---| --- ---| ---| | | |---| | | | | | | | | | | -- |---| |--- |--- |---| | | | | | | | | | | | | ---- | | |--- |--- | | |---| GASSHO Electronic Journal of DharmaNet International and the Global Online Sangha Volume 1, Number 4 ISSN 1072-2971 May/June 1994 ======================================================================= Editor-in-Chief: Barry Kapke dharma@netcom.com or Fidonet: 1:125/33.0 Copy Editor: John Bullitt john.bullitt@metta.ci.net Production Staff: David Savage @lchance.sat.tx.us Board of Advisors: Robert Aitken Roshi Amaro Bhikkhu Carl Bielefeldt Bhikkhu Bodhi Thubten Chodron T. Matthew Ciolek Roger Corless Rev. Karuna Dharma Christina Feldman Gangcen Tulku Rinpoche Maha Ghosananda Joseph Goldstein Joan Halifax Ayya Khema Anne C. Klein Jack Kornfield Jacqueline Mandell Ken McLeod Andrew Olendzki Charles S. Prebish Alan Senauke Thanissaro Bhikkhu Christopher Titmuss others to be announced ======================================================================== GASSHO is a Buddhist newsletter, published by DharmaNet International, P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley, CA 94704-4951, a not-for-profit organization. ======================================================================== Table of Contents: {1} EDITORIAL: Dharma Doors {2} NEWS BRIEFS: Cambodian Peace Marchers Killed; Vietnamese Buddhists Dispute Gov't; Clinton Renews MFN {3} DHARMANET NEWS: Buddhist Image Bank; WTN News Archive {4} NEW RESOURCES: Cybermonk; BPF/INEB Conference; Buddhism SIG; CTN Changes Name {5} CONFERENCE NEWS {6} LETTERS {7} DIALOGUE: The Third Precept: Sexual Responsibility (Thich Nhat Hanh) {8} ARTICLE: Insight Meditation Teachers Code of Ethics {9} ARTICLE: Dharma Umbrella Opens in Portland (Kyogen Carlson) {10} ARTICLE: Sang-Ngak-Cho-Dzong & the Evolution of the Apprentice Programme (Ngakpa Chogyam Rinpoche) {11} ARTICLE: For the Awakening of All (Joanna Macy) {12} PRACTICE: Day of Mindfulness (Zen Master Thompson) {13} CALENDAR: May - June 1994 {14} REVIEWS {15} RESOURCES: Children's Dharma (Jacqueline Mandell) {16} SANGHA: Northwest Dharma Association Directory {17} ANNOUNCEMENTS {18} A PARTING THOUGHT {19} ABOUT GASSHO [Ed.: Page numbers are not particularly meaningful in an electronic format. Instead, each article is demarcated by a number within braces. This allows you to use the Search feature of your newsreader or file viewer program to "fast forward" to the section you want to read. Also, italics are represented in the electronic version of GASSHO by the code "//"; while this employs two characters rather than one, it was found to be more aesthetically representative of italics for low-ASCII viewing, as well as being relatively unproblematic for using the "search and replace" features of text processors to substitute other italics codes.] ======================================================================= {1} EDITORIAL ======================================================================= The following is an electronic dialogue that took place between the Director of DharmaNet and the Director of BodhiNet in the Universal Zendo mailing list. The dialogue is being reproduced here verbatim (no editting) and with the consent of both speakers. In addition to illustrating how electronic communication can be utilized for meaningful dialogue and hopefully a bridging of "views", this short exchange also serves as an illuminative introduction to the theme of this issue: New Models of Sangha. DHARMA DOORS: A DIALOGUE GARY RAY: [...] There also seem to be various stages in understanding interdependence. Initially in practice, according to one of my teachers (and my own experience), there's a very strong feeling of inter- connectedness and compassion -- so strong that it makes one want to cry for the world, join the Peace Corps, and right every wrong. Luckily this passes. ;) BARRY KAPKE: In my opinion, hopefully it doesn't pass. To experience and begin to understand interpenetration is utterly transformative; there is no going backwards. Feeling the suffering of the world, *being* the Peace Corpus, and acting to heal every wrong -- what better things are there in this life? GARY: I don't consider this initial stage a legitimate stage of compassion, it's faux karuna, to mix languages. I think real compassion takes as much time to develop as real wisdom -- especially since they're considered each side of the same coin. BARRY: So when does one start *acting* from that budding compassion, embodying it? Whether it is "real" or not, whatever that means, is unimportant. The important thing is to "practice" compassion. If not now, then when? Now is all we have. ======================================================================= {2} NEWS BRIEFS ======================================================================= Three Cambodian Peace Marchers Killed in Attack CAMBODIA, May 9 (Peace Media Service) - A rocket fired by Khmer Rouge guerrillas hit the international //Dhammayietra// (peace march) in northwestern Cambodia the night of April 30, killing three people and wounding at least four, organizers in Phnom Penh announced the next day. Those killed in the shelling attack reportedly included a 64-year-old Buddhist nun, Say Seam. Also killed were a Buddhist monk and a marcher, both Cambodians. Six foreigners were seized by guerrillas but were released an hour later, according to the organizers. A spokeswoman said the six were three Americans, two Australians and one Thai. Among those detained were Peace Media Service correspondent Liz Bernstein and Bob Matt, both in their early 30s. They have long been involved in Cambodian relief operations. Patricia Curran, in her late 20s, was also among those detained. Liz Bernstein said after her release that the deaths were caused by a stray rocket from fighting between the Khmer Rouge and government troops. Two Buddhist nuns and two monks were among those badly hurt in the attack late on Saturday in Bavel district about 40 km (24 miles) northwest of the provincial capital Battambang. About 400 Buddhist monks, nuns and foreign supporters began the march last month with the intention of spreading a message of national reconciliation among Cambodia's warring parties. The marchers headed west towards Bavel April 29 but split into two groups, one reaching Bavel and the second apparently running into locally-based insurgents. Bavel is a notoriously insecure area and the scene of fighting between government soldiers and Khmer Rouge guerrillas based nearby. Condemning the violence, Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk said the march should be called off. "I appeal to //Samdechs// (high officials), monks, wise men, nuns, compatriots and foreign friends taking part in the //Dhammayietra// to postpone the peace march in order to avoid more danger," he said. The Buddhist Peace Fellowship in the US, reporting on events in Cambodia, said that the walk would continue, but that the route was being changed so that it does not go to Pailin, where the heaviest fighting is occurring. The Khmer Rouge, responsible for the deaths of an estimated one million Cambodians during its rule in the 1970s, has launched a series of attacks against the government to back demands for a senior advisory role in the government. * * * * * Vietnamese Buddhists Dispute Government's Claim HANOI, May 10 (Reuter) - Dissident Buddhists on Tuesday fired a new salvo in their war of words with the Vietnamese government, disputing its claim that their leader is not under house arrest. The Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau faxed news agency offices in Hanoi with a statement attributed to the leader, Thich Huyen Quang, in which he said he was still held. "I... continue to be detained under house arrest in Quang Ngai and maintained in a state of close surveillance," Quang was quoted as saying. "This situation has gone on for the past 13 years. Nothing has changed. "Recently the Hanoi authorities announced that I had been released and that I now have complete freedom of movement etc... This is totally untrue." A government spokesman said in March that Quang was not under house arrest and had been conducting religious services at a pagoda in Quang Ngai, a provincial capital in south-central Vietnam. The row is part of a long-running dispute