lotusinthemud

the symbolic lotus

 Unlike the water lilies that grow in the lake a few blocks from where I live, the lotus rises above the water on stems, some reaching as high as eight feet.  A lotus flower can, in addition, be up to ten inches in diameter.  It is truly a beautiful flower to behold which exhibits a great deal of diversity.  

Of this flower’s religious importance, we can say that the lotus symbolizes, generally, the manifestation or flowering (bodha) of purity from beginningless impurity or nescience.  But there are still other symbolic meanings besides this.  Citing from the book Mudra by E. Dale Saunders, the lotus is said to reproduce itself from its own matrix; not from soil.  Because of this, the lotus naturally becomes the “symbol of spontaneous generation (svayambhû).”  Svayambhu is used in the Lotus Sutra where it is translated as “self-born” which actually describes pure Mind.  In Kern's translation of the Lotus Sutra, i.e., The Saddharma-Pundarika, svayambhû appears in this passage:

“So am I the father of the world (lokapitâ); the Self-born (svayambhûh), the Healer, the Protector of all creatures.  Knowing them to be perverted, infatuated, and ignorant I teach them final rest, myself not being at rest.”

From the previous meanings of lotus, when seeing a statue of the Buddha sitting on a lotus dais we can interpret this as the awakening of Mind to itself such that it realizes its eternal, self-existent (savyambhû) nature which, in fact, is the very substance of the universe.

Still another meaning, the lotus is a symbol of compassion (karuna) which is connected with Avalokiteshvara (C., Kuan-yin).  

::continue reading here

 Unlike the water lilies that grow in the lake a few blocks from where I live, the lotus rises above the water on stems, some reaching as high as eight feet.  A lotus flower can, in addition, be up to ten inches in diameter.  It is truly a beautiful flower to behold which exhibits a great deal of diversity.  

Of this flower’s religious importance, we can say that the lotus symbolizes, generally, the manifestation or flowering (bodha) of purity from beginningless impurity or nescience.  But there are still other symbolic meanings besides this.  Citing from the book Mudra by E. Dale Saunders, the lotus is said to reproduce itself from its own matrix; not from soil.  Because of this, the lotus naturally becomes the “symbol of spontaneous generation (svayambhû).”  Svayambhu is used in the Lotus Sutra where it is translated as “self-born” which actually describes pure Mind.  In Kern's translation of the Lotus Sutra, i.e., The Saddharma-Pundarika, svayambhû appears in this passage:

“So am I the father of the world (lokapitâ); the Self-born (svayambhûh), the Healer, the Protector of all creatures.  Knowing them to be perverted, infatuated, and ignorant I teach them final rest, myself not being at rest.”

From the previous meanings of lotus, when seeing a statue of the Buddha sitting on a lotus dais we can interpret this as the awakening of Mind to itself such that it realizes its eternal, self-existent (savyambhû) nature which, in fact, is the very substance of the universe.

Still another meaning, the lotus is a symbol of compassion (karuna) which is connected with Avalokiteshvara (C., Kuan-yin).  

::continue reading here

sakyadhita uk: international association of buddhist women - february 7th 2010 at sukhavati, amida london

Sakyadhita UK: International Association of Buddhist Women

10 – 4  Sunday February 7th 2010

Sukhavati, 21 Sussex Way, Finsbury Park London  N7 6RT

'Calling a Council of Buddhist Women'

Acharya Modgala of the Amida Trust and Ani Jinpa (Beatrice Jutta Gassner), one of the Founder Members of Sakyadhita UK, would like to introduce Sakyadhita  and  invite you to a 'Council of Buddhist Women' with the aim to explore ways of mutual benefit in working together on an international and national level. Non-buddhist women who are sympathetic friends are also welcome.

Sakyadhita means 'Daughters of the Buddha'

What does this mean for our spiritual practice and our lives as Buddhist women?

