Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg to appear at New York Insight Benefit
Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg to appear at New York Insight Benefit |
- Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg to appear at New York Insight Benefit
- Shechen Monastery raising funds to restore Tara Temple
- Bearing Witness at Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Help Buddhist Global Relief earn a grant from Chase Community Giving
- Stephen Colbert brings his view of Buddhism to the “Nation”
- Magnified Sand
- Golden Jubilee of the Central Tibetan Schools Administration
- World Meet for Peace and Harmony
- Tibetan Women’s Association celebrates 28th anniversary
- Listening to the Dharma in Nature
| Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg to appear at New York Insight Benefit Posted: 12 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT
All proceeds from the benefit will support the continuation NYI's work. Find additional details about the event here. Read More @ Source
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| Shechen Monastery raising funds to restore Tara Temple Posted: 12 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT  Photo via shechen.org Shechen Monastery in Nepal, established by the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in 1980, is currently raising funds to repair and repaint the statues in its Tara Temple. The total cost of this expenditure will be $ 8500. According to the Sechen Monastery website, "Over the years, the statues have been damaged, and now they have to be repaired and the gold reapplied. Shrine cabinets and glass to protect the statues are also needed. The gold has deteriorated. Tibetan tradition views the gilding and restoration of statues as a great source of merit." To make a secure donation through PayPal, visit their contributions page and specify "Tara Temple repairs" with your payment. Read More @ Source
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| Bearing Witness at Auschwitz-Birkenau Posted: 12 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT
This November, Bernie Glassman and the Zen Peacemakers are returning to Auschwitz-Birkenau for the 17th annual Bearing Witness retreat. Most of the five-day retreat, which runs from November 5 to 9 at the camp in Oświęcim, Poland, will be spent sitting near the train tracks in Birkenau, both in silence and while chanting names of the dead. There will also be time to walk around the camps and hold vigils inside the barracks. Participants will meet in small groups daily to share their experiences in a safe space, and the entire group will meet each evening. The Bearing Witness retreats have been taking place at Auschwitz since 1996. They are multifaith and multinational in character, with a strong focus on the Zen Peacemakers' three tenets: Not-Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Loving Action. The base cost for the retreat is $ 1,200, although a discount is available for young adults. A tour of the old Jewish quarter of Krakow will also be offered. More information and registration are available at the Zen Peacemakers website. Read More @ Source
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| Help Buddhist Global Relief earn a grant from Chase Community Giving Posted: 12 Sep 2012 03:00 AM PDT
Now, BGR is one of the nominees for "favorite charity" in Chase's Community Giving Program. Through September 19, Facebook users and Chase customers can vote for their favorite charities, and if BGR is one of the 196 finalists, they'll split $ 5 million in grants with the other charities. Voting is easy — Facebook users can click here. You'll get two standard votes, one of which can go to BGR and one that can go to another charity. If you share the Chase Community Giving program with your friends on Facebook, you'll get one extra vote, which can go to BGR. If you're a Chase customer, you have two additional votes, which you can cast by logging in with your Chase account here. More detailed instructions about voting are available here. 
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| Stephen Colbert brings his view of Buddhism to the “Nation” Posted: 11 Sep 2012 05:00 PM PDT A guest post by Scott Mitchell, who teaches at the Institute of Buddhist Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and is co-host of the DharmaRealm podcast. Drats. It would appear I could soon be out of a job, and thanks to Stephen Colbert, no less. Right now, Colbert Nation – the website, of course, of Comedy Central's Colbert Report – is featuring a "5 x Five" video introducing us to Buddhism. Its summary reads: "Stephen explores the origin and fundamental teachings of Buddhism – which mostly involve suffering." The video is comprised of five short clips from various Colbert Report episodes that featured Buddhism and depending where you live, you can watch it here.