over control of the Buddhist church between the communist government and the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), which Quang heads. The government disputes his leadership of the UBCV, which was the main Buddhist organisation in former South Vietnam. It says the state-sponsored Vietnamese Buddhist Church, founded in 1981, is the only body entitled to represent Buddhists, who form an estimated three-quarters of the 72 million population. * * * * * International Campaign for Tibet Responds to MFN Renewal WASHINGTON D.C., May 26 (Press Release - ICT) [contact John Ackerly / Rachel Lostumbo (202) 628-4123] President Clinton today abandoned his policy of using China's Most Favored Nation trading status as leverage to promote the protection of Tibet's religious and cultural heritage, as well as human rights in China. Instead he chose to renew China's trading privileges and offer a slap on the wrist by sanctioning imports into the United States of Chinese-made guns and ammunition. Tibet emerged as a condition on which the U.S. found no progress to have been made, a fact which clearly frustrated U.S. officials. The President specifically cited lack of progress in Tibet, which he said was marked by "repression of Tibet's religious and cultural traditions." Top State Department officials in recent weeks have said that there had been no progress on meeting the Tibet condition. "We deeply regret the President's decision and are very concerned that it could demoralize Tibetans and Chinese who are struggling for democracy and freedom." said Lodi Gyari, President of the International Campaign for Tibet. "However, we have been assured by Administration officials that the President remains committed to helping the Tibetan people, and to supporting negotiations between the Dalai Lama and Chinese leaders." In a statement following President Clinton's MFN announcement, National Security Advisor Anthony Lake expressed the Administration's disappointment that China refused to respond to the Dalai Lama's efforts to begin negotiations and stated that this "item remains very much on the [U.S.] agenda." He further stated that the Administration was disturbed by China's actions in Tibet with regards to the Tibetan culture and people. "The mixed messages being sent from different factions in the U.S. Administration, coupled with the intense lobbying efforts of American businesses foiled any prospects for concessions on Tibet during the last year," Mr. Gyari said. The President's decision marks the loss of an historic opportunity for the U.S. and the President to hasten fundamental change in China and Tibet. The International Campaign for Tibet believes that the policy package announced by the President fails to represent an effective tool to influence China's human rights practices. The President's decision falls far short of his stated commitment to human rights and democracy as one of the pillars of his foreign policy. "While the U.S. Congress has provided significant support to Tibetans, the Administration's decision today continues a dangerous policy initiated in the early 1970s of supporting the regime which militarily occupied Tibet, and represses its own people," Mr. Gyari said. Tibetan Government in exile representative, Rinchen Dharlo, said today that "we are very disappointed that the President did not follow thorough with his MFN Executive Order, but hope that he will not back down in his efforts to promote a resolution to the Tibetan problem." In strong statements, members of Congress, including top democratic leaders Gephardt, Pelosi and Bonior, announced that they would introduce legislation to in response to the President's weak and disappointing decision. "We applaud the determination and integrity of these congressional leaders," remarked Mr. Gyari. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a written statement on Tuesday, "we who are friends of Tibet must continue to insist -- in the strongest terms -- that negotiations between representatives of the Dalai Lama and high ranking Chinese officials soon begin." With the lever of MFN abandoned, the Administration is now obligated to design other ways to promote substantive support for Tibet including the process of negotiations. Representative Lee Hamilton, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said today, the "President has a variety of diplomatic tools at his disposal to promote US objectives particularly on ... a dialogue on Tibet. I am confident that he will do so." Human Rights Conditions in Tibet Since Last May when President Clinton signed his Executive Order conditions in Tibet have not improved, and in some cases they have regressed: * In early May, 1994 China announced a new set of regulations aimed at silencing political dissent. One regulation, clearly aimed at the Tibetans, states that "punishments will now be handed out for...stirring up conflicts between nationalities, hurting the unity of nationalities and inciting separation of nationalities." * In 1993 there was a sharp increase in political prisoners in Tibet. In Lhasa alone there are now over 400 prisoners of conscience, a more than 30% increase from 1992. About half are Buddhist monks and nuns. * The influx of Chinese settlers and entrepreneurs into Tibet continues at an alarming pace, marginalizing Tibetans socially, economically and politically. [ The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is a Washington-based Tibet monitoring and advocacy group. Established in 1988 as a non-profit organization, ICT promotes human rights and democratic freedoms for Tibetans. ] ======================================================================= {3} DHARMANET NEWS ======================================================================= TIBETAN BUDDHIST ART COLLECTION AT D.E.F.A. The Dharma Electronic Files Archive (D.E.F.A.) has agreed to act as a temporary host site for a collection of Tibetan Buddhist line art that was donated by Jarkko Lavinen. Because the Internet service provider Netcom only allows 5 megs of storage to this account, this collection must find another online home. Anyone interested in hosting a Buddhist Image Bank, please contact Barry Kapke (e-mail: dharma@netcom.com). These images, and others, are also available at the BBS, BODY DHARMA ONLINE, in Berkeley CA. The BBS is accessible via direct dial-up to 1-510- 836-4717. Access is free to all. We are also interested in identifying the images in this collection, many of which are unknown to me. Any help is appreciated. DEFA is available via anonymous ftp to ftp.netcom.com in the subdirectories of pub/dharma. Contact: Barry Kapke, dharma@netcom.com UPDATE! TIBETAN BUDDHIST ART COLLECTION MOVED! The Society for Tantric Studies (STS) has generously offered to host an online Buddhist Iconography collection. The gifs donated by Jarkko Lavinen have been moved to that site. It is now accessible via anonymous ftp to sunsite.unc.edu in: pub/academic/religious_studies/asian/Tantric_Studies/Iconography DharmaNet hopes this will inaugurate the beginning of a fruitful Buddhist image bank. The STS files are also available through the DEFA home page (//ftp.netcom.com/pub/dharma/defa-home.html) as well as at the dial-up BBS, BODY DHARMA ONLINE in Berkeley CA (modem: 1-510-836-4717). * * * * * FTP MAILING SERVICE CONNECTS TO DEFA People who do not have FTP access can now get files from the Dharma Electronic Files Archive (DEFA) by sending e-mail to `ftp-request @netcom.com', with the the words `SEND path/filename' in the body of the message. For example, `SEND dharma/Dharmanet-info/dharma.zip' would retrieve the file dharma.zip from the directory pub/dharma/Dharmanet-info. For more detailed usage instructions, send an e-mail with the words `HELP' in the body of the text. This FTP mailing service is primarily meant as a supplement to regular FTP access. Please retrieve files by regular FTP if possible. This service is being offered through the generosity of Tor Slettnes and is not a service of Netcom or of DharmaNet International. ======================================================================= {4} NEW RESOURCES ======================================================================= Zen Mountain Monastery/Dharma Communications announced a new online offering, "Questions to