Inquiring Mind calls for your “dharmic stories and poems”
Inquiring Mind calls for your “dharmic stories and poems” |
- Inquiring Mind calls for your “dharmic stories and poems”
- Danny Fisher on the Sikh temple shooting: “We know what happens next”
- Zen Hospice Project to mark 25th anniversary with celebration
- Buddhism in Costa Rica
- Zen Buddhist Temple in Pennsylvania Endangered by Natural Gas Fracking
- Passionate About - Living
- Chögyam Trungpa on “The Buddha in the Human Realm”
- Third Day of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Teachings in Leh
- Bassui: From the Beginning
| Inquiring Mind calls for your “dharmic stories and poems” Posted: 07 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for the Spring 2013 issue of Inquiring Mind. http://www.inquiringmind.com. Our theme for Spring 2013 is Poetry and Stories. Please send poetry and stories from a dharmic perspective. No need to mention the Buddha or meditation. Word limit for stories is 3000 words. The deadline is October 1st, 2012. Send submissions to: spring2013@inquiringmind.com Read More @ Source
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| Danny Fisher on the Sikh temple shooting: “We know what happens next” Posted: 07 Aug 2012 08:00 AM PDT
Danny, who was instrumental in putting together this open letter from the Buddhist community condemning Islamophobia last week, also points out that the shooting has exposed many Americans' lack of awareness of the Sikh faith. Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims, who of course shouldn't be targets for violence, either. "At best, our lack of knowledge about religion is embarrassing us on a global stage; at worst, it is putting us all in danger," he writes. Read his full blog post here. Read More @ Source
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| Zen Hospice Project to mark 25th anniversary with celebration Posted: 07 Aug 2012 04:00 AM PDT
Zen Hospice Project will mark its 25th anniversary with a celebration at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco on October 18. The event, "One Night One Heart," will include "a live documentary, a unique combination of media, music, narrative, and storytelling, to capture the deep meaning and joy in our work," and organizers except over 300 to be in attendance. Zen Hospice Project, founded in 1987, has provided care for "over 3,000 terminally ill people and their families by training and supporting more than 1,500 volunteer caregivers. [In addition,] over 18,000 people, including many health and social care professionals, have attended [the organization's] workshops and support groups." For more information about the event, contact Eden Penfield at eden@zenhospice.org or call (415) 913-7682, ext. 106. You can also find information about sponsoring the celebration here. Read More @ Source
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| Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:00 PM PDT by Terrence Johnson, The Costa Rican News, August 5, 2012
Costa Rica -- Over the past few decades Catholic Churches in Central America has seen an exodus of their congregants leaving to explore and join other Christian denominations and other religions. Experts point to growing competition from other denominations, primarily evangelical Christianity and a general dissatisfaction with the Catholic churches intolerance and rigid stance. There is an emerging segment of the population in Central America that is converting to religions such as Islam and Meditation.
José Espinoza and his wife Katrina is one couple that converted to Meditation 3 years ago, and say they have never been happier. When asked why they converted from Catholic religion to Meditation, José explained, "My wife and I have different reasons, but for me, I had approached the Father of the Catholic church we had been attending, to ask some questions on some marital issues my wife and I were experiencing, and the Fathers' advise was to quote a few lines from the Bible and say a prayer. That was when I thought 'how can this person give family or marital advice when he never has had a wife or children of his own'. That was the first time I think that I started to question my religion and began to look at other religions"
When asked about the types of meditation practices José continued, "They taught us very simple methods like counting your breathing, to help keep the mind focused on the here and now, and later there are different ways to breath, Buddhist breathing, Taoist breathing methods, but essentially these different methods help you calm what they call 'monkey mind', which is when your mind or thoughts jump around from thought to thought… with a little practice the mind calms and you enter a kind of 'now' state. When you practice meditation, you just feel good, calm centered, and not just when you are meditating, but with practice you attain what the Japanese Buddhist call zan-shin, which translates to residual mind, or that which carries over into the rest of your day or life, so you find you are better able to cope with the stresses of life, work, and family from a much calmer and center perspective." With approximately 100,000 practitioners, Costa Rica has more Buddhists than any other country in Central America. Meditation was brought to Costa Rica by Chinese immigrants during the earlier part of the 19th century. Today are several recognized and establish groups in San Jose Costa Rica. ------------ 
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| Zen Buddhist Temple in Pennsylvania Endangered by Natural Gas Fracking Posted: 06 Aug 2012 04:00 PM PDT The Buddhist Channel, Aug 6, 2012
An Open Letter to the American Buddhist Community Pennsdale, PN (USA) -- Mount Equity Zendo (http://www.mtequity.org/) is located in the small rural village of Pennsdale in central Pennsylvania, twenty minutes from Williamsport, now called the "Dallas of the north," the hub of the state's natural gas fracking industry about 2 hours north of Harrisburg and 3 hours west of Philadelphia. The Abbess, Rev. Dai-En Bennage, trained over fifteen years in Japan at various monasteries before founding Mount Equity Zendo, near her native home of Lewisburg. Fifty members come from 2 to 4 hours away to attend monthly sesshins or other practice events at Mt. Equity.
