At our sangha meeting this Tuesday we'll start the 'Autumn Term' with Pureland Chanting, Meditation, a time for sharing and, of course, tea, biscuits and social time!
Looking forward to seeing you again after our break. Bring your friends for a taste of Pureland Buddhism.
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Dharmavidya writes:
There are correspondences between the world of psychotherapy and that of religion. Some have suggested that psychotherapy is a modern profession that tries to fill in the gap for people in the age of technology left by the loss of religious faith and institutions. It is certainly true that research repeatedly shows that those with religious faith generally enjoy better mental health than those who lack it, but can this deficiency be remedied by rational technical means?
Along came Buddhism, and for many this has seemed like a religion that was not a religion, which, at best, offered the advantages without the drawbacks of the traditional faiths: inner development without dogmatic or authoritarian overtones. Could Buddhism be harnessed to the technical rational revolution at the core of the modernist paradigm? Could it solve the problems of alienation, anomism, loneliness and powerlessness that modernism seems to have inadvertently given rise to without undermining the rationalist, individualistic agenda?
In psychotherapy there has been a long standing debate and sometimes opposition between what we can call technical and generic approaches. In the technical approach improvement is attributed to the application of a particular, defineable technique or procedure. A simple example is the treatment of specific phobias by desensitization procedures. Here a specific technique is appropriate for a specific ailment. The psychological method constitutes a remedy. The personality of the professional is of little importance. The technique can be taught. The efficacy of the methodology can be researched in the same manner as is used for drug treatments. The conceptualization fits neatly into an allopathic medical paradigm.
On the other hand, in the generic approach, whose most well-known and clear exponent was Carl Ransom Rogers, improvement is considered to be a function of the chemistry between the psychology of the client and that of the professional. There is no one-on-one correspondence between inputs and outputs but general growth in personality with effects that penetrate into many aspects of the client's life may be expected. The client who sheds a phobia may incidentally gain a more vibrant social life and grow as a person. The client who grows as a person may engage in many new activities and, along the way, overcome phobias and many other symptoms. The two approaches are, as it were, coming at the human problem from opposite ends of the same tunnel.
The same is true in religion and very notably so in the case of Buddhism as now commonly practised. In recent years Buddhism has penetrated Western culture in many ways. Notable among these has been the technical approach. There has been an obvious appeal in the idea that you do not need to believe anything or join anything, just do the practice. The practices are techniques. The suggestion is that they cure particular ills. Many of the techniques are variants upon "awareness" or "mindfulness". In order to fit the technical paradigm these terms have undergone some shifts of meaning and the result has been a convergence between the religious technique and the psychological one to the point where many Buddhist practitioners do not see what they are doing as being religious. They see this as a gain. It may, however, be a loss.
When I worry that the true value and essence of what Buddhism is, what its wisdom has to offer and what Shakyamuni taught and awakened to is being abandoned in this process, I am giving rise to thoughts parallel to those that inspired Carl Rogers in the field of psychotherapy. He saw the technical approach of behavioural and cognitive manipulation as lacking vital ingredients of compassion and wisdom - or empathy, genuineness and positive regard - that were the real change agents in human life. To make this point he developed new research methods which showed that it was the operationalization of generic characteristics of the professional that made the difference rather than the technique utilized.
In a similar way what I wish to assert in a Buddhist context is simply that there is no efficacious technique. Buddhism is just about taking refuge. In the first place it was what happened to people when they met Shakyamuni. Although Shakyamuni might have given them something to do - collect mustard seeds from a house where nobody had died, do some form of ascesis, take on a role caring for others within the sangha - and although these tasks did bear an understandable relationship to life issues that the people in question were wrestling with - shock at the death of a child, over-privileged up-bringing, social deprivation, respectively - the same tasks prescribed by a different person could not be expected to be as efficacious. It was the love that they embodied that was conveyed and that transformed and this was a function of "generic factors": the Buddha's ability to hear deeply and to care wisely for the suffering soul before him. It was this love, compassion, sympathy and stability manifested by Shakyamuni that made him a refuge for those who came to him. They found their refuge, not in themselves, but in an enlightened other.