Cybermonk". Anyone with questions related to Zen practice are invited to e-mail questions to dharmacom@delphi.com with the following subject line: Question to Cybermonk. All questions are as confidential as e-mail allows and will be answered by Senior monastics at Zen Mountain Monastery. (Source: John Daido Loori, in Zendo mailing list) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buddhist Peace Fellowship (based in the US) and the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (based in Thailand) are hosting a new public conference on peacenet: bpf.ineb This conference is specifically for matters of interest and discussion relating to socially engaged Buddhism, human rights, development, environmental, consumer, and arms issues in the Asian Buddhist countries, and as compelling concerns for Buddhists everywhere. It is hoped this conference can be used for a continuing discussion of Buddhist social analysis and response. (Source: Alan Senauke, BPF National Coordinator) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The National Capital FreeNet now hosts a Buddhism and Meditation SIG, organized by Andre Vellino. The purpose of this SIG is to publicize the activities of a variety of Buddhist organization in the Ottawa Canada area. It is also to make available on-line resources on Meditation in Buddhist and related traditions and to promote the discussion of this community's spiritual and social concerns (e.g. peace-activism; ecology; human rights). The NCF Buddhism SIG can be accessed by telnet to freenet.carleton.ca and logging in as `guest'. Type GO BUDDHA. The National Capital FreeNet is a community-based computer information system. Although it is a free system, it does rely on the generosity of the community for its operation. The NCF is a non-profit corporation and any donation that you can make to the NCF will be used to improve the quality of service it provides. No donation is too small, or too large. (Source: Andre Vellino ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Canada Tibet Network and its electronic journal, CTN News, have been renamed. The new names, intended to reflect the international membership and scope of the network and newsletter, are World Tibet Network and WTN News. The Canada Tibet Network was founded in 1991 to improve communications between local branches of the Canada Tibet Committee, a Tibet support organization. Its main communications organ, CTN News, developed into a daily newsletter with news from international sources. The network now includes 400 Tibet support organizations, Tibetans and Tibet supporters worldwide. The new address for submissions, subscriptions and inquiries, is: wtn-editors@utcc.utoronto.ca (Source: Conrad Richter, Co-Editor, WTN News ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tibet News Digest, an electronic news journal distributed by the TIBET-L electronic list server, is to be merged with WTN News in May. Sonam Dhargay, founder and editor of Tibet News Digest, will be retiring when he graduates from Indiana University in May. Mr. Dhargay will be returning to Dharamsala where he hopes to set up an electronic catalogue for the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. TND will continue to be published by Mr. Dhargay until May. The WTN News editors will also assume responsibility for the administration of TIBET-L discussion list. TIBET-L provides a forum for open discussion on Tibet and related topics. The WTN News editors plan to operate TIBET-L without any changes since the discussion group is working well in its present form. TIBET-L is available to anyone with direct or indirect email access to the Internet. For more information on how to join TIBET-L, contact the WTN editors at wtn-editors@utcc.utoronto.ca. (Source: Conrad Richter, Co-Editor, WTN News ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [The following is an end-of-semester report on the experimental electronic mail discussion lists ASREL-L (Asian Religions Discussion List) and ASREL- FAC-L (Asian Religions Faculty List). While these lists are only open to students and faculty currently enrolled in university courses in Asian religions, it is being included here to suggest a possible model for new educational resources utilizing this electronic medium. --GASSHO] Closing Report on ASREL-L by John McRae This is my end-of-semester report on the electronic mail discussion lists ASREL-L (Asian Religions Discussion List) and ASREL-FAC-L (Asian Religions Faculty List). [...] Feel free to copy this message to anyone who might be interested. BACKGROUND: ASREL-L and ASREL-FAC-L were established in January 1994 for the use of faculty and students currently involved in introductory courses in Asian religions, plus authors of books used in those classes. The primary discussion forum is ASREL-L; ASREL-FAC-L is open only to faculty and authors and represents our online teachers' conference. Membership is strictly limited to participants in college-level courses in religion; posting to the lists is not moderated but is limited to subscribers only. This semester we had both survey and single-religion introductory courses, but I excluded courses not explicitly in religion (i.e., philosophy, literature) even if they might have had a strong religion component. GENERAL: This was the first semester these lists were in operation, and I believe the experiment was very, very successful. There were 172 subscribers at the peak of operations, representing students and faculty from Cornell, University of Calgary, Kenyon College, Washington University St. Louis, Indiana University, and Siena College. We generated some 1085 messages over the course of the semester. DISCUSSIONS: The discussions were, I think, extremely useful for those students who participated. Keep in mind, though, that ASREL-L is a substitute for undergraduate sections, so that the discussions tended to careen off-topic at time. Those of you not involved in these lists can relax -- you didn't miss much, if anything, that you would want to save for future reference. There were lengthy threads on science and religion and so forth that took us way out of the realm of Asian religions. In the future, the faculty moderating these discussions will have to do a better job of it. FACULTY INVOLVEMENT: In fact, one of my major disappointments was with the quality and extent of faculty and author involvement in the discussions. (I include myself in these criticisms, by the way.) We started out a bit too strong, and at the beginning of the semester we had to remind ourselves not to overwhelm our undergraduates with overly sophisticated posts. But by the end of the semester the faculty and authors were almost entirely absent from the list, which could have used real guidance. I nagged myself and my colleagues, but was amazed that there was virtually no response. FLAMES: There was a very congenial atmosphere on the list most of the time, and we had no significant problems with flames. We did, however, have some students upset at the beginning of the semester with some rather strong comments about missionary work (at least one student unsubscribed or became inactive as a result), and we had one thread of discussion that brought up some rather touchy -- in my mind, clearly prejudiced if not actually downright nasty -- comments about racism in American Buddhism and Buddhist studies. (The person who initiated this latter thread voluntarily unsubscribed after not too long.) TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: Some of my students here at Cornell had individual problems with their computers, modems, and communications software, and there seemed to be a great reluctance to go into one of the many computing labs around campus to participate in the list. One idiot student kept trying to log on to asrel-1 (-one) rather than asrel-l (-ell), and as you can see I've begun to use all caps (ASREL-L) to forestall this in the future. A number of messages to students at a couple of the other schools got bounced when they exceeded their disk quotas. The worst problem was that we never were able to accommodate a class from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, due to some mysterious nameserver resolution problem. Finally, the listserv software used here at Cornell, which has a less extensive command set than that used for buddha-l, for example, took a bit for me and everyone else to get used to. I never did get the procedures for working with the archive and log files straight until the end of the semester, largely because I just never got to it. I'll rewrite the instructions file for next year. FUTURE CHANGES: The following are my suggestions for future procedural changes, all of which are requests/requirements for faculty signing up for the lists: 1. Faculty should submit, at the beginning of the semester, a text-only version of their syllabi, to be placed in the archive. (Additional copies in Postscript or other formats, compressed or BinHex'd, will also be accepted.) (Some faculty did this, but I never got them into the archive. Sorry!) 