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"The Idiot"
(from a collection by Ajahn Brahm)
"Someone calls you an Idiot. Then you start thinking, 'How can they call me an idiot? They've got no right to call me an idiot! How rude to call me an idiot! I'll get back at them for calling me an idiot.' And you suddenly realize that you have just let them call you an idiot another four times.
Every time you remember what they said, you allow them to call you an idiot yet again. Therein lies the problem. If someone calls you an idiot and you immediately let it go, then it doesn't bother you. There is the solution.
Why allow other people to control your inner happiness?
We are all, from time to time, guilty of doing this. We must learn to let it go. The more we stew about it the more we let it take control.
So let us practice letting go."
Every time you remember what they said, you allow them to call you an idiot yet again. Therein lies the problem. If someone calls you an idiot and you immediately let it go, then it doesn't bother you. There is the solution.
Why allow other people to control your inner happiness?
We are all, from time to time, guilty of doing this. We must learn to let it go. The more we stew about it the more we let it take control.
So let us practice letting go."
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On Sundays we chant Vairocana’ Mantra of Light:
oṃ amogha vairocana mahāmudra maṇipadma jvāla pravarttaya hūṃ
The mantra loosely translates to:
oṃ unfailing “embodiment of light”, the great-seal*, the jeweled lotus, and radiant light, come forth, hūṃ
But who is Vairocana and why do we begin our Sunday practice paying homage to him?
Vairocana is the central Buddha among the five primordial Buddhas, who are personifications of the highest of ideals, each of these five Buddhas presides over their own dimensions, which are designed to support sentient beings in bringing about the spiritual evolution required for awakening.
Vairocana Buddha is featured prominently in Mahayana Buddhism and especially in Vajrayana and other esoteric Buddhist traditions. The role of Vairocana is varied throughout the different schools, but in general, he is thought of as a celestial buddha, who is the personification of dharmakāya of the Trikāya. The Trikāya is a teaching regarding the nature of Buddhahood being comprised of the dharmakāya (absolute reality body), represented by Vairocana Buddha, the saṃbhogakāya (divine incarnation body), represented by Amitabha Buddha, and the nirmāṇakāya (relative appearance body), represented by Shakyamuni Buddha.
The name Vairocana in Sanskrit means “luminous” or “embodiment of light”— the light of which his name refers is often regarded as the illuminating light of transcendent wisdom.
The first written appearance of Vairocana is in the Brahmajala Sutra, composed in the early 5th century CE (likely China). This beautiful and instructive text describes Vairocana Buddha appearing before an assembly of buddhas, seated on a lion throne and emanating radiant light in all directions. Among those buddhas present are inumerable.Shakyamuni Buddhas who are instructed and tasked by Vairocana “to transmit his teachings to all sentient beings, so as to open the path of cultivation to all.” After Vairochana finishes teaching portals to multiple worlds open and the Shakyamuni Buddhas leave to do their work saving all beings. You can read a translation of the Bramajala Sutra here: (http://www.buddhasutra.com/files/brahmanet.htm)
Vairocana also appears in the Avatamasaka Sutra, which is a huge and important text in the Mahayana tradition—composed from the 5th to the 8th centuries CE. A major theme of the Avatamsaka sutra is the interbeing of all phenomena, which Vairocana Buddha personifies.
The Mahavairocana Sutra, composed in the 7th century, goes into more detail regarding the nature and role of Vairocana Buddha in Buddhist practice. This text is considered the earliest manual of Buddhist tantra (ritualistic Buddhism). In this sutra, Vairocana is described as the universal Buddha, from which all other buddhas emerge. Vairocana is described as the source of awakening, since his existence is free from all causes and conditions.
As Chinese Buddhism developed Vairocana became the central buddha in the Huayan school, one of three schools our lineage draws from (the other two are Zen and Pure Land). Vairocana is considered the central Buddha, as he is the personification of sunyata. In this role, Vairocana is considered the ground of being, the source from which all phenomena emerge.