We will look at the lives of Buddhist women who inspire us and at the qualities we admire in them. In so doing we can encourage each other in strengthening these attributes in our own lives.

affirming and denying

::Dharma talk by Dharmavidya

Spirituality can be interpreted in a world affirming or a world denying manner. Buddhism can certainly be interpreted in a world denying manner - it often is - and this extinctionist interpretation supports an ascetic tendency in practice. It is common for people to regard Buddhism as a form of privation and for Buddhists to think that to be Buddhist is to imitate the Buddha even in his mistakes. Thus Siddhatha Gotama spent five years or so practising austerities before becoming enlightened. People then think that the thing for a Buddhist to do is to become enlightened and that the way to do this is to do what Buddha did and lead an austere life. This completely overlooks the fact that when Buddha became enlightened he said that all the asceticicism he had practised was ignoble and worthless. His enlightenment, in fact, incorporated precisely such an insight: neither the pursuit of austerity nor the pursuit of indulgence constitute a wholesome path. True spirituality is liberationist rather than extinctionist. Some see that Siddhartha was enlightened while sitting under a tree and so spend hundreds of hours sitting as if under a tree in the hope of becoming enlightened. I did so myself. What nonsense! If he had been enlightened while eating cherries would we now think that spiritual practice consisted of cherry eating? And what if we can't find the right tree to sit under?

So privileging asceticism is a mistake. Yet the world denying view remains, and has always been, widespread. Here is the death poem of Matsuo Basho, generally acknowledged to be one of the greatest haiku poets:

Sick, on a journey,
Yet over withered fields
Dreams wander on.

Is this how we should view life and death? A dream wandering on over fields already withered? A sickness? No doubt Basho is even at this final point in life being ironic about himself. Much Buddhism is about sending up the ego. He is saying, here I am this close to death, my life withering away, yet even at this point, my mind is still full of fantasies leading me along. What a fool I am!

being nonaggressive

Pema Chodron:

"To hold your ground and be nonaggressive takes courage. Doing that doesn’t have to be called Buddhism. This is also what Martin Luther King taught. We are talking about the ideal of a 'beloved community'. Nobody is healed until everyone is healed."

~ from a conversation with Jack Kornfield in Buddhadharma

being nonaggressive

Pema Chodron:

"To hold your ground and be nonaggressive takes courage. Doing that doesn’t have to be called Buddhism. This is also what Martin Luther King taught. We are talking about the ideal of a 'beloved community'. Nobody is healed until everyone is healed."

~ from a conversation with Jack Kornfield in Buddhadharma

"survival of the kindest"

Social Scientists Build Case for 'Survival of the Kindest'

ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2009) — Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence to show we are evolving to become more compassionate and collaborative in our quest to survive and thrive.

In contrast to "every man for himself" interpretations of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, Dacher Keltner, a UC Berkeley psychologist and author of "Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life," and his fellow social scientists are building the case that humans are successful as a species precisely because of our nurturing, altruistic and compassionate traits.

They call it "survival of the kindest."

"Because of our very vulnerable offspring, the fundamental task for human survival and gene replication is to take care of others," said Keltner, co-director of UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. "Human beings have survived as a species because we have evolved the capacities to care for those in need and to cooperate. As Darwin long ago surmised, sympathy is our strongest instinct."

tibet news - 15/01/10

TibetInfoNet - www.tibetinfonet.net
News Digest 02. Jan 2010 - 15. Jan 2010
==============================

- 2 Tibetan nuns sentenced in Kardze
- Six years for Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen
- China withdraws films in protest over Dalai Lama documentary
- The Dalai Lama defends his stance on Shugden worship
- Two Machu schools shut down
- Man from Ngaba sentenced to 6 years
- US to protest to China over Google

==============================

05. Jan 2010
2 Tibetan nuns sentenced in Kardze
(VOT) Dartsedo (Chin: Kanding) Intermediate People's Court, in Kardze (Chin:
Ganzi) TAP, Sichuan province, gave two Tibetan nuns sentences of two and three

susan piver's video blog

So what the hell am I doing out here on a book tour, lugging around 6 weeks of outfits, staying in friends’ spare bedrooms, and generally hoping to hold the humiliation factor to a minimum? (There’s almost nothing more embarrassing than showing up at a place where they have giant posters of your joyful-yet-understanding face, Shaq-sized stacks of books framing them—and it’s just you and the bookstore person, who is trying not to pity you.)

I’m shilling for the Buddha, that’s what. 

Well, not really. My new book, The Wisdom of a Broken Heart, is about applying the Buddhist view of compassion and wisdom to the devastating sorrow of lost love.

::continued here

bad habits......

.... are like chains that are too light to feel until they are too heavy to carry.

~ Warren Buffet

bad habits......

.... are like chains that are too light to feel until they are too heavy to carry.

~ Warren Buffet