So why might I be out of work? Well, because this video might just tell you all you need to know. (Read on for more about Colbert's take on Buddhism.) It starts out with a quick overview of the Four Noble Truths — suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path. Stephen reminds us that if you don't like suffering, you can just be Catholic instead, as Jesus did all our suffering for us already! This idea of suffering recurs in a clip from an interview with religion scholar Stephen Prothero, with Prothero explaining that Buddhists are attempting to alleviate it and attain nirvana. And right there, in those ten seconds of video alone, my work is done. That's a whole semester-long Buddhism 101 course, really. So, suffering's got a cause and a solution. What's left? According to second guest Lama Surya Das, there's inner peace. But Stephen's not convinced that Americans really want peace, of course. What they crave is rage, he argues, and there's no room for that in Buddhism, is there? Moving on, Stephen thinks some might be relieved by Buddhism's differences from other religions. For example: Buddhism's stories lack, well, prostitutes — but that's not quite right. (Check out the Parabhava Sutta.) Continuing through a yawn, he notes that Buddhism's version of the end-times is downright boring compared to other religions'; Buddhists sit around waiting for centuries for the next Buddha to arrive, and when he does, he does the same thing as the last one. But wait! Has Colbert found Maitreya, the future Buddha? Yes and no; as the video shows, one group believes the Buddhist messiah can be found today in, yes, writer and activist Raj Patel! Patel denies it, but one of the marks of the messiah is that he'll deny being the messiah, so it must be true. Raj Patel is Maitreya! So, to recap: Buddhism is all about suffering, inner peace, and putting your faith in the world-saving Buddhist messiah, Raj Patel. My work is done. …I actually rather like Colbert's irreverent spin on Buddhism, his mixing of pretty standard Buddhist concepts like suffering with Raj Patel as Maitreya. I sort of appreciate the way Prothero tries his best to keep up with Colbert and assert that there really are differences – differences that matter – between religions. And I like that Surya Das, when asked "And what's [inner peace] do for you?" all he can reply is "Not much, admittedly." Those of us who take the study and practice of Buddhism seriously can run the risk of being, well, serious. A little levity and irreverent humor and sarcasm now and then can be a good way to start a conversation about Buddhism, its teachings and practices, its contours and its limits. I think asking "What's inner peace do for you" is a great question for a Buddhist teacher. What does inner peace do, really? And is there a place in Buddhism for its opposite? Are we allowed to be angry? I really like that he talks about suffering – and not duhkha – because that forces us to answer that tricky question: what is suffering? What does suffering mean? And how do we talk about suffering in the contemporary world without turning people off? I've joked here that I could be out of a job, but actually, I can see myself using this video in my classes. Where I teach my students come from a really diverse set of backgrounds, some with a lot of prior experience and knowledge about Buddhism, some with absolutely none. Approaches like Colbert's can offer us a fun way for us to start a conversation about what we know, what we don't know, and what we think we know about Buddhism — a good palette cleanser to get us started off on the right foot before delving in to Buddhism's juicy details.
Read More @ Source 
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| Posted: 11 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT  Sand - magnified x250 times Thanks go to Angie for sending in this amazing image of sand. We have had sand from the River Ganges, sand on Portobello beach and now sand quarried miles away from the sea. As I drove away from visiting a friend in this most beautiful of areas hidden away from the bright city lights and tourist traps of Edinburgh and Glasgow I saw the quarry loom before me. I thought to stop and photograph it but couldn't bring myself to do that. It felt akin to photographing road kill and I'd not do that. There was no blood, just a massive scare in the landscape. Anyway, I wish the people well who are trying to stop the further encroachment of the sand and gravel mining operations into this island of special beauty in the Scottish Boarder country. New Lanark and the Falls of Clyde. On my way out of Scotland after visiting my friend - and her two beautiful native Highland ponies - I drove down through the Moffat Hills. Another hidden treasure in the Boarders, sadly swathed in mist and hammered by heavy rain as I passed through. Scotland is special. The people I met were each special, each in their own very particular ways. Like the sand under the microscope. But then everyone is particular. Unique. Too often the gem like qualities each of us have are hidden from even our own view, let alone understood or appreciated by others. This post is for a chap in hospital, visited today in Darlington, County Durham. Much merit passes to you dear friend. You are a very particular gem. Read More @ Source