As Pure Land Buddhism grew more popular, Vairocana’s prominence was supplanted by Amitabha—the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life. However, despite the shift in focus, Vairocana remained an important buddha for veneration in the Huayan and Pure Land traditions.
Esoteric Japanese and especially Tibetan Buddhism have established Vairocana as an important symbol of non duality and the all-pervasiveness of awakened consciousness.
There are many representative statues of Vairocana throughout the east. The second largest statue in the world is of Vairocana and is at the Spring Temple of Lushan County, Henan, China. The statue alone is 420 ft tall (with the base it stands 682ft tall). It was the tallest statue in the world until 2018, when the Statue of Unity in India was built, standing at 600.ft (787 ft with base).
Many of you may remember when the Taliban destroyed the 6th century Bamiyam Buddhas that had been carved in a cliff face in Afghanistan in 2001. The tallest Buddha was that of Vairocana, standing 180ft tall.
As any other representation of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, Vairocana remains an important symbol (or personification) of the abstract archetype of our highest ideals. Veneration for Vairocana--as with any Buddha--is not meant to be worship, but a reminder for and a means to engage directly with the archetype. In the case of Vairocana, we look to this Buddha as representing the truth of sunyata, the relationship of interbeing, and the transcendent wisdom of awakening.
May the light of Vairocana Buddha illuminate your path so that you may awaken and then liberate all beings!
Ven. Myohye Do'an
* the great seal” refers to the fact that all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and sunyata inseparable
oṃ amogha vairocana mahāmudra maṇipadma jvāla pravarttaya hūṃ
The mantra loosely translates to:
oṃ unfailing “embodiment of light”, the great-seal*, the jeweled lotus, and radiant light, come forth, hūṃ
But who is Vairocana and why do we begin our Sunday practice paying homage to him?
Vairocana is the central Buddha among the five primordial Buddhas, who are personifications of the highest of ideals, each of these five Buddhas presides over their own dimensions, which are designed to support sentient beings in bringing about the spiritual evolution required for awakening.
Vairocana Buddha is featured prominently in Mahayana Buddhism and especially in Vajrayana and other esoteric Buddhist traditions. The role of Vairocana is varied throughout the different schools, but in general, he is thought of as a celestial buddha, who is the personification of dharmakāya of the Trikāya. The Trikāya is a teaching regarding the nature of Buddhahood being comprised of the dharmakāya (absolute reality body), represented by Vairocana Buddha, the saṃbhogakāya (divine incarnation body), represented by Amitabha Buddha, and the nirmāṇakāya (relative appearance body), represented by Shakyamuni Buddha.
The name Vairocana in Sanskrit means “luminous” or “embodiment of light”— the light of which his name refers is often regarded as the illuminating light of transcendent wisdom.
The first written appearance of Vairocana is in the Brahmajala Sutra, composed in the early 5th century CE (likely China). This beautiful and instructive text describes Vairocana Buddha appearing before an assembly of buddhas, seated on a lion throne and emanating radiant light in all directions. Among those buddhas present are inumerable.Shakyamuni Buddhas who are instructed and tasked by Vairocana “to transmit his teachings to all sentient beings, so as to open the path of cultivation to all.” After Vairochana finishes teaching portals to multiple worlds open and the Shakyamuni Buddhas leave to do their work saving all beings. You can read a translation of the Bramajala Sutra here: (http://www.buddhasutra.com/files/brahmanet.htm)
Vairocana also appears in the Avatamasaka Sutra, which is a huge and important text in the Mahayana tradition—composed from the 5th to the 8th centuries CE. A major theme of the Avatamsaka sutra is the interbeing of all phenomena, which Vairocana Buddha personifies.
The Mahavairocana Sutra, composed in the 7th century, goes into more detail regarding the nature and role of Vairocana Buddha in Buddhist practice. This text is considered the earliest manual of Buddhist tantra (ritualistic Buddhism). In this sutra, Vairocana is described as the universal Buddha, from which all other buddhas emerge. Vairocana is described as the source of awakening, since his existence is free from all causes and conditions.
