and forth to the river carrying droplets of water in her beak. After a while they noticed the strange behavior. "Hummingbird what in the world are you doing?" they asked. "Oh, I am carrying water from the river to put out the fire." The whole animal colony burst into laughter. "Hummingbird, do you know how foolish you look?" "You may think I am foolish, but I am doing all that I can do." "Why are you wasting your time?" "I am doing all that I can do, instead of standing around and talking about what we should, could or needs to be done, then perhaps we could put out the forest fire!" This lesson is taken from Ven. Wonji's book "It's All Good." Let us start in 2022 doing all that we can do no matter how little it seems to us. Do your little bits of good Where you are It's those little bits of good put together that overwhelms the world. -- Desmond Tutu
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In these pandemic days meditation takes place on Zoom. On a Wednesday evening in early December my teacher instructs us to sit and be in the moment by focusing on our breath. We are to practice this until the bell rings.
In and out In and out In and out I’m concerned about Jill. She is fairly new to our practice. We just got her. I don’t want to lose her. What does “She might have had a stroke” mean anyway? In and out In and out In and out I spoke to my son earlier today about my colon. “You don’t mind that I spoke to my friend (Tara, Sarah, whoever she is) about your colon?” asks my son. “I don’t give a sh%t," I reply. He doesn’t think my response is as funny as I do. In and out In and out In and out His friend SarahTara says I have to eat more fiber and drink more water. Who is this SaraTara anyway? Oh, she’s a doctor! And she doesn’t recognize the fiber content of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup and and a bologna sandwich with lots of lettuce. In and out In and out In and out Is it selfish I want Jill to be better so I can enjoy her humor and learn from her. I do want her better for her own sake. So, what’s going on here? Oh, it’s that Buddhism bit about suffering, old age, and things constantly changing. Sounds like a control issue to me. In and out In and out In and out When’s this bell ever gonna wring? How did Do’an fall down the stairs? Didn’t involve a dog, so he says. But, I wonder, was it Dahlia in the study or Tessi in the library? Wait a minute. This isn’t a British cozy mystery. In and out In and out In and out A softly snoring dog sleeping next to me is having a twitching dream. Did he finally catch that bunny? Earlier in the day he gave chase to a huge golden brown fluff ball of a bunny with a white pom pom tail. But, alas, the bunny hip-hopped right through the opening in the fence. Brody was left speechless. Or is that barkless? In and out In and out In and out My teacher says we are to watch our breath. How on earth do I do that? Maybe the colonoscopy doc could do that…he also does endoscopies…uses a very small camera. Maybe I should try counting my breath. According to my teacher we are to inhale and count one on the exhale. That’s not the way I do it. I’ll try his way. No luck. I’ll go back to my way. Inhale, exhale, one, inhale, exhale, two… Just when I’m getting in my stride, I’m up to seven, the bell rings. My teacher thinks Jane is asleep. Hmm. Maybe I am too. Yours until the bell rings… Wanseon Devadipa [meaning "Complete Meditation"] (Ann Campanie) Two thousand six hundred years ago, a human being known as Siddhartha Gautama woke up. What does that mean? What is awakening but opening our eyes? What is awakening but an opening of our mind? What is awakening but letting go of the conditioning of our thinking?
