The Freer Gallery exhibits “Enlightened Beings: Meditation in Chinese Painting”

The Freer Gallery exhibits “Enlightened Beings: Meditation in Chinese Painting”

The Freer Gallery exhibits “Enlightened Beings: Meditation in Chinese Painting”

Posted: 10 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Ksitigarbha. Via the Freer Gallery.

Around the Mall, one of the blogs of the Smithsonian Institute, offers an in-depth post (with images) about "Enlightened Beings: Meditation in Chinese Painting," a new exhibit at the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C. The exhibit features 27 unique pieces — 14 from the Song, Yuan, and early Ming dynasties (1000–1400 CE), and 13 from the Ming and Qing dynasties (1400-1800 CE) – that "tell the story of both Buddhist thought and its adoption in a new land." In addition, the paintings focus on four Buddhist archetypes: the Buddha, bodhisattvas, luohan ("who protect the dharma, or teachings of the Buddha"), and Chan monks and lineage masters.

The exhibit opened September 1 and will run through February 24, 2013. You can find ticketing and other information here.

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Bearing Witness at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Posted: 10 Sep 2012 08:00 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 – 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 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 multi-faith 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, though a discount is available for young adults. A optional tour of the former Jewish quarter of Krakow will also be offered. More information and registration is available at the Zen Peacemakers website.

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Over 1,000 Vietnamese Buddhists gather in Santa Ana to celebrate mothers

Posted: 10 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT

The Los Angeles Times reports on a massive celebration of the Vietnamese holiday Le Vu Lan, which took place recently at the Hue Quang pagoda in Santa Ana, CA. The event is a kind of "Mother's Day," in which mothers are honored by their children wearing pink or red roses if their mother is still living, and white ones is they are deceased. This particular celebration in Santa Ana drew over 1,000 people to the temple. Read the whole story here.

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From the Fall 2012 Buddhadharma magazine: “Three Levels of Transmission”

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 05:00 PM PDT

A dharma transmission ceremony has many aspects, writes Lewis Richmond in "Three Levels of Transmission," but lineage and precepts are paramount. As he studied these aspects, he found it useful to understand them as having three aspects: outer, inner, and innermost.

"Lineage means a succession of generations. Lineage was particularly important for the emerging Zen tradition of seventh-century China, which gained credibility with the more established Buddhist sects of the time by tracing an unbroken line of 'mind to mind transmission' back to Buddha. This is the outer aspect of lineage, and in Zen we have a list of over ninety names, going back through Japan, China, and India, that define this succession."

Richmond's commentary is now online in its entirety; you can read it here. You can browse the rest of the Fall Buddhadharma magazine here.

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Autumn In The Air

Posted: 09 Sep 2012 03:00 PM PDT

Beach_Portobello1.jpg
An evening walk on the beach at Portobello, near Edinburgh.
swans1.jpg
Earlier, swans...!

Six weeks-on-the-road. Three nights here, two there. A week and then move on, again. I am very fortunate indeed to be able to move around like I have these past weeks, meet so many interesting people, enjoy hospitality and sit and meditate together. It's time to stop and settle in one place to greet Autumn and then Winter. I welcome the turning of the season.

New post on Field of Merit. Sands of the Ganges.

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