As Chinese Buddhism developed Vairocana became the central buddha in the Huayan school, one of three schools our lineage draws from (the other two are Zen and Pure Land). Vairocana is considered the central Buddha, as he is the personification of sunyata. In this role, Vairocana is considered the ground of being, the source from which all phenomena emerge.
As Pure Land Buddhism grew more popular, Vairocana’s prominence was supplanted by Amitabha—the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life. However, despite the shift in focus, Vairocana remained an important buddha for veneration in the Huayan and Pure Land traditions.
Esoteric Japanese and especially Tibetan Buddhism have established Vairocana as an important symbol of non duality and the all-pervasiveness of awakened consciousness.
There are many representative statues of Vairocana throughout the east. The second largest statue in the world is of Vairocana and is at the Spring Temple of Lushan County, Henan, China. The statue alone is 420 ft tall (with the base it stands 682ft tall). It was the tallest statue in the world until 2018, when the Statue of Unity in India was built, standing at 600.ft (787 ft with base).
Many of you may remember when the Taliban destroyed the 6th century Bamiyam Buddhas that had been carved in a cliff face in Afghanistan in 2001. The tallest Buddha was that of Vairocana, standing 180ft tall.
As any other representation of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, Vairocana remains an important symbol (or personification) of the abstract archetype of our highest ideals. Veneration for Vairocana--as with any Buddha--is not meant to be worship, but a reminder for and a means to engage directly with the archetype. In the case of Vairocana, we look to this Buddha as representing the truth of sunyata, the relationship of interbeing, and the transcendent wisdom of awakening.
May the light of Vairocana Buddha illuminate your path so that you may awaken and then liberate all beings!
Ven. Myohye Do'an
* the great seal” refers to the fact that all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and sunyata inseparable
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Buddha's Birthday is a major Buddhist holiday and observed on different dates throughout East Asia. In some, primarily South East Asian countries, Buddha's birthday is celebrated as part of Vesak, which is a festival combining Buddha's Birth, Awakening, and Death. It is poignant to note that this year was the first time a Buddhist holiday, Vesak, was celebrated in the White House, with Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana representatives to participate. This is a good indicator that Buddhism is finding a home in the United States.
Buddha's birthday is officially celebrated as a national holiday in South Korea and observed widely throughout Vietnam on the 8th day of the 4th month of the Lunisolar Calendar. In 2021 Buddha's Birthday is on May 19th. Lotus Heart Zen typically observes the holiday on the same date since our practice lineage comes from Korea and Vietnam.
How Buddha's Birthday is celebrated differs from country to country. In South Korea, the Lotus Lantern Festival draws people from around the world to Seoul on the Saturday before Buddha's Birthday to enjoy a huge parade of 100,000 or more individuals carrying beautiful glowing lanterns. Each lantern represents one's commitment to the practice of dharma and the light of Awakening. Temples and homes also hang lotus lanterns during the whole month. The temple lanterns often have paper cards hanging from them with blessings that individuals, families, and businesses pay for financial help to the temple and to spread good merit. On the date of the holiday, many temples provide free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Buddha's Birthday has such a long history in Korea that it is as much a cultural holiday as a religious one, celebrated by those of all religions.
In South Vietnam Buddha's Birthday is no longer a national holiday, but it is still quite popular. In addition to temples offering free meals, pagodas around the country are decorated and temples hold celebrations, with religious rituals and services, as well as lectures about the Buddha's teachings. One of the most important rituals is Bathing the Baby Buddha, in which a statue depicting a juvenile Buddha is ceremonially bathed with flower perfumed water. Additionally, it is a time when lay practitioners volunteer their time to help clean the temple and decorate the altars.
The Lotus Heart Zen sangha has celebrated Buddha's Birthday in a variety of ways, one year we made lotus lanterns and decorated the practice room with them. In more recent years we have held the Bathing the Baby Buddha ritual and offered the Threefold Refuge ceremony for those wanting to become Buddhist practitioners.