Bodhi Day commemorates the awakening experience of Siddhartha Gautama, but Bodhi Day is also about celebrating this very moment. Bodhi Day is celebrating this WONDERFUL moment. Bodhi Day reminds us to ask, what is this? But it is a question that requires no answer. Because this moment doesn’t need an explanation. We simply open our eyes and reality is right in front of us, this moment is already here revealing everything. Explanations are an attempt to say what reality, this moment, is like. But this moment isn’t like anything. It just is. We already see it. We just need to learn to stop trying to grab hold of it. We are nearing the winter solstice: the shortest day of the year, and the longest night. It’s the time of year to celebrate the light inherent in darkness. We need light to see, and in awakening light is necessary. To see things as they truly are, we need the light of love--the light of wisdom. Our eyes might be open, but that doesn’t always mean we’re awake. We need to enter the dark and pierce through it with inner light. Our life is calling out to us, and we can wake up to our calling. Awakening brings with it, the awe of discovering that joy is unconditional and exists in just being who we are. With Awakening also comes with the realization of our wholeness, our oneness with all life. We perceive that all beings possess their own awakening, that we are already awake, even now. Awakening is understanding that we habitually obscure our awakened nature with thoughts, memories, beliefs, ideas, and opinions. We learn that these obscuring concepts are what dim the light of our inherent awakened nature. Many traditions around the world at this time celebrate the inevitable coming of the Light. Buddhists understand, however, abiding in the light is to abide in uncertainty. We cannot hold light. It is beyond our ability to grasp it. And yet, no matter what the source, star, planet, candle flame, inner light, or the light of wisdom. We seek light, and we celebrate light when the darkness seems so prominent. We must resist at this time to cling to concepts, to ideas and beliefs, in the attempt to feel secure. They are no more secure than shifting sands or a rippling sea. In the end, we must come to find security within uncertainty. This time of year, many of us find our lives get hectic. We still are trying to learn how to have a better relationship with time. We have tons of things to do and we keep adding more and more to our never ending To Do list. When do you just stop and ask, what is this? What am I doing right this moment? Why not do this right now? The Buddha taught Right View. Right View is simply seeing this moment as it is, here and now, moment after moment--no embellishments, no distortions. Right View is relying on what we experience directly--unfiltered by concepts, or conditioning--rather than what we think. Consider our own life myths. What are the stories we’ve invested ourselves in? that we’ve depended on during the year? Were they programmed into us or did we make them up ourselves? Do they still fit? Do they line up with our experiences? What parts of our lives do we allow light to shine? What shadows lurk around its edges, making its illumination all the more cause for celebration, cherishing, and nurturing? It’s good to explore our stories—to look beyond both dark and light—to appreciate our feet touching the earth, to wake up to our lives just where they are lived. To overlook such simple, yet essential valuables from our day-to-day lives is to be enslaved by the petty concerns of the small “i’”: I want...I must...I wish...I..I...I...We cut ourselves off from the awakening light when constantly ruminating on our past and obsessively plotting out our future. Without waking up to our own lives we risk never noticing the precious gift that is so abundant and immediate right before our eyes. All we need to do is Awaken! Happy Bodhi Day! Ven. Myohye Do'an The Celtic tradition, more than 2,0000 years ago, celebrated Samhain at this time of year. It was considered the time when the yearly cycle was coming to an end and the new cycle was to begin. The Celts believed that the in-between places were thresholds between the living and the spirit world. The mist of fog and waterfalls--the in-between of water and air--were such thresholds. Twilight--either at dawn or at dusk--another threshold, an in-between time neither night nor day. Doorways themselves were in-between places, being neither in nor out. Similarly, this time of year another threshold--the in-between of the season of light and the season of dark. Thresholds between the living and the spirits could be treacherous, and so such places of thinning between the realms were often avoided otherwise one must be prepared to protect oneself when traversing an in-between space. While mists can be avoided, even staying inside during twilight can protect one from the in-between time, there was no escaping the turning of the year. The Celts saw this time of year as a perilous time because the veil that separates the living and the spirits was so thin that it could be easily crossed over. That meant evil spirits could wander freely among the living and wreak havoc. The Celts had some ways to protect themselves from the dangers of the season. They built great bonfires to light dark places, the priests wore terrifying costumes of human/animal hybrids, and the people carved rutabagas (yes rutabagas, as pumpkins, a new world plant, had not