lotusinthemud

dharmavidya's quotation on the 'do no harm' site

Do No Harm is one of those wonderful impossible ideals that inspire us. "Cease from ill; Do only good; Do good for others. Purify your mind." As what the Japanese call "bombu" i.e. ordinary fallible beings of wayward passion and boundless karma we all do harm while wishing to do less of it and it always helps to have that aspiration strengthened as it is by the love of our friends. The key is to embrace, to esteem all that is in our world as best we can. Esteem and embrace the other. All forms of enlightenment are intended to help us become open to others. Shakyamuni became enlightened when he saw the morning star - our life is full of such stars and if we can allow each thing to be a star it will start to glow and our world will be full of new light.

These days there is a strong tendency to see everything in selfish terms. The reason for doing something is, apparently to be located in the good that will come back to us. No doubt good does come back... however, it is just possible that the impulse to love is actually more fundamental in our lives than the impulse to gain. Whether it is true or not, simply thinking so makes huge difference to one's life. How lucky we all are to have such a beautiful world full of loveable beings of so many kinds.

Dharmavidya (David Brazier)
http://www.amidatrust.com

::link to 'do no harm'

seeing the tashi lhunpo monks next week

I'm so looking forward to this and grateful to jackie for organising it

Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, founded by the first Dalai Lama in the fifteenth century, and the seat of the Panchen Lama, is one of the most important monasteries in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Now re-established in exile in South India, the monastery is once again becoming one of the major centres of learning, best known for its artistic tradition of masked dances and sacred music. This performance features a mix of colourful dances, processions and prayers, with introductions to all the items. The monks will also be creating a beautiful mandala – a colourful design crafted from sand – on the Concourse from Monday 30th June.

::link

buddhist magazines for amida sanctuary

A blogging friend has just - with great generosity - sent me a substantial parcel of Buddhist magazines - Tricycle and Buddhadharma - for Amida Sanctuary, so that members of the group can either borrow or come here to read them.
Namo Amida Bu!

treasure indeed!

A deep bow for this post to Reverend Mugo, with words of her teacher Reverend Master Jiyu-Kennett, which made my heart leap in delight:

Found on the Lions Gate Buddhist Priory website an extract from a letter Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett sent in 1979 in answer to one from a lay trainee.

I cannot explain how to keep the mind bright except to say that it is an internal looking up, a raising of one’s aspirations in the midst of it all. Faith is essential here.

And here's another treasure in the form of a Journal article published on the OBC web site. The River is the Ocean; The how is as important as the why.

It is when we are spiritually on hands and knees that we learn the deepest meaning of bowing, of true gratitude and of asking for help. When the call of the Eternal is heard clearly, we must not stifle the uprising within in our heart, and "quickly, quietly and obediently say ‘yes’."

a brain scientist's personal experience and testimony to our oneness and peace

I've been re-watching this amazing video from Beanie's post and feeling quite tearful. Do read what she wrote and watch it yourself

nien fo - nembutsu - the central pureland practice

The central element of all Pureland practice is called nien fo. Fo is the Chinese word for Buddha. Nien refers to a thought or impulse of the mind. Nien fo, therefore, means to have the Buddha in mind. Anything that brings the Buddha to mind is nien fo. Buddhists, therefore, have many reminders that help them to keep the Buddha in mind. They have statues and pictures and amulets and special clothes. They learn to do things in ways that remind them of the Buddha. Having Buddha in mind makes one happy. Buddhism is a cheerful religion.

Little rituals built into the day can generate a sense of beauty, peace and reverence in the midst of ordinary life. Thus, it is common for Buddhists to greet one another by putting the palms together in front of the chest in a gesture called anjali, or by saying “Namo Amida Bu”. Whatever brings the Buddha to mind is nien fo and so is Buddhist practice. Nien fo helps us to be faithful to the Buddha and his vision.