Last year, we didn't have a Buddha's Birthday celebration of any kind. Initially, we all believed by May (when the holiday was going to be observed) we would all be able to practice together and the True Nature Zen sangha from Maine would be coming down to celebrate with us. None of us really knew the extent to which the pandemic would be altering our lives at that time. But as our practice proves, all things are impermanent, and the situation we all found ourselves in last year has changed. Our situation is not back to how it was before the pandemic, and truthfully, we will never return to the way things were. But we can embrace the return to in person practice while it's safe and we are careful.
This year we will be celebrating Buddha's Birthday on Sunday, June 27th. The service will be held both in person at the temple and online via Zoom. Those who come in person will have been fully vaccinated, healthy, and free from exposure to the virus. After the service will be fellowship, food, and celebration. This part will not be held online.
Over the next few weeks planning will take place--it will be a group effort to offer a beautiful and meaningful ceremony for the Lotus Heart Zen Sangha! I hope you will participate!
Yours in the dharma,
Ven. Myohye Do'an
Buddha's birthday is officially celebrated as a national holiday in South Korea and observed widely throughout Vietnam on the 8th day of the 4th month of the Lunisolar Calendar. In 2021 Buddha's Birthday is on May 19th. Lotus Heart Zen typically observes the holiday on the same date since our practice lineage comes from Korea and Vietnam.
How Buddha's Birthday is celebrated differs from country to country. In South Korea, the Lotus Lantern Festival draws people from around the world to Seoul on the Saturday before Buddha's Birthday to enjoy a huge parade of 100,000 or more individuals carrying beautiful glowing lanterns. Each lantern represents one's commitment to the practice of dharma and the light of Awakening. Temples and homes also hang lotus lanterns during the whole month. The temple lanterns often have paper cards hanging from them with blessings that individuals, families, and businesses pay for financial help to the temple and to spread good merit. On the date of the holiday, many temples provide free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Buddha's Birthday has such a long history in Korea that it is as much a cultural holiday as a religious one, celebrated by those of all religions.
In South Vietnam Buddha's Birthday is no longer a national holiday, but it is still quite popular. In addition to temples offering free meals, pagodas around the country are decorated and temples hold celebrations, with religious rituals and services, as well as lectures about the Buddha's teachings. One of the most important rituals is Bathing the Baby Buddha, in which a statue depicting a juvenile Buddha is ceremonially bathed with flower perfumed water. Additionally, it is a time when lay practitioners volunteer their time to help clean the temple and decorate the altars.
The Lotus Heart Zen sangha has celebrated Buddha's Birthday in a variety of ways, one year we made lotus lanterns and decorated the practice room with them. In more recent years we have held the Bathing the Baby Buddha ritual and offered the Threefold Refuge ceremony for those wanting to become Buddhist practitioners.
Last year, we didn't have a Buddha's Birthday celebration of any kind. Initially, we all believed by May (when the holiday was going to be observed) we would all be able to practice together and the True Nature Zen sangha from Maine would be coming down to celebrate with us. None of us really knew the extent to which the pandemic would be altering our lives at that time. But as our practice proves, all things are impermanent, and the situation we all found ourselves in last year has changed. Our situation is not back to how it was before the pandemic, and truthfully, we will never return to the way things were. But we can embrace the return to in person practice while it's safe and we are careful.
This year we will be celebrating Buddha's Birthday on Sunday, June 27th. The service will be held both in person at the temple and online via Zoom. Those who come in person will have been fully vaccinated, healthy, and free from exposure to the virus. After the service will be fellowship, food, and celebration. This part will not be held online.
Over the next few weeks planning will take place--it will be a group effort to offer a beautiful and meaningful ceremony for the Lotus Heart Zen Sangha! I hope you will participate!
Yours in the dharma,
Ven. Myohye Do'an
- Published on
My first time celebrating the Birth of the Buddha was in 2010 at the Shinnyo-en Buddhist temple in White Plains, NY. The Feast of Buddha's birth is called Hanamatsuri--the Flower Festival--in Japan.
The women of the temple volunteer in an event that is called gohashi. They hand-make the paper flowers that adorn the roof of the hanamido--the small blossom altar that houses the baby Buddha statue. Creating these beautiful flowers was an exercise in beautifying our hearts and minds.