yet crossed the ocean to Ireland) to resemble skulls. All of these practices were meant to frighten away the evil spirits that may be wandering amongst them. 2600 years ago, at the time of the Buddha, the natural world was a terrifying place. There were deep, dark jungle forests filled with poisonous and dangerous animals, treacherous mountain passes with rock-slides and avalanches, and bandits and criminals roaming the places in-between populations. Belief in spirits inhabiting these dark and dangerous places was strong among the population. The Buddha taught us a way to face these fears and gain insight into the fears that haunt us. Often, we discover, the fears tell us more about ourselves than the things our fears are projected upon. When I attended the temple in New York City there were two paintings on either side of the entrance to the dharma room. These paintings depicted fearsome, demonic-looking beings, with snarling faces, mouths full of fangs and tusks. One appeared with corpses and the other wore the bones of humans. I wondered why such artwork appeared in a temple. Wasn't the temple supposed to be a place of peace and safety? When I asked my teacher Ven. Myoji about these paintings she informed me that they were the Dharmapala: Wrathful Deities or Dharma Guardians. She explained that they prevented evil from entering the dharma room. They also served as mirrors, keeping those who had unwholesome intentions from bringing their negativity inside, by reflecting back the evil they carried. Sort of like how a person who feels guilty about something begins to see accusing eyes everywhere. Much like the actions of the ancient Celts in their attempt to frighten away the evil spirits, the Dharmapala appear fearsome in order to frighten away evil from the temple and from our own beings so that we stay on the path of practice. Their method is similar to the way homeopathy works. The toxic, negative energy is used to intensify and transform it into positive, nurturing energy. These wrathful beings can be viewed as actual supernatural beings or psychological constructs, it doesn’t matter which because either way the function is the same. The Dharmapala are forces of transcendent wisdom that appear monstrous and terrifying in order to dispel the negative forces within us. The notion behind the fearsome appearance of the Dharmapala is that they are so fearsome that they overpower any evil. Think of calling upon the raging, angry Hulk when in need of help, or of the terrifying beauty of an Angel of Heaven to protect us. When the Buddha faced Mara and his armies beneath the Bodhi tree, he called upon the fearsome power of the Earth Goddess herself. She appeared so powerful and terrifying, shaking the earth with her booming voice, that she sent Mara and his demons fleeing. To the Westerner, the depictions of these terrifying beings can be perplexing. It may not make sense to see them as the good guys here to protect us. But, as the traditions of the Celts show, this is not unheard of in Western culture--we have just forgotten the function of embracing the fearsome in service to our growth. It may surprise you to learn that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have wrathful forms. They are called the Heruka: Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, takes on the wrathful form of Yamantaka (the name meaning "conquerer of Yama, the god of death). He is the oldest and most fearsome of the Dharmapala. He holds power over the hell realms and controls the messengers Sickness, Old Age, and Death who are sent out into the world to remind us of impermanence. The wrathful form of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is Mahakala. He appears standing on two corpses, which represents the defeat over negative patterns and negative habits. Despite Mahakala's terrifying appearance, he has never harmed a living being. The wrathful form of the Buddha Amitabha is Hayagriva. His is the most powerful of the Dharmapala, who hold the awesome power of speech and the dharma. His scream of pure Wisdom is so fearsome and powerful that no being can resist it.
In psychological terms, the Dharmapala embody the shadow, the parts of ourselves that we avoid and try to keep hidden. But the power of the shadow only exists in it remaining hidden, we are meant to expose and face the shadows within us. In Tibetan tradition, the wrathful beings appear in the Bardo (the in-between realm after life and before rebirth) and originate from the negative karma that the individual created during their lifetime. If the individual responds to the wrathful being with fear, the individual is doomed for rebirth in a lower hell realm, ruled by that negative karma. If, however, the individual faces the Dharmapala with wisdom and understands that the wrathful being is a projection of their own mind, it cannot harm them. Dharmapala serve to protect our minds by subverting the shadows that threaten to overcome our psyche. They help us face past traumas and fears that often lay buried in the subconscious and are hindrances to our liberation. Unfortunately, our culture has lost the transcendent symbol of the dark angel from our inner shadows--the unconscious--who serves to transform the inner demonic state into a healthy, well-balanced one. Wrathful beings show us that the answer is not to suppress or avoid, but to embrace and transform. I found the following verse in a journal that I keep in which I jot down my thoughts, poems, quotes, and sayings that I enjoy. While usually note who the authors were of pieces I write down, there was no poet credited for this piece. I share it with you as I thought it was a good example of "Don't Know Mind":