Slick water hydrofracking was developed by Halliburton and others, and requires up to 9 million gallons of fresh water per well. This water is mixed with dangerous chemicals including benzene, biocides, and hydrochloric acid, which make it "slick" so as to dissolve shale and release natural gas to the surface. Each well is bored deep into the earth, then turned 90 degrees boring into the shale, often with several horizontal wells spurring off each vertical well. Slick water is then forced at high speeds down into the well to release the gas. Less than a third of the water returns to the surface with the natural gas and other toxins, including NORM, or naturally occurring radioactive materials. This contaminated water can be re-used in other wells, but more often is stored in an effluent pit, or treated and simply dumped into the river, or turned into cakes shipped out of state.
They had often called him in the middle of the night to help clean up "hazmat" spills.What goes unseen is legal dumping of treated slick water into the nearby Susquehanna River and forested areas. When Dick Cheney of Halliburton was in office he facilitated the passing of laws that exempted the oil and gas industries from the Clean Air and Water Act. Local consequences of this include sightings of diseased, spotted fish, and of a purple squirrel, the purple fur probably from drinking the chemicals and brine in the fracking effluent pits. Also many dead deer and geese are seen in and around these pits. Some pits have fences around them, but this does not prevent geese from entering. Because the gas industry did not account for the amount of rainfall in the area, the fluids in the pits overflow, contaminating the ground and river, poisoning grazing lands and crops. Natural gas is purported to be "clean" energy, but it certainly is not. In the gas refining process many greenhouse gases including methane are released into the atmosphere, leading to concern for air quality. Just north in the small town of Dimock cases have been reported of gas contaminating well water, making it undrinkable and even flammable. The gas companies often do not take responsibility, claiming the well water was always like that. Recently gas companies claimed that a year after contamination the water is safe, with no more need for them to distribute bottled water. People on wells like Mt. Equity have been encouraged to have their well water tested every few months to ensure it remains safe to drink. Mt. Equity Zendo Abbess Dai-en Bennage and her Dharma successor, Rev. Daishin Eric McCabe, are witnessing the contamination of their river, wells, land, and air, along with the tearing apart of communities and people's lives. Now their zendo itself is in peril, as their next-door neighbor leased his field, right over their well water, to a gas drilling company. The Mt. Equity Zendo sangha has actively reached out to aid displaced people, such as residents at a nearby mobile home community where many had lived for thirty years before the owner sold the land to a water company. Mt. Equity members have worked with the local Interfaith Sacred Earth Coalition and others to organize opposition to the fracking. Inspired by the Thai monk who ordained old-growth trees to protect them from loggers, Dai-en considered ordaining the nearby, endangered Susquehanna River, the longest river east of the Mississippi. But since local people might not understand the ordination, instead Rev. Bennage organized an interfaith Flowers on the Water ceremony for blessing the river in May, 2011. This year many groups have performed similar ceremonies. For those who want to help, Mt. Equity Zendo is not asking for personal aid for themselves, but for assistance for their endangered surrounding community. The most effective place in the region to send donations to increase public awareness about fracking is the Responsible Drilling Alliance [http://www.responsibledrillingalliance.org/], a fine informational resource. Buddhists are also encouraged to contact Mt. Equity Zendo's national representatives in support of the area's environment so these representatives know that people outside are watching. Please contact:
For more information or to express support, contact Dai-en or Daishin at [www.mtequity.org/]. In addition, the under-signed ask Buddhists to be more active in helping local communities understand the Buddhist perspective of life, that we are all interconnected with all beings, including animals, plants, water, and minerals, and that our acts have consequences. Buddhists can present a stronger voice in the larger community, as well as in our sanghas. Many environmental organizations, social activist groups, and Christian ministers are eager to dialogue with serious Buddhist practitioners. Fracking is happening in many parts of the country, including California, although state legislators there do not even know where it is occurring. People need to collectively speak out in an organized way about the ethical implications of natural gas development. As Buddhists we have a unique perspective toward the Earth and a responsibility to share what we know through compassionate dialogue. Sincerely, Rev. Dai-en Bennage, Mount Equity Zendo 