A sweet tea with flower petals was made to use for the bathing of the new-born Buddha. The tea was known as amacha, which is made from fermented hydrangea leaves. This sweet tea is associated with the alternating warm and cool rains that Sāgara--the Dragon King--sent in celebration of the Buddha's birth, and is also known as the dharma water of Amrita.
The Sanskrit word amrita mean "immortality" and refers to an elixir of perennial youth and longevity that bestows immortality. Over time the word came to be associated with nirvana, which itself is ever-present, enduring, and transcends death.
For Mahayana Buddhists the popular tradition is to pour water that has been scented with flower petals over a statue of the baby Buddha, three times. This ritual symbolically purifies our body, speech, and mind in accordance with the Buddhist path and teachings.
As you poured the offering over the head of the newborn Buddha this year, I hope you made a sincere vow in your heart to convey the teachings of our timeless spiritual masters to as many people as possible so that they too may attain liberation and awakening.
Rev. Anwol Devadipa
June 2021
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One of the great things, and crucially important things, about practicing with a group is how it facilitates the shedding of our limited, confined self and all the things we use to reinforce it. When we are in a group everyone around us becomes a mirror reflecting our false self back to us. When one person is fidgeting and we suddenly become annoyed, thoughts might arise like “why can’t they sit still?” “Don’t they realize sitting that way is going to lead to fidgeting?” "If only that person would sit properly!" “How annoying!”
What a wonderful gift we have been given! The person fidgeting is not the problem! So why are we annoyed? The source of our annoyance comes from within our own minds, and that annoyance, by our conditioning, is directed outward in search of something to blame. The person fidgeting falls into our sight and the mind says, “Aha! That’s the cause of this annoyance!” And now we can satisfy our small confined self by saying, “If only that annoying person would go away, I would be practicing perfectly! That person is the reason I am not satisfied with my practice today!”
Practicing alone, we wouldn’t have this wonderful opportunity to learn and grow. When we practice with a group we learn from all the beautiful shining mirrors around us. When we understand this, we can see that our minds, out of conditioning, are trying to attach an outside cause of our rising inner disturbance.
Rather than stay focused on external causes, we redirect our minds to the feelings of disturbance in our bodies. We observe what is revealed to us from that exploration. And in so doing, we might discover that the disturbance, in this example, annoyance, has nothing to do whatsoever with that person fidgeting. Instead, we discover that the annoyance might be coming from our resistance to staying with what is arising in us, or that experience of annoyance is actually the product of our wrestling with that resistance. It can be hard to admit a reluctance to explore the discomfort that is alive within us or to accept that we are the origin of this discomfort. So, instead, we search, sometimes quite happily, outside of ourselves for the cause.
This initially is more satisfying, because that way we aren’t responsible for our own wellbeing. We can defer the responsibility onto others to satisfy our needs and make us feel happy. But this is a short-lived satisfaction because it is not true satisfaction. Often, we are aware on some level that we are trying to avoid responsibility for what we are feeling (which can also make us feel annoyed!). This externalizing is based on the belief that there is a problem that needs to be solved, and that problem is for someone other than us to fix. However, when we actually look at disturbance as it arises within us, we discover there is no problem at all! Problems only arise when we shift attention toward an external cause. Fixing those now self-created problems, create more and more problems to fix.
You might ask: Isn’t having a disturbance a problem? The answer is no. Having a disturbance, whether annoyance, fear, worry, whatever, isn’t a problem. It's just what is alive in you at that moment. It might be a calling to attention a need that is not being met. How is understanding what we are experiencing a problem? Believing it's wrong, or unskillful to experience inner disturbances is like believing that it's wrong or unskillful to experiencing pain when a hand touches a hot stove. The sensation of pain tells us to pay attention, to move the hand from the heat now! Imagine if we instead, kept our hand on the hot stove while we looked around for someone to blame for putting our hand there! Pretty silly. Yet, that is what we do all the time!