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| Golden Jubilee of the Central Tibetan Schools Administration Posted: 11 Sep 2012 03:00 PM PDT New Delhi, India, 10 September 2012 - His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived in New Delhi this morning and in the afternoon was chief guest at an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Central Tibetan Schools Administration (CTSA). He was joined on the platform by Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Kapil Sibal, Kalon Tripa Lobsang Sangay, Joint Secretary and Chairman of the CTSA, Shri Apurva Chandra, and the Secretary for School Education and Literacy, Shrimati Anshu Vaishji. The guests were introduced by Shri Rajiv Mehrotra, who, in addition to his work as a writer and broadcaster, is Secretary of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of HH the Dalai Lama. In his introductory remarks, Apurva Chandra paid tribute to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as being not only the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, but also an apostle of peace. He noted that the CTSA came into existence as a result of a conversation between His Holiness and Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Recalling that the 13th Dalai Lama too had recognised the need for modern education in Tibet, the CTSA owes much to His Holiness's foresight. The first CTSA school in Mussoorie began with 50 students, later schools were opened in Shimla, Dalhousie and Darjeeling. Today, 8750 students are studying in 67 schools across India that come under the CTSA. Kalon Tripa, Lobsang Sangay, a former student of the CTSA school in Darjeeling, expressed gratitude to the CTSA in general and in particular for His Holiness's vision, which the CTSA has put into effect. He pointed out that besides himself, the present Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile and the Chief Justice were educated in Central Tibetan schools. He acknowledged the generosity of the Government and people of India in providing Tibetan children with a modern education. He noted that the ancient traditions of Buddhism and ahimsa and the contemporary practice of democracy among Tibetans follow an Indian example. "It's easy to thank you on the one hand! ," he said, "but difficult on the other, because we can't thank you enough."
"'The best way to predict the future is to build it,' which is exactly what we should be doing." His Holiness the Dalai Lama greeted his brothers and sisters in the audience, reminding them whenever and wherever he speaks in public he considers that he is talking to other human beings, who are fundamentally the same. He said this is worth emphasising because a great deal of trouble arises when people dwell too much on superficial differences, which tend to provoke division. "We all want a happy life and we have a right to achieve it. Therefore, instead of quarrelling, we should help each other. This is the basis of our human values, whether we have any spiritual faith or not. We are biologically equipped to be kind and compassionate by our mother's care, which owes nothing to religion or education, but education can strengthen these values within us. Unfortunately, sometimes modern education pays more attention to the secondary differences between us, rather than the uniting common factors." His Holiness described the Golden Jubilee of the CTSA as a special moment that brought to mind an image of Pandit Nehru in his office in Teen Murti Bhavan without his hat, the top of his head shiny in the light, cracking jokes in the midst of their discussions. He recalled arriving in India in April 1959 and that the immediate concern was the welfare of the 70-80,000 Tibetan refugees.
"He came to meet me soon after my arrival in India in the third week of April 1959 and it was in late '59 or early 1960 when we were discussing education that he told me that the best way to keep the Tibet issue alive was to educate our children. There was discussion about what the medium of instruction should be, whether it should be Hindi or English. Nehru recommended English because it is an international language. After lunch he insisted that we announce the formation of the CTSA. Now, 52 years later, this organisation is still looking after our schools." His Holiness compared this event to the Tibetan Emperors of the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries inviting Indian teachers to Tibet, first among them the great philosopher and logician, Shantarakshita. In due course a series of Indian teachers came to Tibet and Tibetan students went to study in India. This prompted one Tibetan scholar to remark that although the Land of Snows is white in colour, until light came from India, Tibet remained dark. His Holiness said that it is quite clear that despite longstanding relations with China, Tibetans preferred to learn about Buddhism directly from Indian sources. His Holiness concluded, "I sometimes refer to myself as a "son of India" and a Chinese journalist once asked why, perhaps suspecting some political bias. I explained that my entire education, every particle of my brain, is seeped in Indian tradition and even my body has been nourished for more! than half my life by Indian dal roti. I regard India as our Guru and us as your chela, because, just as in ancient times you taught us Buddhism, so in the present you have given us modern education. We are grateful to everyone who has contributed to this. I thank you on my own part, on behalf of the Tibetan refugee community and on behalf of the 6 million Tibetans."  Read More @ Source 