So where did he find it? Did he, for instance, discover his true self or bring out characteristics that had, in some sense, always been part of him? I do not think so. At the very least, I do not think that he thought of it that way. He himself makes it very clear that his life underwent a massive change. Buddhism revolves around the fact of his enlightenment. A new light came into his life, a light he often called Dharma and sometimes Tathata or, when embodied, Tathagata. It is important to grasp that this was a discovery, not a self-actualization. At this point, I think Buddhism philosophicqally parts company with Rogers. Buddhism suggests not that we can realise our existing nature so much as that we can go beyond it, and do so by finding refuge, which is to say, help outside of ourselves.
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We'll look at lesson 4 in the series and follow this with further discussion of Buddhism in Daily Life.
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Our world is changing. There is austerity. There are rising prices. There is anger. Where will it lead? What will people do? They may over-throw governments in the hope that new ones will do better - but the new ones will have the same problems as the old ones and less experience. They may persecute minorities; this is quite likely. There may be wars, though this is increasingly difficult in the contemporary world of weapons of mass destruction because there are no real winners any more. There may be civil disorder and even civil war is possible in some places. Governments are likely to retrench and extensive systems of social control such as have proliferated in recent decades are likely to weaken. This creates conditions favourable to new movements. Discontent can be turned negatively into hate and strife or it can be turned positively into new contruction and values.
In the nineteen fifties, sixties and early seventies there was the idea of the Alernative Society. This was an ideal of greater liberation and greater togetherness that took many forms. There were many associated sub-movements - beatnik poets, hippies, communes, etc - and various periodicals sprang up. It generated much popular music which celebrated the sense of hope. Some of the manifestions - the free love and the drug culture - now appear to have been aberrations, but they were all manifestations of a spirit of hope and freedom, both social and psychological.
At that time, knowledge of Buddhism was in its infancy here in the West. Buddhism was, in many ways, at that time, a sub-movement within the Alternative Society. I myself lived in a Buddhist commune. The population there was from several kinds of Buddhism. There was a sense that meditation achieved what drugs were supposed to achieve, only more effectively and enduringly.
Continue reading "Time to revive the alternative society?" »
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As part of our regular weekly sangha meetings, in addition to Pureland chanting and ceremonial, the evenings will include:
Feb 22: An overview of the first Introduction to Pureland Buddhism lessons. Learning how to do prostrations and chanting to mokujo drumming.
March 1: A Taking Refuge ceremony for a member of the sangha and continued study of Dharmavidya's "The Feeling Buddha"
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INTRODUCTION TO PURELAND BUDDHISM
All welcome. No experience necessary. No cost.
We will follow the lesson with discussion of how to live Buddhism in daily life.
This course began in October.
It's possible to have any of the lessons you have missed sent to you by email
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Come along and join us on Tuesday 1st February as the Amida Newcastle sangha meet for Pureland practice. Rev Kuvalaya will introduce us to the first of a series on 'Buddhism in Daily Life'.
Time: 7 - 9 pm
Venue: Amida Sanctuary
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Meetings are suspended at the two Universities from the beginning of January 2011 due to personal circumstances. This website will be updated when they resume.
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When we meet people who practise we notice that they do not tell lies; they do not cheat; they do not take bribes; they do not pursue simply their own advantage; they do not steal. When we meet people who practise we notice that they do not kill sentient beings; they are not cruel; they are not violent. When we meet people who practise we notice that they speak words of kindness; they rarely become angry; they are patient; they speak well of others. When we meet people who practise we notice that they are helpful and kind; they are happy to co-operate in good work; they are generous and hospitable. When we meet people who practice we notice that they are adaptable; they have few desires; they are easily pleased; they have peace and contentment irrespective of the circumstances that they find themselves in.
Why are people who practise like that? Because they have gathered their faith and centred it upon something wholly worthwhile. They have placed it upon enlightened people; upon enlightened teachings and upon real community. These are the things that they treasure and have faith in. These are the things that they believe to be worth working for.
Such people do not lie lie or steal because to them there is no point in doing so. Everybody does things and everybody has reasons for each thing that they do. The person who steals does so in order to get a personal advantage and does not see the loss to the other person as something that matters. To the person who practises, however, firstly that person has few desires and sees that gaining many things is going to be a burden rather than an advantage and secondly that person cares for the other people and so it is not a gain to him that the other person lose something. In fact, he sees that theft simply generates a more sour world that will be unpleasant to live in. He views theft as one might view dropping dirt into the water supply that one shares with everybody else.