Do you see now what a wonderful gift our sangha sisters and brothers offer to us? This kind of insight often doesn’t happen when practicing alone. It’s too easy for us to feel satisfied with our practice when we have no mirrors around reflecting back our attempt to externalize what is actually going on inside us. While it’s true that anyone, even strangers, can act as mirrors for us, sangha members are our sacred mirrors. Because of our deep practice with each other, our sangha members' mirrors offer us kindness, compassion, and patience. When our inner experience is mirrored back this way, we have the potential to transform any perception of disturbance without shame or self-consciousness. We can celebrate the insights we gain, because of the precious and sacred gift our sangha members give.
Ven. Myohye Do'an
What a wonderful gift we have been given! The person fidgeting is not the problem! So why are we annoyed? The source of our annoyance comes from within our own minds, and that annoyance, by our conditioning, is directed outward in search of something to blame. The person fidgeting falls into our sight and the mind says, “Aha! That’s the cause of this annoyance!” And now we can satisfy our small confined self by saying, “If only that annoying person would go away, I would be practicing perfectly! That person is the reason I am not satisfied with my practice today!”
Practicing alone, we wouldn’t have this wonderful opportunity to learn and grow. When we practice with a group we learn from all the beautiful shining mirrors around us. When we understand this, we can see that our minds, out of conditioning, are trying to attach an outside cause of our rising inner disturbance.
Rather than stay focused on external causes, we redirect our minds to the feelings of disturbance in our bodies. We observe what is revealed to us from that exploration. And in so doing, we might discover that the disturbance, in this example, annoyance, has nothing to do whatsoever with that person fidgeting. Instead, we discover that the annoyance might be coming from our resistance to staying with what is arising in us, or that experience of annoyance is actually the product of our wrestling with that resistance. It can be hard to admit a reluctance to explore the discomfort that is alive within us or to accept that we are the origin of this discomfort. So, instead, we search, sometimes quite happily, outside of ourselves for the cause.
This initially is more satisfying, because that way we aren’t responsible for our own wellbeing. We can defer the responsibility onto others to satisfy our needs and make us feel happy. But this is a short-lived satisfaction because it is not true satisfaction. Often, we are aware on some level that we are trying to avoid responsibility for what we are feeling (which can also make us feel annoyed!). This externalizing is based on the belief that there is a problem that needs to be solved, and that problem is for someone other than us to fix. However, when we actually look at disturbance as it arises within us, we discover there is no problem at all! Problems only arise when we shift attention toward an external cause. Fixing those now self-created problems, create more and more problems to fix.
You might ask: Isn’t having a disturbance a problem? The answer is no. Having a disturbance, whether annoyance, fear, worry, whatever, isn’t a problem. It's just what is alive in you at that moment. It might be a calling to attention a need that is not being met. How is understanding what we are experiencing a problem? Believing it's wrong, or unskillful to experience inner disturbances is like believing that it's wrong or unskillful to experiencing pain when a hand touches a hot stove. The sensation of pain tells us to pay attention, to move the hand from the heat now! Imagine if we instead, kept our hand on the hot stove while we looked around for someone to blame for putting our hand there! Pretty silly. Yet, that is what we do all the time!
Do you see now what a wonderful gift our sangha sisters and brothers offer to us? This kind of insight often doesn’t happen when practicing alone. It’s too easy for us to feel satisfied with our practice when we have no mirrors around reflecting back our attempt to externalize what is actually going on inside us. While it’s true that anyone, even strangers, can act as mirrors for us, sangha members are our sacred mirrors. Because of our deep practice with each other, our sangha members' mirrors offer us kindness, compassion, and patience. When our inner experience is mirrored back this way, we have the potential to transform any perception of disturbance without shame or self-consciousness. We can celebrate the insights we gain, because of the precious and sacred gift our sangha members give.
Ven. Myohye Do'an
- Published on
In keeping with the topic of making assumptions of others that we have discussed during our Nonviolent Communication workshop on Sunday, here is a story is taken from a collection of 108 by Ajahn Brahm:
"My first year as a Monk in northeast Thailand coincided with the last year of the Vietnam War. Close to Ajahn Chah's monastery, near the regional city of Ubon, was an American air-force base, Ajahn Chah enjoyed telling us the following true story on how to deal with abuse.