2. Faculty should sign up for specific periods when they would be responsible for primary leadership in leading list discussions, based on their own specialties and schedules. We will have to spread these out throughout the semester, with particular attention to the final weeks when everyone is so busy. 3. Faculty should submit discussion questions to the list on a weekly basis. (I have assembled many from my class this last semester, which I intend to post regularly the next time I teach it, in spring semester 1995.) Once again, we could divide up this chore among ourselves. 4. I will be happy to handle the technical issues of subscriptions and instructions, but it would be convenient to have one faculty person volunteer to oversee discussions and participation by both faculty and students during the coming semester. (As just mentioned, I'll be teaching my introductory course again in spring semester 1995, when I'll take back this chore.) OTHER POSSIBILITIES: The following comments are certainly not complete; I welcome your suggestions. 1. In the future, as ASREL-L grows, we might want to limit it to multi- religion survey courses in Asian religions. I didn't see a problem this year, but it would make things easier if we established a common set of topics to be discussed each week. Agreeing on such a schedule might be difficult, and perhaps not even advisable, but it would only be possible if everyone were more or less on the same continent at the same time. 2. Hopefully, we'll be able to add to the information available in the archive as we go along -- I had some hopes that students would track down various network resources or do other extra-credit projects, but this didn't materialize. I'm now setting up a World Wide Web server for a number of my projects here at Cornell, and I'll incorporate a number of services for ASREL-L by next spring semester. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS: Please send me any feedback or suggestions you might have! FOR INTERESTED FACULTY: If you think you might be interested in participating in ASREL-L this coming fall semester, please let me know in an e-mail message. I won't respond with a personal message, unless you have specific questions not covered in the stock introductory file (file asrel-l/faculty.interest) I'll send you a file in response. I look forward to hearing from you! =================== Thank you to all the faculty who took part in this "inaugural season"! I look forward to making this an even better educational tool during the coming year. (Source: John McRae, ASREL-L list owner ) ======================================================================= {5} CONFERENCE NEWS ======================================================================= [No submissions this issue.] ======================================================================= {6} LETTERS ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A Choice in Every Moment ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I am very grateful to have "GASSHO" to read! The first issue has meant a great deal to me. I have for a long time felt, as many do, that in the face of all that is wrong in the world I am helpless to change it. I have felt powerless and resigned; the "what can I do about it, I am nothing" way of thinking. However, an article in GASSHO #1 (the editorial, actually) has made me realize that we have a choice in every moment of our waking day. This is simply to either respond to a situation in kindness or selfishly. As the editorial says, a stone tossed into a pond is not aware of the ripples it causes. I now feel that each time I choose to act in kindness to another creature, my act, however small, will have a ripple effect and will make a difference in the world at large. If many people strive to choose kindness at each moment, the ripples can become waves of kindness and love. This writing has given me a new, wonderful, positive attitude about my relationship to the world. I don't feel powerless any longer, nor as pessimistic. Have any other readers had a similar experience, or does anyone wish to disagree? - Philip Rice ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Urgent Action - May 27, 1994 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Please call or write your congressional Representative and Senators to protest President Clinton's decision to unconditionally renew China's Most-Favored-Nation trading status. Express your disappointment that the President went back on his word to hold China accountable for its brutal repression of the Tibetan people, as well as his decision to delink to human rights and trade for China. Congress has the power to overturn President Clinton's decision. Ask them to support future legislation to impose stiff MFN sanctions on China as a result to their lack of progress in "protecting Tibet's religious and cultural heritage." Write to: Representative ________ U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Senator _______ U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 or call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be connected to your Senators or Representative: (202) 224-3121. If you have any questions, please contact the International Campaign for Tibet at (202) 628-4123. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Training and Lifestyle ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NA MO A DI DA PHAT I would very much like to hear from other Buddhist groups and individuals (world-wide) concerning how they deal with the means for providing financial support for their Dhamma Teacher(s) and ongoing activities at their local facilities. It is fairly well-known that in the Christian community -- that a congregation of only about 75 members can (and regularly) does support a full-time salaried position for their head-minister. Usually, this also includes living expenses (providing a home), and often times even a car- allowance (or car provided). One of the most troublesome matters I have personally experienced over the past 20 plus years as a Dhamma Teacher in the West is the lack of congregational support for the well-fair of the Teacher. With the exception of Asian Dhamma Teachers (who usually have a strong and very loyal Asian support as ingrained in their traditional cultural and religious framework)... most non-Asian Dhamma Teachers I've met, spoken with and heard of, often have to split their duties between teaching in the spiritual realm -- and being gainfully employed in the secular realm. This, I believe takes the focus and intensity away from Buddha-dhamma. In my community here in Seattle, there is so very much work which needs to be accomplished. From hospital visits, to prison visits, visiting and comforting the elderly, teaching the youth about Buddha-dhamma, AND, instructing members of the Zen Centre on how to correctly practice Zazen!; retreats, newsletters, etc... The work-load could not easily be assumed by two full-time Dhamma Teachers -- let alone one! Yet, unlike our Christian counterparts, we simply do not receive -- as the Catholic Community Services recently received -- some 85 MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY! to support the various social activities and propagate their religious point-of-views. Being active in various "inter-faith" organizations locally, and to some extent, nationally -- what I have sadly found to be the norm is that these organizations really have no "reference' for non-Christian religions. They not only feel "uncomfortable" with our ever growing numbers, for the most part, but also tend to maintain a strict sense of "equal (under the law) -- but separate" status for non-Christian religious groups. Perhaps others would also like to comment on their personal experiences with such? In Seattle here, during the past 3 years... more than 300 individuals -- from all walks of life -- have come to our Zen Sanctuary for spiritual instruction and counselling. However, of those 300 -- the vast majority "come and go". Most of those who remain, our "regulars" for the most part have little (financial) means to support themselves -- let alone make a regular ongoing financial contribution to continue our spiritual works. This means that usually, only a "handful" of financially well-to-do students/disciples end up supporting the ongoing activities of our group. In Ken Jones' book, //The Social Face of Buddhism//, Ken writes of the need for Buddhist Groups to develop their own "economic power". I also am well aware that their are other Buddhist groups who have ventured into the secular business community and have fared with success. I'd certainly would appreciate any insight you -- others -- could share with our Sangha here in Seattle. All of us would very much like to strengthen our practice and see it continue to prosper. MAY THE LIGHT OF TRUTH DISPEL THE DARKNESS OF OUR IGNORANCE. MAY ALL LIVING BEINGS BE FREE FROM SORROW, FREE FROM SICKNESS. MAY THEY BE HAPPY AND FREE FROM HATRED. Ven. Dhamma Master Thompson ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dharma Centers ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi there! First off I'd just like to say that I think you're doing a great job with GASSHO, keep up the good work! I noticed that in the Sangha section of issue 2 that you have a list of Dharma centers in Massachusetts. I was wondering if you have a similar list for Illinois. I live in a suburb of Chicago and I've been trying to find a center near me for a while, but I haven't had much luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! :-) John [ I am collecting data on all locations and hope to publish a listing of Dharma centers in Illinois in a future issue of GASSHO. Presently, my list for that area is pretty slim. Please send information about Dharma centers in your community -- worldwide -- to dharma@netcom.com for inclusion in the DharmaBase database. If everyone will be responsible for their own local communities, we can create and maintain global resources that will benefit everyone. --GASSHO ] ======================================================================= {7} DIALOGUE ======================================================================= THE THIRD PRECEPT: SEXUAL RESPONSIBILITY by Thich Nhat Hanh //Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I vow to cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long- term commitment. To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct.// So many individuals, children, couples, and families have been destroyed by sexual misconduct. To practice the Third Precept is to heal ourselves and heal our society. This is mindful living. The Fifth Precept -- not to consume alcohol, toxins, or drugs -- and the Third Precept are linked. Both concern destructive and destabilizing behavior. These precepts are the right medicine to heal us. We need only to observe ourselves and those around us to see the truth. Our stability and the stability of our families and society cannot be obtained without the practice of these two precepts. If you look at individuals and families who are unstable and unhappy, you will see that many of them do not practice these precepts. You can make the diagnosis by yourself and then know that the medicine is there. Practicing these precepts is the best way to restore stability in the family and in society. For many people, this precept is easy to practice, but for others, it is quite difficult. It is important for these people to come together and share their experiences. In the Buddhist tradition, we speak of the oneness of body and mind. Whatever happens to the body also happens to the mind. The sanity of they body is the sanity of the mind; the violation of the body is the violation of the mind. When we are angry, we may think that we are angry in our feelings, not in our body, but that is not true. When we love someone, we want to be close to him or her physically, but when we are angry at someone, we don't want to touch or be touched by that person. We cannot say that body and mind are separate. A sexual relationship is an act of communion between body and spirit. This is a very important encounter, not to be done in a casual manner. You know that in your soul there are certain areas -- memories, pain, secrets -- that are private, that you would only share with the person you love and trust the most. You do not open your heart and show it to just anyone. In the imperial city, there is a zone you cannot approach called the forbidden city; only the king and his family are permitted to circulate there. There is a place like that in your soul that you do not allow anyone to approach except the one you trust and love the most. The same is true of our body. Our bodies have areas that we do not want anyone to touch or approach unless he or she is the one we respect, trust, and love the most. When we are approached casually or carelessly, with an attitude that is less than tender, we feel insulted in our body and soul. Someone who approaches us with respect, tenderness, and utmost care is offering us deep communication, deep communion. It is only in that case that we will not feel hurt, misused, or abused, even a little. This cannot be attained unless there is true love and commitment. Casual sex cannot be described as love. Love is deep, beautiful, and whole. True love contains respect. In my tradition, husband and wife are expected to respect each other like guests, and when you practice this kind of respect, your love and happiness will continue for a long time. In sexual relationships, respect is one of the most important elements. Sexual communion should be like a rite, a ritual performed in mindfulness with great respect, care, and love. If you are motivated by some desire, that is not love. Desire is not love. Love is something much more responsible. It has care in it. We have to restore the meaning of the word "love." We have been using it in a careless way. When we say, "I love hamburgers," we are not talking about love. We are talking about our appetite, our desire for hamburgers. We should not dramatize our speech and misuse words like that. We make words like "love" sick that way. We have to make an effort to heal our language by using words carefully. The word "love" is a beautiful word. We have to restore its meaning. //"I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long-term commitment."// If the word "love" is understood in the deepest way, why do we need to say "long-term commitment"? If love is real, we do not need long or short-term commitments, or even a wedding ceremony. True love includes the sense of responsibility, accepting the other person as he is, with all his strengths and weaknesses. If we like only the best things in the person, that is not love. We have to accept his weaknesses and bring our patience, understanding, and energy to help him transform. Love is maitri, the capacity to bring joy and happiness, and karuna, the capacity to transform pain and suffering. This kind of love can only be good for people. It cannot be described as negative or destructive. It is safe. It guarantees everything. Should we cross out the phrase "long-term commitment" or change it to "short-term commitment"? "Short-term commitment" means that we can be together for a few days and after that the relationship will end. That cannot be described as love. If we have that kind of relationship with another person, we cannot say that the relationship comes out of love and care. The expression "long-term commitment" helps people understand the word love. In the context of real love, commitment can only be long-term. "I want to love you. I want to help you. I want to care for you. I want you to be happy. I want to work for happiness. But just for a few days." Does this make sense? You