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| Posted: 06 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT  Matchstick vase Quite an eye opener to see what can be achieved with matchsticks and glue + dollops of patience and perseverance. This vase is one of a pair which is part of a mini altar set up. One can't help but bow to the skill and stick-with-it drive that has people building these most amazing models. And make Buddha heads too! Amazing! We applaud people with stick ability. The Olympic athletes, men with matchsticks (women too no doubt). This level of passion and drive is something else isn't it. For example how about the chap in Southampton who spent 15 years making a replica of the Brent Bravo oil rig, attempting to get into the record books for the number of matches he had used. Unbelievable! Nagging in the background though is the question - WHY? I ask this question mostly because I don't seem to be made of the stuff of stick ability to something. Not in the way of devoting time and energy to a project sustained over time like these matchstick models. Building those huge and complex models out of matches takes commitment. In this post on Field of Merit I pondered this whole matter of making manifest ones visions. The question of commitment, to stick with it after the initial enthusiasm and drive has faded, is interesting. As with sports training or model making so too with the day-in-day-out perseverance needed to manifest ones vision - there has to be something deeply satisfying in just the doing of it. A round of applause for human endeavours. A pause to reflect on Precepts. Read More @ Source
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| Chögyam Trungpa on “The Buddha in the Human Realm” Posted: 06 Aug 2012 02:00 PM PDT
In "The Middle Way of Stress," in the September 2012 magazine, Judy Lief examines stress using several Buddhist teachings, including the six realms of being — along with the human realm, there's also the god realm, jealous god realm, animal realm, hungry ghost realm, and hell realm. The six realms, she writes, "represent the experiential worlds we create out of ignorance and inhabit out of fear." In the human realm, stress arises from insecurity. You can read an excerpt from "The Middle Way of Stress" here, and read the entire thing in our September magazine — click here to order a copy and here to subscribe. And for more of Chögyam Trungpa's teachings, see our Chögyam Trungpa spotlight page. Read More @ Source 
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| Third Day of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Teachings in Leh Posted: 06 Aug 2012 12:00 PM PDT Leh, Ladakh, J&K, India, 6th August 2012 - His Holiness reached the teaching platform before 6am to begin the preparatory rituals for the Lokeshvara empowerment he was going to give today. While he was doing those preparations, and the public were arriving to take their seats, a group of local school students, girls and boys, demonstrated their command of traditional debate techniques, some of them standing and issuing challenges to their seated fellows who responded. This is something His Holiness has specifically encouraged. Meanwhile, a steady stream of local people brought garlands and bunches of fresh flowers, apparently from their own gardens, to decorate the platform. These were to be offered during the ceremonies for generating the awakening mind and the granting of the Bodhisattva vows. "The Buddha said 'do not commit unwholesome deeds, practise only virtue'. If the our motivation is negative, the resulting action will also be negative. The Buddha taught us to avoid negative action, because it is in our own interest. Helping the poor and needy with food and medicine is very good, but the most important thing to do is to develop an altruistic attitude. To accomplish that we have to subdue the mind, to subdue our selfish motives and dedicate ourselves to the well-being of others." Nagarjuna said that if we wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of ourselves and others, we need to cultivate compassion and the wisdom understanding emptiness. An altrustic attitude is essential if we wish to achieve Buddhahood. The awakening mind of Bodhichitta is the attitude that is of benefit to all. It includes compassion and the extraordinary resolve to help others. His Holiness remarked, "Although I don't have Bodhichitta myself, I have great admiration for it. From the age of 14, I seriously studied emptiness and made it my focus. I thought of Bodhichitta as something very good, but also very hard to achieve. On the other hand I had a sense that it was possible to realise emptiness, that it was within reach, and I remember thinking that it would be possible to achieve liberation and take a long rest. Then I received an explanation of Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life from Khunu Lama Rinpoche and I began to realise that if there was time and the opportunity to practice it should be possible to develop Bodhichitta." His Holiness said that we all have seeds of compassion linked to the biological factor of having been cared for with affection by our mothers. This natural potential for warm-heartedness tends to be wrapped up with attachment, but we can modify and overcome this by engaging in such practices as 'exchanging self with others'. One of the best ways of making this precious human life meaningful is to realise that nothing relieves suffering better than cultivating Bodhichitta.