How is it that the outlook of people who practise is like this? To practise means to establish something wholesome at the centre of one's life and to contemplate that wholesome object. In Buddhism we call the most wholesome objects the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. If we would have faith in them then we are always struggling to see them more and more clearly. To act in harmful ways, however, makes them more and more difficult to see. The person who practises wants to see the Buddha everywhere; wants to hear the Dharma all the time; wants to live in the embrace of the Sangha. This is what matters most to the person who practises. Thus it is quite natural for such a person to do what makes Buddha, Dharma and Sangha more visible and to avoid what makes them disappear.
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As the first part of the Bodhi Retreat at the Buddhist House, the Amida sangha chant the nembutsu, Namo Amida Bu.....this started at 12 mid-day on Wednesday and continues until mid-day Saturday, GMT. Kuvalaya is taking part. You can join in at a distance, as Sujatin is doing (she can't be with them in person, due to ill health and much snow and ice) by watching the video here.
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Every year during the Bodhi Retreat (the most important event in the Amida year), which is held at Amida's Buddhist House, Narborough, we chant the Nembutsu continuously for a period of time. We will be chanting the Nembutsu for 72 hours and would like to invite you to come and participate/experience some or all of it. The aim will be to keep it going for 72 hours between all of us therefore we do not expect anyone to chant continuously without taking any breaks. The practise will be shared and so people are welcome to dip in and out according to their needs for rest and food.
It would be lovely if you could join us. Along with the three days of chanting there will be special ceremonies on the 9th.
Timetable:
Noon 1st to noon 4th December
72 hour continuous nembutsu chanting
Sunday 5th December
Refuge and Admission Ceremonies for people becoming or confirming their Buddhist commitment or entering or confirming membership of the Amida-shu.
Evening session of Other Power Life Dance
Monday 6th December
Day of Silent Contemplation (Quan)
Tuesday 7th December
Meetings for Practice, Devotion, Sharing and Instruction
8th December - Bodhi Day
Ceremonies for Ordination, Admission to the Amida Order, or Admission to Aspirancy or Postulancy.
The retreat is a wonderful occasion for entering into the heart of the sangha, its community and its practice.
Please pay for your accommodation and give a suitable donation toward the work of the Trust and the Order. Thank you.
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This course on the following Tuesdays is a 'stand alone' course and is also part of our regular Tuesday evening Amida Newcastle sangha meeting programme (note the different time and venue).
INTRODUCTION TO PURELAND BUDDHISM
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
All welcome. No experience necessary.
No cost. You may make a small donation towards our projects.
Updated 9 November 2010
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September 21: ‘The Feeling Buddha’ study
September 28: Looking at the Contemplation Sutra
October 5: ‘The Feeling Buddha’ study
October 12: ‘Introduction to Buddhism’ at Newcastle University Chaplaincy* 6 - 8 pm
October 19: ‘The Feeling Buddha’ study
October 26: Looking at the Contemplation Sutra
November 2: ‘The Feeling Buddha’ study
November 9: ‘Introduction to Buddism’ at Newcastle University Chaplaincy* 6 - 8 pm
November 16: ‘The Feeling Buddha’ study
Note: Apart from October 12 and November 9, all meetings will be held at Amida Sanctuary, from 7 - 9 pm. Find us ::here
*Newcastle University Chaplaincy is at 19/20 Windsor Terrace, behind the Robinson Library. The Chaplaincy is No 39 on the right hand side of the campus map
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Tuesday evening meetings start again after the summer break at Amida Sanctuary on 7th September.
Time: 7 - 9 pm.
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Note: on the following evenings the meetings will be held at Newcastle University Chaplaincy and the times for these evenings will be 6 - 8 pm.
INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHISM
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Dates - 12 October, 9 November
11 January, 8 February, 8 March
10 May, 14 June
Venue: Newcastle University Chaplaincy, 19/20 Windsor Terrace
(behind the Robinson Library)
All welcome. No experience necessary.
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Dates for Meditation For Relaxation and Introduction to Buddhism
are here (Newcastle University)
and here (Northumbria University)
All meetings are open to all students and staff at either university.