are afraid to make a commitment -- to the precepts, to your partner, to anything. You want freedom. But remember, you have to make a long-term commitment to love your son deeply and help him through the journey of life as long as you are alive. You cannot just say, "I don't love you anymore." When you have a good friend, you also make a long-term commitment. You need her. How much more so with someone who wants to share your life, your soul, and your body. The phrase "long-term commitment" cannot express the depth of love, but we have to say something so that people understand. A long-term commitment between two people is only a beginning. We also need the support of friends and other people. That is why, in our society, we have a wedding ceremony. The two families join together with other friends to witness the fact that you have come together to live as a couple. The priest and the marriage license are just symbols. What is important is that your commitment is witnessed by many friends and both of your families. Now you will be supported by them. A long-term commitment is stronger and more long-lasting if made in the context of a Sangha. Your strong feelings for each other are very important, but they are not enough to sustain your happiness. Without other elements, what you describe as love may turn into something sour rather soon. The support of friends and family coming together weaves a kind of web. The strength of your feelings is only one of the strands of that web. Supported by many elements, the couple will be solid, like a tree. If a tree wants to be strong, it needs a number of roots sent deep into the soil. If a tree has only one root, it may be blown over by the wind. The life of a couple also needs to be supported by many elements -- families, friends, ideals, practice, and Sangha. In Plum Village, the practice community where I live in France, every time we have a wedding ceremony, we invite the whole community to celebrate and bring support to the couple. After the ceremony, on every full moon day, the couple recites the Five Awarenesses together, remembering that friends everywhere are supporting their relationship to be stable, long-lasting, and happy. Whether or not your relationship is bound by law, it will be stronger and more long-lasting if made in the presence of a Sangha -- friends who love you and want to support you in the spirit of understanding and loving kindness. Love can be a kind of sickness. In the West and in Asia, we have the word "lovesick." What makes us sick is attachment. Although it is a sweet internal formation, this kind of love with attachment is like a drug. It makes us feel wonderful, but once we are addicted, we cannot have peace. We cannot study, do our daily work, or sleep. We only think of the object of our love. We are sick with love. This kind of love is linked to our willingness to possess and monopolize. We want the object of our love to be entirely ours and only for us. It is totalitarian. We do not want anyone to prevent us from a prison, where we lock up our beloved and create only suffering for him or her. The one who is loved is deprived of freedom -- of the right to be him or herself and enjoy life. This kind of love cannot be described as maitri or karuna. It is only the willingness to make use of the other person in order to satisfy our own needs. When you have sexual energy that makes you feel unhappy, as though you are losing your inner peace, you should know how to practice so that you do not do things that will bring suffering to other people or yourself. We have to learn about this. In Asia, we say there are three sources of energy -- sexual, breath, and spirit. //Tinh,// sexual energy, is the first. When you have more sexual energy than you need, there will be an imbalance in your body and in your being. You need to know how to reestablish the balance, or you may act irresponsibly. According to Taoism and Buddhism, there are practices to help reestablish that balance, such as meditation or martial arts. You can learn the ways to channel your sexual energy into deep realizations in the domains of art and meditation. The second source of energy is //khi//, breath energy. Life can be described as a process of burning. In order to burn, every cell in our body needs nutrition and oxygen. In his //Fire Sermon//, the Buddha said, "The eyes are burning, the nose is burning, the body is burning." In our daily lives, we have to cultivate our energy by practicing proper breathing. We benefit from the air and its oxygen, so we have to be sure that non-polluted air is available to us. Some people cultivate their khi by refraining from smoking and talking a lot. When you speak, take the time to breathe. At Plum Village, every time we hear the bell of mindfulness, everyone stops what they are doing and breathes consciously three times. We practice this way to cultivate and preserve our khi energy. The third source of energy is //than//, spirit energy. When you don't sleep at night, you lose some of this kind of energy. Your nervous system becomes exhausted and you cannot study or practice meditation well, or make good decisions. You don't have a clear mind because lack of sleep or from worrying too much. Worry and anxiety drain this source of energy. So don't worry. Don't stay up too late. Keep your nervous system healthy. Prevent anxiety. These kinds of practices cultivate the third source of energy. You need this source of energy to practice meditation well. A spiritual breakthrough requires the power of your spirit energy, which comes about through concentration and knowing how to preserve this source of energy. When you have strong spirit energy, you only have to focus it on an object, and you will have a breakthrough. If you don't have //than//, the light of your concentration will not shine brightly, because the light emitted is very weak. According to Asian medicine, the power of //than// is linked to the power of //tinh//. When we expend our sexual energy, it takes time to restore it. In Chinese medicine, when you want to have a strong spirit and concentration, you are advised to refrain from having sexual relationships or overeating. You will be given herbs, roots, and medicine to enrich your source of //than//, and during the time you are taking this medicine, you are asked to refrain from sexual relationships. If your source of spirit is weak and you continue to have sexual relations, it is said that you cannot recover your spirit energy. Those who practice meditation should try to preserve their sexual energy, because they need it during meditation. If you are an artist, you may wish to practice channeling your sexual energy together with your spirit energy into your art. During his struggle against the British, Gandhi undertook many hunger strikes, and he recommended to his friends who joined him on these fasts not to have sexual intercourse. When you fast for many days, if you have sexual relations, you may die; you have to preserve your energies. Thich Tri Quang, my friend who fasted for one hundred days in the hospital in Saigon in 1966, knew very well that not having sexual intercourse was very basic. Of course, as a monk, he did not have any problem with that. He also knew that speaking is an energy drain, so he refrained from speaking. If he needed something, he said it in one or two words or wrote it down. Writing, speaking, or making too many movements draws from these three sources of energy. So, the best thing is to lie down on your back and practice deep breathing. This brings into you the vitality that you need to survive a hundred-day hunger strike. If you don't eat, you cannot replenish this energy. If you refrain from studying, doing research, or worrying, you can preserve these resources. These three sources of energy are linked to each other. By practicing one, you help the other. That is why //anapanasati//, the practice of conscious breathing, is so important for our spiritual life. It helps with all of our sources of energy. Monks and nuns do not engage in sexual relationships because they want to devote their energy to having a breakthrough in meditation. They learn to channel their sexual energy to strengthen their spirit energy for the breakthrough. They also practice deep breathing to increase