An American G.I. was traveling from the base into town on a rickshaw. On the outskirts of town, they passed a roadside bar where some friends of the rickshaw driver were already quite drunk. 'Hey! they shouted in Thai, 'Where are you taking that dirty dog to?' Then they laughed, pointing at the American soldier. For a moment, the driver was alarmed. The soldier was a very big man and in Thailand calling someone a 'dirty dog' meant an inevitable fight. However, the soldier was quietly looking around, and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Obviously, he did not understand the Thai language.
The driver, deciding to have some fun at the American's expense, shouted back, 'I'm taking this filthy dog and throwing him in the Moon River to give the smelly mongrel a wash.' As the driver and his friends laughed the soldier remained unmoved.
When they reached their destination and the driver put out his hand for the journey's fare, the American soldier quietly walked away. The rickshaw driver excitedly shouted after him in broken but clear English, 'Hey! Sir! You pay me dollars!' To which the big American soldier calmly turned around and said in perfect accented Thai, 'Dogs don't have pockets.'"
Rev. Anwol
"My first year as a Monk in northeast Thailand coincided with the last year of the Vietnam War. Close to Ajahn Chah's monastery, near the regional city of Ubon, was an American air-force base, Ajahn Chah enjoyed telling us the following true story on how to deal with abuse.
An American G.I. was traveling from the base into town on a rickshaw. On the outskirts of town, they passed a roadside bar where some friends of the rickshaw driver were already quite drunk. 'Hey! they shouted in Thai, 'Where are you taking that dirty dog to?' Then they laughed, pointing at the American soldier. For a moment, the driver was alarmed. The soldier was a very big man and in Thailand calling someone a 'dirty dog' meant an inevitable fight. However, the soldier was quietly looking around, and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Obviously, he did not understand the Thai language.
The driver, deciding to have some fun at the American's expense, shouted back, 'I'm taking this filthy dog and throwing him in the Moon River to give the smelly mongrel a wash.' As the driver and his friends laughed the soldier remained unmoved.
When they reached their destination and the driver put out his hand for the journey's fare, the American soldier quietly walked away. The rickshaw driver excitedly shouted after him in broken but clear English, 'Hey! Sir! You pay me dollars!' To which the big American soldier calmly turned around and said in perfect accented Thai, 'Dogs don't have pockets.'"
Rev. Anwol
- Published on
I would like to share with you some of Thich Nhat Hanh's thoughts on death and dying:
Please do not build a stupa for me. Please do not put my ashes in a vase, lock me inside, and limit who I am. I know it will be difficult for some of you. If you must build a stupa though, please make sure you put a sign on it that says, 'I am not here.' In addition, you can also put another sign that says, 'I am not out there either,' and the third sign that says, 'If I am anywhere, it is in your mindful breathing and in your peaceful steps.'
No coming, no going,
No after, no before.
I hold you close,
I release you to be free.
I am in you
And you are in me.
Thich Nhat Hanh's 10 Rules for Life:
1) Find your Buddha mind
2) Have compassion
3) Stop seeking others approval
4) Be open to the mysteries of life
5) Be aware of your body
6) Transform your suffering
7) Keep to your convictions
8) Cultivate stability
9) Get rid of anger
10) Practice meditation
Rev. Anwol Devadipa
Please do not build a stupa for me. Please do not put my ashes in a vase, lock me inside, and limit who I am. I know it will be difficult for some of you. If you must build a stupa though, please make sure you put a sign on it that says, 'I am not here.' In addition, you can also put another sign that says, 'I am not out there either,' and the third sign that says, 'If I am anywhere, it is in your mindful breathing and in your peaceful steps.'
No coming, no going,
No after, no before.
I hold you close,
I release you to be free.
I am in you
And you are in me.