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| World Meet for Peace and Harmony Posted: 11 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT New Delhi, India, 11 September 2012 - Although, following the tragic events of September 11th 2001, this day is remembered by many with sorrow, it also commemorates an occasion of bright significance. It was on 11th September 1893 that Swami Vivekananda fired the imagination of his listeners with his speech to the first Parliament of Religions held in Chicago. It was perhaps the first occasion that anyone had acknowledged the existence of other faith traditions with respect and had suggested that they were paths to the same goal and so could live in harmony with one another. The Ramakrishna Mission, a philanthropic, volunteer organization that conducts extensive welfare and educational work, founded by Swami Vivekananda four years later in 1897, celebrated the event today with an All Faiths Prayer Meet at their temple in New Delhi. His Holiness the Dalai Lama was welcomed as a guest while representatives of the Vedic tradition, Nichiren Buddhist, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Bahá'í, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism and Hinduism sang or recited prayers from their respective traditions. His Holiness was invited to speak at the end. He greeted his spiritual brothers and sisters and began by comparing the numbers of followers of the various traditions in the world. It was agreed that probably Christianity has the largest number of devotees, followed by Islam and Hinduism, but His Holiness noted that while Zoroastrians may now be one of the smallest religious communities in the world they exercise their freedom to worship in India without fear. He said, "I am grateful for all our religious traditions, because, despite their differing philosophical views, they all convey the same message of love and compassion and counsel us to live a simple life. In a world of 7 billion human beings with different ways of life these different traditions are necessary for humanity. Realistically speaking we need these different approaches to achieve inner peace and peace in the community." He went on ! to say t hat while prayer is good on a personal level, he has come to the conclusion that it is not always effective in the wider world. Violence and war persist in many places and prayer seems insufficient to stop it. What we need to do is to take action. He also advised that if religious teaching remains in a book that we only read occasionally, while we lead our lives in another direction, there is something wrong and it does not serve much purpose. At the same time he was all praise for India for its longstanding tradition of religious harmony. Occasional outbreaks of religious friction may take place, but these are understandable and of minor significance compared to the example of harmony and respect that otherwise prevails.
Dr AJP Abdul Kalam pointed out that overcoming poverty in the world is a precondition for peace and harmony. He quoted Tagore as saying, "If you want to know India, study Vivekananda, in him all is positive, nothing negative." He suggested that when there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character and when these two exist there is harmony in the home and order in the country. The question he asked is how to ensure that young minds cultivate righteousness in the heart and told his listeners that, in his experience the answer lay in the power of great teachers. Requested to offer some words of benediction, His Holiness first expressed his admiration for his friend Dr AJP Abdul Kalam, "He comes from a Muslim family, trained as scientist and became president of the most populous democratic country in the world; in fact the country where the most sophisticated philosophical views have developed."
"Swami Vivekananda is no longer with us, but the spirit of what he achieved is alive and growing. He had great foresight and I feel I am a follower, trying to implement his dream of creating inter-religious harmony in the world. However, while respecting Swami-ji's vision, I would like to say something about the Parliament of World Religions, which I have attended in Cape Town and Melbourne. I think there is a risk of these meetings just becoming occasions for religious leaders to exchange calling cards. I feel we need to make more effort if we are to actively foster harmony among our traditions. In Melbourne I said that effects come from actions not mere talk. "As a Buddhist monk I pray and it is of some help for my own peace of mind, but as for world peace, it has little effect. A couple of years ago in Patna I was invited to attend the inauguration of a Buddhist park, during which the Chief Minister asked that by the Buddha's blessings his state might prosper. When my turn came to speak I said that if the state's prosperity depended on the Buddha's blessings it should have happened long ago and that what was really needed was for a capable Chief Minister to take action. Action is the meaning of karma, while prayer is a little like wishful thinking. For example, climate change is a reality that I think probably cannot be affected by prayer."