Pureland Buddhists say the nembutsu inwardly or outwardly on innumerable occasions. At first, it may feel strange saying these three Sanskrit words and initially they may not mean much to you. However, as you continue, you will build up a wealth of association with this simple gatha within which all the love, compassion, joy and peace of the Buddha is indicated. “Namo Amida Bu” ... “Namo Amida Bu”

Buddhist practice is about orienting the mind. The mind is always conscious of something. It responds to objects. Buddhism, therefore, sets up strong wholesome objects before the mind. We can refer to such wholesome mind-objects as icons. Icons may be real things, sacred art images, or purely imaginary forms. A Buddha statue, a nembutsu scroll, one's spiritual teacher, and Amida's Pure Land are all icons. Buddhist contemplation, or meditation, is defined as holding a wholesome object in mind. Contemplation, therefore, is sustained mindfulness of an icon. As Pureland Buddhists, the most important icon is the Pure Land in the West, with Amida at its centre.

the resistance is dead! long live the resistance!

An article sent to me via an Anglican priest friend, Leah - written by a friend of hers, Carole, an anthropologist (who has a specialism in matters Tibetan):

For five decades, the People’s Republic of China has been proclaiming the death of the Tibetan resistance. In the 1950-60s, they discursively denied the existence of the Tibetan resistance army by referring to them as “high class separatists” and “rebel bandits.” Since then, they have attempted to curb any resistance by immediately putting down protests through arrests, beatings, imprisonments, disappearances (remember the 11th Panchen Lama?), and deaths. The PRC has done everything they can to give the impression that resistance in Tibet—armed or peaceful, coordinated or everyday—is a rare and unwise exception to their benevolent rule, is conducted only by monks or members of the “Dalai clique,” and is not representative of the majority of the Tibetan people who love the Chinese motherland.

Yesterday, therefore, marked a major departure from this stance, perhaps for the first time ever. On Thursday, March 20, 2008, the PRC government acknowledged that Tibetan protest is widespread. That is, it is not just confined to Lhasa or to monks, but is spread throughout Tibetan areas of China and is being committed by Tibetans from all backgrounds—by monks, laypeople, and students, and by men and women, young and old.

Why does this matter?

As I see it, Chinese acknowledgement that there is widespread Tibetan dissent—or, at a minimum, widespread adherence to the Dalai Lama—signifies a major departure from their longstanding policy of publicly diminishing the importance, depth, and breadth of any anti-Chinese sentiment in Tibet. Knowing about it privately as they have for decades is one thing, but to acknowledge it publicly signals a turning point. However, turning to what I am not certain: to further castigating the Dalai Lama for (supposedly) inciting the protests? To cracking down harder on the protesters? Or perhaps to some sort of more reasoned responsiveness? A resuming of talks with the Dalai Lama? An independent or U.N. inquiry into the situation? I simply don’t know.

Let me share what I do know with you. My best sources of information have been through other scholars and my Tibetan friends, specifically, through anonymous reports from inside Tibet (that at least one of my colleagues outside Tibet has deemed reliable and circulates among fellow scholars). Who writes these reports, I don’t know. How they get them out, I don’t know. Who they are sent to, and who translates them from Chinese into English, I don’t know. What do the reports say? This:

1. Protests began on March 6 in eastern Tibet, not on March 10, the Tibetan Uprising Day;

2. Protesters have included monks and “ordinary” laypeople from the beginning;

3. Protest cries and signs have included the following:

a. Han Chinese Out of Tibet
b. Tibet Independence
c. Free Tibet
d. Long Life to the Dalai Lama
e. Hold Dialogue with the Dalai Lama
f. Allow Tibet to Enjoy High Degree of Autonomy;

4. Protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful (or at least peaceful until police or army engagement);

5. Protests have taken place in the Tibet Autonomous Region, in Tibetan areas of Gansu, Qinghai, and Sichuan, as well as in the Chinese cities of Beijing, Chengdu, and Lanzhou;

6. Protests have ranged in size from small groups to over 10,000 people;

7. Mass arrests have taken place. Reports suggest in the thousands;

8. Many people have been killed. No tally is given other than “many;”

9. Ganden, Sera, and Drepung Monasteries in the Lhasa area have had water and food cut off to them since March 10-11;

10. In many places, Tibetans have taken down the Chinese state flag and replaced it with the Tibetan flag or a Buddhist flag; and,

11. There has been a massive influx of Chinese military forces into Tibetan areas throughout the country.

If you’ve been following the protests online, the above goes well beyond anything you’ve probably read. Given what I know about Tibet and how information circulates in and out of Tibet under Chinese rule, I have no good reason to question the reports’ veracity. If anything, I fear that what we don’t know is more (and worse) than what we do know.