I cannot promise that I'll always Know the right words to comfort you When you need support But I'll try. I cannot promise to always Know what you're feeling Or what will make you happy But I'll always remember to ask. I cannot promise to always Know how to cheer you When you are down But I'll be there with a smile. I cannot promise to always understand Though I'll always give it my best I cannot promise you many things But I promise to be here for you today Like there's no tomorrow...... Rev. Anwol Devadipa It seems that there is a great deal of anger everywhere I have been lately. Here where I live, at the stores, even at the doctor's office. It takes very little to turn people into nasty beings, full of venom. Everyone seems to have a hair trigger. Some people do not want to let go of the anger. They just keep feeding it. Anger has its place. This type of anger, however, is not healthy. I know most of you have heard my favorite quote "Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Well now I want to share something to help us deal with anger. It is called the Anger Mantra. Anger Mantra
Breathing in, I know that anger is here. Breathing out, I know that the anger is not me. Breathing in, I know that anger is unpleasant. Breathing out, I know this feeling will pass. Breathing in, I am calm. Breathing out, I am strong enough to take care of this anger. -- Thich Nhat Hahn I share the following story with you that has been an inspiration to me during challenging times:
An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, he sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a cup of water and then to drink it. "How does it taste?" the master asked. "Bitter," spit the apprentice. The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake, and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake." As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the master asked, "How does it taste?" "Refreshing," remarked the apprentice. "Do you taste the salt?" asked the master. "No," said the young man. At this, the master sat beside the young man who so reminded him of himself and took his hands, offering, "The pain of life is pure salt, no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a cup. Become a lake.” Ven. Myohye Do'an In Buddhism, the Fire element is associated with energy: the energy that fuels our digestion and metabolism; the energy of compassion that's generated and expressed; and the energy of transformation that takes place when we are on the path of practice. Sitting in meditation we can experience the heat of the body, feel the cooler air we breathe in, contrasting with the warmth of the air as it leaves the body. When we feel the heart pumping, we are reminded of all the chemical combustions taking place at the cellular level. When we move, think, or feel we experience sparks of electricity in the muscles, nerves, and brain. All of this energy comes from the element of Fire. There was a time when the Hearth was the heart of the home. In some houses that fire was constantly tended and never allowed to go out. Those hearths held fire that lasted over several generations. Before radio and TV, it was at the hearth where the family gathered. The hearth was where lively debate and thoughtful reflection took place, where music was made, where fiber was spun, woven, and repaired. The hearth was where stories were told--giving life and energy to ancestral histories. The presence of fire for all these activities symbolized and imparted energy, illumination, and transformation.…all qualities of the element of fire. The spiritual journey is a path of energy, the path of illumination, the path of transformation….the path of coming home to one’s own hearth of the heart. Of all the elements, fire expresses the energy of life: it is the raw physical energy in the universe, from the nuclear fusion in the heart of the sun, the molten core of our planet, to the chemical energy stored through photosynthesis. We are nourished by the fiery sun through eating the sun-fed plants or by the animals that eat the sun-fed plants. We do have to remember though that fire has a dangerous side. Fire can destroy, utterly. Skin can burn beyond the ability to repair itself. We are witnessing today the voraciousness of fire as it consumes acres and acres of forest, homes, lives, and whatever else is in its path, leaving only cinders and ash. Additionally, the fire of desire and passion can cause painful suffering. Some of our most painful life experiences are caused by the fire of the heart’s passion when love burns ardently. However, when fire is tended lovingly, controlled, but still allowed freedom, it supports our lives. We must tend lovingly to the hearth of compassion that is generated by our loving sangha. Just as we must tend lovingly to our own heart--that of our heart. Ven. Myohye Do'an This month we celebrate the birth of Kṣitigarbha. It is typically celebrated on the 30th of the seventh lunar month. The story of Kṣitigarbha was first described in the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra one of the most popular Mahayana Sutras. In the Sutra, the Buddha states that in distant past eons, Kṣitigarbha was a maiden of the Brahmin caste by the name of Sacred Girl.