Finally, he mentioned the increasing gap between rich and poor and the problem of corruption, saying, "When so many people are still poor, how can you let corruption go on. In this country people are very religious minded, many offer puja to the gods every day and yet in their daily lives it seems to make little difference when it comes to issues like corruption. If you believe in god and karma, how can you not care when this kind of behaviour goes on. If I have been too frank today, or have offended anyone with what I've said, I apologise. Thank you." Read More @ Source 
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| Tibetan Women’s Association celebrates 28th anniversary Posted: 11 Sep 2012 12:00 PM PDT  Photo via Tibet Post International The Tibetan Women's Association (TWA) celebrates its 28th year in exile this month. Officially founded in India on September 10, 1984, members tell that the a precursor to the modern group began on March 12, 1959, when Tibetan women from three provinces came together in peaceful protest of the Chinese government. According to the TWA website: "The Tibetan Women's Association (TWA) has 56 regional chapters and over 16,000 members outside Tibet. Today, TWA is the second largest Tibetan NGO and the only women's NGO in exile that advocates human rights for Tibetan women in Tibet and works to empower Tibetan women in exile, in particular new refugee women from Tibet. TWA's tag-line is 'Advocacy for home, Action in exile.'" You can read all about the TWA and the events they have organized on this anniversary by clicking here. Photo used with permission of Tibet Post International. Read More @ Source
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| Listening to the Dharma in Nature Posted: 11 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT When listening to the sounds of nature I can hear a variety of noises in my neighborhood, produced by both creatures and natural forces. There are numerous species of birds, all singing their own particular songs. Insects make surprisingly loud noises, especially the cicadas in the tropical evening. Then there's the sound of the wind rustling the foliage in the garden next door, which is a kind of unkempt mini-wood. Our neighbors' dogs often bark either at passers-by or at each other. Sometimes I wonder if they're howling at the ghosts that so many Thais believe in without question. (And such ghosts might exist – I've seen a few scary-looking individuals lurking the streets around here!) All of these sounds are impermanent, however. Birdsong, for instance, occurs at specific times of day; it doesn't go on all the time. Some species sing at the crack of dawn, while others sing at dusk – some are squawking now early in the afternoon. The fact that birdsong doesn't last twenty-four hours a day is a sign that it is impermanent (anicca). Sounds such as the evening shrieking of the cicadas show impermanence in another aspect of their structure. They are not constant drones, but have gaps in between different segments of sound; they start-stop, start-stop, etc. They are impermanent in this way too, along with not lasting all day. In the gaps that separate the creatures' noises there is space. This space also can be seen (well, heard) prior to an animal's call, as well as after the period of noise-making has stopped. Space contains the sounds of n! ature, including the rustling of leaves and the falling of rain. This space is non-judgmental in its nature. The mind, or personality, reacts to different sounds, liking the particular song of one species of bird, whilst on the other hand disliking the neighbor's dog that barks late at night. Even in our negative responses to sound we can develop some wisdom, however – the howling dog shows just how unsatisfactory (dukkha) life can be! Space, on the other hand, simply contains all sounds, whether from nature or the human world (and what is the human world but an extension of nature, if we think about it?). Through associating with the space by being the awareness that is conscious of sound, rather than identifying with being a particular person with specific likes and dislikes, one can become more open-minded. In this open-mindedness is an acceptance of the way things are (the Dharma). Moreover, by being the spacious awareness that is host to all phenomena (not only sound), one becomes more open-hearted, more compassionate and loving. Personal preference is less likely to dominate one's relationship to the world, allowing for a deeper connection with the sounds, sights, tastes, smells, tactile and mental sensations that enter awareness. This connection of spacious awareness to the world is not one of identifying with these various sense objects as being mine or not mine, likeable or dislikeable, because it is essentially an impersonal relationship. Even thoughts and feelings associated with being 'me' are objects in consciousness, they do not comprise a self (anatta). Being awake to this aware space is a liberating! experien! ce, freeing awareness from the prison of personality and ego. It also makes one appear as a nicer guy or gal to those that one meets, making their lives a little happier and less stressful. So, in listening to the Dharma in nature, we can begin to recognize the way things are; they are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not self (anicca, dukkha, and anatta.). We can learn to associate not with the personality that forever judges the world and its contents, but with the spacious awareness that is host to the myriad phenomena that make up this life. Extending this insight to all sense objects and not just sounds, we can radically alter our relationship to humanity as well as the natural world. One no longer sees oneself as just another person struggling against the natural and human obstacles to happiness, but the space in which such thoughts arise, along with all else. And this is the way to true happiness.  
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American Buddhist teachers Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg — the three co-founders of Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts — will celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of New York Insight Meditation Center at a gala benefit dinner to be held on the evening of Saturday, October 6. The evening will also include a silent auction, public talk, and dessert reception.
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