No experience necessary. No cost.
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Venue: Narborough, Leicestershire, UK
Dates: May 12 - 15, 2011
At this conference we shall discuss the culturally engaged Buddhism that is the hallmark of Amida Trust's work in Europe, Asia and North America. We will have presentations and workshops to explore principles and practice. We shall meet as a sangha and renew our resolve to go forth for the good of the many following the inspiration of the message of the Buddhas.
The picture is of a small statue of Manjushri Buddha that is iconic for the people of Assam. Amida Trust has recently forged an alliance with the Tathagata Trust in that region as a working alliance to advance socially engaged Buddhist projects for the benefit of the people. Jnanamati is in Assam helping with this work. He will be at the conference to report on progress and future opportunities.
In Delhi, Amida sangha continues to work for the emancipation of ex-untouchables and the education of some of the poorest sectors of society. Sahishnu will talk about this work at the conference.
In France, Prasada has taken on the leadership of the Amida Retreat Centre and is developing a range of programmes in Buddhist Psychology and in Eco-Therapy. Her new book on the latter subject is expected later this year. She will talk about her work at the conference.
In Canada, Prajnatara has established the Amida Mosaic Sangha in Ontario and in Hawaii Franco Acquaro continues to give good leadership to the sangha that there that now has its own centre. He will be at the conference.
In Narborough the Amida Trust has its main base and also carries out a wide range of chaplaincy work in the town, including the Maitri Project interfaith drop in centre. This work will be described at the conference.
In Newcastle upon Tyne, in Sheffield, and in London, Amida Sangha members are working is a wide range of community engagement - conflict resolution, community mediation, chaplaincy, interfaith, mental health - leading members of these sanghas will be present at the conference to talk about their work.
The sources of our inspiration are in the Asian and especially Japanese traditions of Mahayana Buddihism as they have been brought into the modern world by such pioneers as Sensei Gisho Saiko, the founder of Shinshu Counselling. Present at the conference will be Kazuo Yamashite from Japan to talk about this work.
Come and join these and many other great people to get up to speed with what is going on and help carry it into the future.
::follow this link to book your place
Updated 21 November 2011
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Some notes from a Dharma talk given by Dharmavidya at Amida Newcastle:
Tuesday evening I gave a Dharma talk and answered questions at the Amida Sanctuary in Newcastle. In this talk I referred to practice and training. Practice is the expression of love, compassion, joy and equanimity. It is the outward manifestation of our faith. Training is our attempt to deal with the tendencies within ourselves that block practice. When we look carefully we see that these always involves some failure of faith - perhaps based on fear, anxiety, greed, conceit, or the resurgence of some old habit pattern. Failure of faith means loss of nerve. All this raises the question of the relationship between personal effort and faith. The Buddhist way certainly makes demands upon us at the same time as advocating letting go. It tells us to "stand against the stream", but also to "accept everything". This seems contradictory to the uninitiated.
When we reflect upon our life we find that we have already been loved in some degree somehow. That is a basis for faith. Practice starts from gratitude. As we try to express our gratitude we run into obstacles. Love also entails disappointments. If these defeat us we fall spiritually. If we rise to them we find new possibilities of faith open up. A spiritual life can be a continual ascent or a series of setbacks. Actually these are the same thing looked at from different angles. If we become too preoccupied with training, we fall into a self-power attitude and all is spoilt - like trying to run a relationship without reference to the other partner. If we neglect training, however, we tend to just go round the same old circles again and again. Training means to learn from mistakes. The more we see how we are helped the easier it is to learn. the more we learn the more conscious we become of how we are helped.
::comment here
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“Shin Buddhism has a long history of scholarship and academic learning — but that won’t be the focus of this book. Instead, I’m just going to talk about Buddhism in the manner that regular Pure Land Buddhists have always approached it; through story, anecdote, reflection — and humor”. Thus states Jeff Wilson in his introduction; in my view this is an accurate description of what is in the can. And as one who identifies as a Pure Land Buddhist I enjoyed and appreciated what I read.