The maiden was deeply troubled upon her mother's death--who had often been slanderous towards the Three Jewels. She prayed fervently that her mother is spared the pains of hell. She appealed to the Buddha. The Buddha told her to go home and recite his name. She did as she was told and her consciousness was transported to the Hell realm. There, she was told, because of her prayers her mother accumulated much merit and had ascended to heaven. But the suffering that she had seen in the Hell realm touched her heart. She vowed to do her best to relieve the beings of their sufferings in her future lives for many kalpas*. Unlike other bodhisattvas, Kṣitigarbha is usually depicted as a monk with a halo around his shaved head. He carries a staff to force open the gates of hell and a wish-fulfilling jewel to light up the darkness. There are six rings on the staff, one for each of the six realms**. The jingling of the rings is a reminder that we carry the six realms with us a all times. His name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", or "Earth Matrix". He is known for his vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds between the death of Guatama Buddha and the rise of Maitreya, the future Buddha, as well as his vow not to achieve Buddhahood until all hells are emptied. He is therefore often regarded as the bodhisattva of hell-beings, as well as the guardian of children and patron deity of deceased children in Japanese culture where he is known as Jizō or Ojizō-sama. We invoke your name Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva. We aspire to learn your way so as to be present where there is darkness, suffering, oppression, and despair, so that we may bring light, hope, relief, and liberation to those places. Rev. Anwol Devadipa --------------------------- * kalpa is a Sanskrit word for a particularly long measure of time. It can be thought of as another word for eon. In Hinduism, a kalpa equals 4.32 billion years. Buddhism is less specific for the amount of time a kalpa represents, deferring to analogies such as the time it takes for a bird to fly around the world, and with each circumambulation that bird's wing to brush against a gigantic rocky mountain and wear that mountain down dust. ** The six realms in Buddhist cosmology are the six realms of rebirth and existence: gods, demi-gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hells. Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva is known for vowing to help all those experiencing hell. The hell referred to can mean another realm of suffering, a place called hell, but that is not entirely correct. The other meaning of hell can be thought of as the hell of suffering, which includes those suffering when transitioning from life on earth or suffering because of their situation here on earth. Kṣitigarbha’s vow is to take responsibility for the awakening of all sentient beings throughout the six worlds from the time of the physical death of Shakyamuni Buddha and the arrival of Maitreya Buddha (the Future Buddha). With this vow comes the vow to not fully realize Buddhahood until all hells are emptied of suffering beings. Kṣitigarbha, like Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, underwent a gender change, but whereas Avalokiteshvara transformed from male to female, Kṣitigarbha was female and became male. How or why did this happen? It is not entirely clear if the origins of the Kṣitigarbha Sutra are Indian or Chinese, but since there has yet to be found a Sanskrit manuscript of the sutra, and given its popularity in East Asia, the sutra is suspected of having a Chinese origin. East Asian Buddhism took strongly to Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, probably due to the cultural emphasis on filial piety as espoused by Confucious. As Sacred Girl, Kṣitigarbha's devotion to her mother and the lengths that she would go to save her mother is a powerful example of filial piety to the highest expression. When Sacred Girl's life came to an end she made good on her vow and refused parinirvana (the end of participating in the cycle of birth and death) and was reborn as a male monk. Some explain that she chose to be reborn as a man in order to accomplish what couldn't be accomplished as a woman in a culture that held women in low regard. Others indicate that Kṣitigarbha became a man because it was unfathomable for people at the time of drafting the sutra to envision a woman returning to hell over and over. In contemporary practice, emphasis on the gender of Kṣitigarbha is not as important outside of Confucian filial beliefs. We can continue to envision Kṣitigarbha as a male monk or a female nun, or, as I prefer, a genderless monk embodying both male and feminine qualities. How you choose to visualize Kṣitigarbha is really up to you. As part of our practice, the vow made by Ksitigarbha to help women become reborn as a man, has been modified to offering strength and peace to those who suffer because of their gender or gender identity. In practice, we can turn to Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva when we are going through a very difficult situation. Having an image of the bodhisattva to focus on and/or chanting the bodhisattva's mantra can help ease our minds and allow us to find our way through difficulty. Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva is also popular with those who struggle with addiction or other compulsive behavior, as addictions and compulsions are a kind of hell realm. Kṣitigarbha's mantra is OM PRA MANI DANI SOHA. |
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