After this, he led the congregation through the rite to develop aspiring Bodhichitta, recommending that they visualise the Buddha himself, surrounded by Bodhisattvas, his main disciples, and the great masters of India, Tibet and Ladakh as witnesses before them. Generating this awakening mind is to aspire to lead all sentient beings to the state of omniscience and not to let this mind decline. Reading through the remaining verses of the two texts His Holiness discussed the qualifications of a spiritual teacher, mentioning that in his Ornament of Sutras, Maitreya lists ten qualities such as being knowledgeable and showing compassion for others. The pre-eminent factor is that you cannot help others subdue their minds unless you have made some progress in subduing your own. Discussing the practice of developing a calmly abiding mind as part of the six perfections, the practice of a Bodhisattva, His Holiness explained how you select an object, examine it carefully with your eyes and form a clear image of it in your mind. This mental object is the object in relation to which you will develop calm abiding. Calm abiding is not cultivated through the senses, but with the mind. He went on to clarify that just as you can select an external object as the source of the mental image on which ! you medi tate, you can also choose an internal object like the inner channels or letters within them. You can also take your mind as the object. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradtion it is common to develop a calmly abiding mind based on deity yoga practices.
".... when you realize the keys of the three principal aspects of the path, His Holiness explained that Ganden Tri Rinpoche (the 103rd successor to Je Tsongkhapa as spiritual head of the Gelugpa tradition) had requested him to give the empowerment of Mahakarunika Lokeshvara. He said this was significant because Ladakh is Tibet's neighbour and there is a longstanding special bond between them and there is likewise a special bond between His Holiness and Rizong Rinpoche, the present Ganden Throne-holder, This practice derives from a vision the Fifth Dalai Lama had when he was 40 years old. He was undertaking an Avalokiteshvara meditation retreat when he had a vision in which Songtsen Gampo appeared from the heart of one of the Avalokiteshvara images in the room with him and gave him this empowerment. The 13th Dalai Lama used to perform rituals in connection with this practice on 10th of the Tibetan month and in connection with Hayagriva on 25th of the month; a practice His Holiness likes to emulate. As part of the ritual His Holiness gave the assembled public Bodhisattva vows, telling them that he takes them afresh every day and dedicates the merit to the we! lfare of all sentient beings. He said,
In conclusion, His Holiness mentioned that the text he was using had been composed on the basis of the 5th Dalai Lama's vision by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, a Lama who like the 5th Dalai Lama adopted an ecumenical approach, as did his disciples and successors like Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodro, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Trulshik Rinpoche. His Holiness announced that he will give a White Tara Long Life Empowerment tomorrow, which will be followed by a ceremony praying for his long life. He said, "The Lamas here will pray that I live long and I will too. Moreover, as the Ganden Tri Rinpoche is now quite old, we should all pray for his long life and I will do so too. And as this is the anniversary of the dreadful flash flood that struck this region two years ago we should all pray for the victims of that as well."  Read More @ Source 
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| Posted: 06 Aug 2012 11:00 AM PDT  Bassui Tokusho Zenji "From the beginning everyone is complete and perfect. Buddhas and ordinary people alike are originally the Tathagata. The movement of a newborn baby's legs and arms is also the splendid work of its original nature. The bird flying, the hare running, the sun rising, the moon sinking, the wind blowing, the clouds moving, all things that shift and change are due to the spinning of the right Dharma wheel of their own original nature, depending neither on the teachings of others nor on the power of words. It is from the spinning of my right Dharma wheel that I am now talking like this, and you are all listening likewise through the splendor of your Buddha-nature." The above is a teaching by Bassui Tokusho (1327-1387), a Japanese Zen master, and is taken from the book 'Mud & Water: The Collected Teachings of Zen Maser Bassui,' by Arthur Braverman, p.28. For a review of this fantastic book, please click here: Review: Mud & Water  
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Like many people, we were shocked and saddened to hear about the shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday that killed six people and wounded three more. In this blog post, 
<< With approximately 100,000 practitioners, Costa Rica has more Buddhists than any other country in Central America.jpg)
Mount Equity Zendo is included in the serious threat from the slick water hydraulic fracturing process, known as "fracking," in the Marcellus Shale. This very deep deposit of rock spans several states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Marcellus Shale contains the largest deposit of natural gas in the United States, an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet, the equivalent of 80 billion barrels of oil. Averaging a mile below the earth's surface and below the water table, it is now being mined due to new technology that allows fracking, to political pressures to develop our native natural resources, and to diminishing oil supplies.
From 
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