The book comprises some 80 chapters, most of which are one to two pages in length. There is a foreword by Mark and Taitetsu Unno, Shin priests, respected teachers and writers, which locates Jodo Shinsu (Shin) Buddhism in the context of Buddhist history, geography and core teachings. The foreword and the book itself serve as an excellent introduction to the core ideas and the feeling tone of Pure Land Buddhism.
Title: “Buddhism of the Heart”
Author: Jeff Wilson
Publisher: Wisdom Publications
ISBN: 0-86171-583-7
Available from: Wisdom Publications and Amazon.com.
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Taitetsu Unno, professor emeritus of religious studies at Smith College, is one of the major figures in post–World War II American Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. Besides his numerous scholarly publications on Buddhism, his books River of Fire, River of Water: An Introduction to the Pure Land Tradition of Shin Buddhism (Doubleday, 1998) and Shin Buddhism: Bits of Rubble Turn into Gold (Doubleday, 2002) have helped many people to discover the riches of this major Buddhist tradition. His son, Mark Unno, is also a professor of Buddhism (at the University of Oregon); he is the author of Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light (Wisdom Publications, 2004), about Japanese Vajrayana Buddhism, and the editor of Buddhism and Psychotherapy Across Cultures: Essays on Theories and Practices (Wisdom Publications, 2006).
The Unnos are both ordained priests in the Jodo Shinshu (Shin) tradition of Pure Land Buddhism and lead an annual Shin retreat in mid-July at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, in Barre, Massachusetts. This interview was conducted between sessions at the 2008 retreat. As we sat in the lounge outside the center’s dharma hall, our conversation turned to the nembutsu, Shin Buddhism’s central practice. The nembutsu is a short chant—Namu Amida Butsu—that means “I entrust myself to the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life.” The attributes of light and life are understood as standing for great wisdom and compassion, which are embodied in Amida Butsu (Sanskrit, Amitabha Buddha). In the traditional sutras ascribed to the historical Buddha, Amida is described as existing in a Pure Land, a realm of bliss that is very close to nirvana, or complete liberation.
Devotion to Amida was present in the early phases of the Mahayana movement in the first century BCE and spread throughout most of Buddhist Asia, but it was in China and especially in Japan that it began to take on elements of a distinctive school. Today, the nembutsu is a common practice in virtually all forms of East Asian Buddhism, but as the Unnos pointed out, it has a particular interpretation in Shin Buddhism. For Shin followers, Amida Buddha is a manifestation of true reality, of emptiness or suchness, and the nembutsu manifests Amida Buddha. The nembutsu was recommended by Shinran (1173–1262), the founder of Jodo Shinshu, because it can be performed by anyone, anywhere, anytime. The ease of Shin practice, combined with its determined lay orientation and spirit of humility and deep self-introspection, has helped make Jodo Shinshu the most widely practiced form of Buddhism in Japan. Brought to Hawaii and North America by Japanese immigrants in the nineteenth century, it is the oldest organized form of Western Buddhism and continues to nurture tens of thousands in the United States and Canada today.
Can you tell us about chanting the nembutsu, Shin Buddhism’s central practice?
Taitetsu Unno: Chanting “Namu Amida Butsu,” which
translates as “I entrust myself to the Buddha of Infinite Light and
Life,” is not a form of petitionary prayer or mantra. It is a means of
communication between a relative being or consciousness and the Buddha
deep within. When I chant, there is the expression of Namu Amida Butsu
not only from this side, but also from the side of the Buddha.
Mark Unno: From
the Shin standpoint, the nembutsu arises not from the being who is
living in this karmic world but from the highest truth, or the
Dharmakaya, which in Shin Buddhism manifests as Amida Buddha. Yet it’s
not as if the two entities are separate. One could say that the
nembutsu arises from Buddha-nature, even though initially one senses or
invokes it from the side of the karmic human being, the person who is
burdened with suffering due to blind passions and attachments. So
Shinran said that the act of saying “Namu Amida Butsu”—which is an
expression of what we call shinjin, or true entrusting—is actually the
expression of Buddha-nature. It arises from our deepest, truest nature,
which is ultimately none other than the awakening of infinite light,
Amida Buddha herself. I say, “herself,” because Shinran refers to Amida
as the Compassionate Mother, even though Amida originated in India as a
male buddha.
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Details of all events can be found by exploring the following site:
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