::continue reading here

And, as she asks at the bottom of the post, please do share this

dharmavidya's pastoral letter: open secret

From Dharmavidya, head ot the Amida Order:

::Pastoral Letter of 21 March 2008

Dear Friends

The Pureland Way is a kind of open secret. It is open in the sense that anybody can easily get to know that Purelanders are those for whom their prime spiritual practice is saying the nembutsu. It is secret in the sense that few who have not immersed themselves in it realise what a transforming effect this practice has upon people’s lives.

Firstly, let us appreciate the extreme simplicity of this approach which operationalises everything that was taught by Shakyamuni and all the other Buddhas in the most direct way. Through the nembutsu we give up self, entrust ourselves to the Great Way, fulfil our karmic destiny, create a Pure Land for all, attain great happiness, and free ourselves from samsara for the benefit of all sentient beings. This is all through the power of nembutsu.

The nembutsu way is a generic spirituality. Actually it is for “Buddhists of all religions”. There is nothing sacred about the actual words of the nembutsu - in different countries it is said differently - but it becomes nembutsu by intent - the intent to reach out toward and to be open to what is sacred. The person who says nembutsu (the nembuts’sha), in effect, says, “I am a spiritual person and I am embraced by the spirit everywhere.”

To be spiritual is to relate to the spirit. Different people conceive spirit differently due to differences of human capacity. The nembutsu means “I am an ordinary person calling out to that which is most good, true and exquisite.” These two interpretations of the nembutsu are just different facets of the same jewel for the spiritual person is the person who recognises his or her ordinariness and the spirit that is everywhere is that which is most sublime.

In Buddhist terms, “sacred” means a field of merit. In Buddhism, something becomes sacred through accumulation of merit, what has become sacred becomes a bestower of merit and the best thing to do with merit is to dedicate it to whatever is most sacred so that all beings may participate in that sacredness, because merit is accumulated by open handed compassion and wisdom, which is to say, by embracing all that is as it is.

The “is as it is” is called tathata and Amida Buddha is tathagata (Japanese, Nyorai) which means one who comes from the as-it-is. This sounds complicated, and doctrinally it can be so, but in the practice of nembutsu it all becomes totally simple. Just keep saying nembutsu and all troubles dissipate, all merit flows as it should, and all the wishes of the Buddhas are accomplished naturally.

::Pastoral Letter of 21 March 2008

Dear Friends

prince charles to meet the dalai lama

Good  for him!

Prince Charles will meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama

The Prince of Wales is to meet the Dalai Lama when he visits Britain in May, the Prince's spokesman has said.

The announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown told Parliament of his decision to see the exiled spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people.

A spokesman for Clarence House confirmed Charles's meeting would go ahead, but the exact date and location have not yet been confirmed.

in harmony with life

::via Susthama:

Summary of a Dharma Talk on Harmony in Buddhism by Dharmavidya

Broadly speaking Buddhism has developed a reputation for cultivating peace both individually and collectively. The intention is to create peace and harmony. The Buddha was very practical man and his attitude was to engage in a practice that works. If you've got to repair something then use whatever tool you need to do the job.

He gave many of his disciples very different practices. For example, one disciple came from the highest caste and had spent his life being waited upon and living in comfort and so when he asked the Buddha what practice he should do the Buddha gave him many ascetic practices. Another man came along some time after, who was a low caste man, always struggling and scraping to put two pennies together and serving others wanted to know what practice he should do. He said he saw so and so doing ascetic practices and should he go and do the same thing. To which the Buddha replied, 'no no, don't do them, they won't help you.' And the Buddha put him in charge of organizing others: in a position of authority, taking care of others.

So you might choose a spiritual path that gives a broad framework of peace and harmony but the practice depends on you and what you need depends on what you're used to. The point of spiritual practice is to round people out. It's about going out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself to be in a different kind of situation. And it's not only solitary but social, it might be that what one needs is to go out and develop different kinds of relationships with people.