Thich Nhat Hanh's 10 Rules for Life:
1) Find your Buddha mind
2) Have compassion
3) Stop seeking others approval
4) Be open to the mysteries of life
5) Be aware of your body
6) Transform your suffering
7) Keep to your convictions
8) Cultivate stability
9) Get rid of anger
10) Practice meditation
Rev. Anwol Devadipa
- Published on
"Precept # 24: I vow to support life by behaving in a way that respects the environment as well as all beings and to refrain from activities that may cause harm."
This is one of the 58 precepts I took when I became a Pūjārī (Priest). In my personal practice I have added renewing these vows once a week. By doing this I feel it has given me a better understanding of my role as a Pūjārī in serving the Sangha and working in the community. I will do my best to keep the precepts.
I would like to share an excerpt from an article by Thich Nhat Hanh that I read a few days ago:
"In order to protect the environment we must protect ourselves. We protect ourselves by opposing selfishness with generosity, ignorance with wisdom and hatred with loving kindness. Selflessness, mindfulness, compassion and wisdom are the essence of Buddhism. We train in Buddhist meditation which enables us to be aware of the effects of our actions, including those destructive to our environment. Mindfulness and clear comprehension are at the heart of Buddhist meditation. Peace is realized when we are mindful of each and every step."
This is one of the 58 precepts I took when I became a Pūjārī (Priest). In my personal practice I have added renewing these vows once a week. By doing this I feel it has given me a better understanding of my role as a Pūjārī in serving the Sangha and working in the community. I will do my best to keep the precepts.
I would like to share an excerpt from an article by Thich Nhat Hanh that I read a few days ago:
"In order to protect the environment we must protect ourselves. We protect ourselves by opposing selfishness with generosity, ignorance with wisdom and hatred with loving kindness. Selflessness, mindfulness, compassion and wisdom are the essence of Buddhism. We train in Buddhist meditation which enables us to be aware of the effects of our actions, including those destructive to our environment. Mindfulness and clear comprehension are at the heart of Buddhist meditation. Peace is realized when we are mindful of each and every step."
- Published on
A Blessing for the New Year
On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.
And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The gray window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colors,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
In the curragh1 of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the presence of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.
~ John O'Donohue
1. (Irish/Scottish) a small round boat made of wickerwork covered with a watertight material, propelled with a paddle (also spelled: currach)
On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.
And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The gray window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colors,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
In the curragh1 of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the presence of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.
~ John O'Donohue
1. (Irish/Scottish) a small round boat made of wickerwork covered with a watertight material, propelled with a paddle (also spelled: currach)
- Published on
Image by Comfreak from Pixabay
Happy New Year 2021!
There is much to do as we begin to recover from 2020. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to focus on this year. From my files I found the Blessing that sparked my desire to renew my commitment:
Climate Blessing
We hold the Earth. We hold sisters and brothers who suffer from storms and droughts intensified by climate change. We hold all species who suffer. We hold world leaders delegated to make decisions for life. We pray that the web of life may be mended through courageous actions to limit carbon emissions. We pray for right actions for adaptation and mitigation to help our already suffering earth community. We pray that love and wisdom might inspire my action and our actions as communities so that we may, with integrity, look into the eyes of brothers and sisters and all beings and truthfully say we are doing our part to care for them and the future of the children. May love transform us and our world with new steps toward life."
(From Interfaith Power and Light www.newyorkipl.org)
May you all have a healthy and safe New Year.
Love you.
Rev. Anwol
There is much to do as we begin to recover from 2020. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to focus on this year. From my files I found the Blessing that sparked my desire to renew my commitment:
Climate Blessing
We hold the Earth. We hold sisters and brothers who suffer from storms and droughts intensified by climate change. We hold all species who suffer. We hold world leaders delegated to make decisions for life. We pray that the web of life may be mended through courageous actions to limit carbon emissions. We pray for right actions for adaptation and mitigation to help our already suffering earth community. We pray that love and wisdom might inspire my action and our actions as communities so that we may, with integrity, look into the eyes of brothers and sisters and all beings and truthfully say we are doing our part to care for them and the future of the children. May love transform us and our world with new steps toward life."
(From Interfaith Power and Light www.newyorkipl.org)
May you all have a healthy and safe New Year.
Love you.
Rev. Anwol