the spirit energy. Since they live alone, without a family, they can devote most of their time to meditation and teaching, helping the people who provide them with food, shelter, and so on. They have contact with the population in the village in order to share the Dharma. Since they do not have a house or a family to care for, they have the time and space to do the things they like the most -- walking, sitting, breathing, and helping fellow monks, nuns, and laypeople -- and to realize what they want. Monks and nuns don't marry in order to preserve their time and energy for the practice. "Responsibility" is the key word in the Third Precept. In a community of practice, if there is no sexual misconduct, if the community practices this precept well, there will be stability and peace. This precept should be practiced by everyone. You respect, support, and protect each other as Dharma brothers and sisters. If you don't practice this precept, you may become irresponsible and create trouble in the community at large. We have all seen this. If a teacher cannot refrain from sleeping with one of his or her students, he or she will destroy everything, possibly for several generations. We need mindfulness in order to have that sense of responsibility. We refrain from sexual misconduct because we are responsible for the well-being of so many people. If we are irresponsible, we can destroy everything. By practicing this precept, we keep the Sangha beautiful. In sexual relationships, people can get wounded. Practicing this precept is to prevent ourselves and others from being wounded. Often we think it is the woman who receives the wound, but men also get deeply wounded. We have to be very careful, especially in short-term commitments. The practice of the Third Precept is a very strong way of restoring stability and peace in ourselves, our family, and our society. We should take the time to discuss problems relating to the practice of this precept, like loneliness, advertising, and even the sex industry. The feeling of loneliness is universal in our society. There is no communication between ourselves and other people, even in the family, and our feeling of loneliness pushes us into having sexual relationship will make us feel less lonely, but it isn't true. When there is not enough communication with another person on the level of the heart and spirit, a sexual relationship will only widen the gap and destroy us both. Our relationship will be stormy, and we will make each other suffer. The belief that having a sexual relationship will help us feel lonely is a kind of superstition. We should not be fooled by it. In fact, we will feel more lonely afterwards. The union of the two bodies can only be positive when there is understanding and communion on the level of the heart and the spirit. Even between husband and wife, if the communion on the level of the heart and spirit does not exist, the coming together of the two bodies will only separate you further. When that is the case, I recommend that you refrain from having sexual relationships and first try to make a breakthrough in communication. There are two Vietnamese words, //tinh// and //nghia//, that are difficult to translate into English. They both mean something like love. In //tinh//, you find elements of passion. It can be very deep, absorbing the whole of your being. //Nghia// is a kind of continuation of //tinh//. With //Nghia// you feel much calmer, more understanding, more willing to sacrifice to make the other person happy, and more faithful. You are not as passionate as in //tinh//, but your love is deeper and more solid. //Nghia// will keep you and the other person together for a long time. It is the result of living together and sharing difficulties and joy over time. You begin with passion, but, living with each other, you encounter difficulties, and as you learn to deal with them, your love deepens. Although the passion diminishes, //nghia// increases all the time. //Nghia// is a deeper love, with more wisdom, more interbeing, more unity. You understand the other person better. You and that person become one reality. //Nghia// is like a fruit that is already ripe. It does not taste sour anymore; it is only sweet. In //nghia//, you feel gratitude for the other person. "Thank you for having chosen me. Thank you for being my husband or my wife. There are so many people in society, why have you chosen me? I am very thankful." That is the beginning of //nghia//, the sense of thankfulness for your having chosen me as your companion to share the best things in yourself, as well as your suffering and your happiness. When we live together, we support each other. We begin to understand each other's feelings and difficulties. When the other person has shown his or her understanding of our problems, difficulties, and deep aspirations, we feel thankful for that understanding. When you feel understood by someone, you stop being unhappy. Happiness is, first of all, feeling understood. "I am grateful because you have proved that you understand me. While I was having difficulty and remained awake deep into the night, you took care of me. You showed me that my well-being is your own well-being. You did the impossible in order to bring about my well-being. You took care of me in a way that no one else in this world could have. For that I am grateful to you." If the couple lives with each other for a long time, "until our hair becomes white and our teeth fall out," it is because of //nghia//, and not because of //tinh//. //Tinh// is passionate love. //Nghia// is the kind of love that has a lot of understanding and gratitude in it. All love may begin by being passionate, especially for younger people. But in the process of living together, they have to learn and practice love, so that selfishness -- the tendency to possess -- will diminish, and the elements of understanding and gratitude will settle in, little by little, until their love becomes nourishing, protecting, and reassuring. With //nghia//, you are very sure that the other person will take care of you and will love you until your teeth fall out and your hair becomes white. Nothing will assure you that the person will be with you for a long time except //nghia//. //Nghia// is built by both of you in your daily life. To meditate is to look into the nature of our love to see the kind of elements that are in it. We cannot call our love just //tinh// or //nghia//, possessive love or altruistic love, because there may be elements of both in it. It may be ninety percent possessive love, three percent altruistic love, two percent gratitude, and so on. Look deeply into the nature of your love and find out. The happiness of the other person and your own happiness depend on the nature of your love. Of course you have love in you, but what is important is the nature of that love. If you realize that there is a lot of maitri and karuna in your love, that will be very reassuring. //Nghia// will be strong in it. Children, if they observe deeply, will see that what keeps their parents together is //nghia// and not passionate love. If their parents take good care of each other, look after each other with calmness, tenderness, and care, //nghia// is the foundation of that care. That is the kind of love we really need for our family and for our society. In practicing the Third Precept, we should always look into the nature of our love in order to see and not be fooled by our feelings. Sometimes we feel that we have love for the other person, but maybe that love is only an attempt to satisfy our own egoistic needs. Maybe we have not looked deeply enough to see the needs of the other person, including the need to be safe, protected. If we have that kind of breakthrough, we will realize that the other person needs our protection, and therefore we cannot look upon him or her just as an object of our desire. The other person should not be looked upon as a kind of commercial item. Sex is used in our society as a means for selling products. We also have the sex industry. If we don't look at the other person as a human being, with the capacity of becoming a Buddha, we risk transgressing this precept. Therefore the practice of looking deeply into the nature of our love has a lot to do with the practice of the Third Precept. //"I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct."// Adults who were molested as children continue to suffer very much. Everything they think, do, and say bears the mark of that wound. They want to transform themselves and heal their wound, and the best way to do this is to observe the Third Precept. Because of their own experience, they can say, "As a victim of sexual abuse, I vow to protect all children and adults from sexual abuse." Our suffering becomes a kind of positive energy that will help us become a bodhisattva. We vow to protect all children and other people. And we //also// vow to help those who abuse children sexually, because they are sick and need our help. The ones who made us suffer become the object of our love and protection. We see that until the sick are protected and helped, children are going to continue to be abused sexually. We vow to help these people so that they will not molest children any longer. At the same time, we vow to help children. We take not only the side of children who are being molested, but the other side also. These molesters are sick, the products of an unstable society. They may be an uncle, an aunt, a grandparent, or a parent. They need to be observed, helped, and, if possible, healed. When we are determined to observe this precept, the energy that is born helps us to transform into a bodhisattva, and that transformation may heal us even before we begin to practice. The best way for anyone who was molested as a child to heal is to take this precept and vow to protect children and adults who may be sick, who may be repeating the kind of destructive actions that will cause a child to be wounded for the rest of his or her life. * * * * * THICH NHAT HANH is a Zen Buddhist monk, peace activist, scholar, and poet. He is the founder of the Van Hanh Buddhist University in Saigon, has taught at Columbia University and the Sorbonne, and now lives in southern France, where he gardens, works to help those in need, and travels internationally teaching "the art of mindful living." Martin Luther King, Jr., nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967, saying, "I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize than this gentle monk from Vietnam." This article was excerpted from FOR A FUTURE TO BE POSSIBLE: COMMENTARIES ON THE FIVE WONDERFUL PRECEPTS, by Thich Nhat Hanh, with the kind permission of Parallax Press, Berkeley, CA. The chapters on the remaining two precepts will appear in subsequent issues of GASSHO. The preceding three issues of GASSHO included the first chapters of this series. =======================================================================@netcom.com, {8}@netcom.com, ARTICLE@netcom.com, =======================================================================@netcom.com INSIGHT MEDITATION TEACHERS CODE OF ETHICS Insight Meditation teachers from America and Europe have held regular meetings since 1975. Over the years we have become more aware of the responsibilities held by us as teachers and the care that such a role requires. In Asian Buddhism the conduct of teachers who are monks has been governed by 227 vows and strict Asian custom. Now in the West, there is a large Buddhist community led by lay teachers. All of us recognize that the foundation of spiritual life rests upon our mindful and caring relationship to the life around us. We acknowledge that without monastic vows and Asian customs, we have a need for clear Western lay guidelines. In keeping with this understanding, and for the long-term benefit of ourselves and the community at large, we, as teachers, agree to continue to uphold the five basic Buddhist training precepts we have taught for so long. Furthermore, in the discussions that led to this agreement, we have refined these precepts to make them appropriate to our role as teachers of the dharma at this particular time in history and in this specific cultural setting. As Insight Meditation teachers in the West, we have established the following guidelines for ourselves. (1) We undertake the precept of refraining from killing. In undertaking this precept we acknowledge the interconnection of all beings and our respect for all life. We agree to refine our understanding of not killing and nonharming in all our actions. We will seek to understand the implications of this precept in such difficult areas as abortion, euthanasia, and the killing of pests. While some of us recommend vegetarianism and others do not, we all commit ourselves to fulfilling this precept in the spirit of reverence for life. (2) We undertake the precept of refraining from stealing. We agree to not take that which does not belong to us and to respect the property of others. We agree to bring consciousness to the use of all of the earth's resources in a respectful and ecological way. We agree to be honest in our dealings with money and not to misappropriate money committed to dharma projects. We agree to offer teachings without favoritism in regard to students' financial circumstances. (3) We undertake the precept of refraining from false speech. We agree to speak that which is true and useful and to refrain from gossip in our community. We agree to cultivate conscious and clear communication, and to cultivate the quality of loving-kindness and honesty as the basis of our speech. (4) We undertake the precept of refraining from sexual misconduct. We agree to avoid creating harm through sexuality and to avoid sexual exploitation or adultery. Teachers with vows of celibacy will live according to their vows. Married teachers will honor their vows and refrain from adultery. All teachers agree not to use their teaching role to exploit their authority and position in order to assume a sexual relationship with a student. Because several single teachers in our community have developed partnerships and marriages with former students, we acknowledge that such a healthy relationship can be possible, but that great care and sensitivity are needed. We agree that in this case the following guidelines are crucial: (a) A sexual relationship is never appropriate between teachers and students. (b) During retreats or formal teaching, any intimation of future student-teacher romantic or sexual relationship is inappropriate. (c) If a genuine and committed relationship interest develops over time between an unmarried teacher and a former student, the student must clearly be under the guidance of another teacher. Such a relationship must be approached with restraint and sensitivity -- in no case should it occur immediately after a retreat. A minimum time period of three months or longer from the last formal teaching between them, and a clear understanding from both parties that the student-teacher relationship has ended must be coupled with a conscious commitment to enter into a relationship that brings no harm to either party. (5) We undertake the precept of refraining from intoxicants that cause heedlessness or loss of awareness. It is clear that substance abuse is the cause of tremendous suffering. We agree that there should be no use of intoxicants during retreats or while on retreat premises. We agree not to abuse or misuse intoxicants at any time. We agree that if any teacher has a drug or alcohol addiction problem, it should be immediately addressed by the community. ETHICS COMMITTEE Over two thousand years ago in the Patimokkha (Code of Discipline), the Buddha established a clear set of procedures to follow when monks and nuns broke their precepts. In minor cases, these included formal apologies, the admission of misconduct, and the retaking of precepts. In more serious cases a meeting was convened of twenty elders who would discuss the misconduct and set periods of suspension and practices for reinstatement. A second meeting would be required to allow the return of suspended members to the community. In the very gravest cases, monks and nuns were suspended from the order for life. Just as in monastic life, where these groups of elders are established to deal with problems and misconduct, we recognize the need to establish such a council in our own community to deal with such difficulties. We agree to create an ongoing Ethics Committee on each coast, comprised of four members who are widely respected for their integrity: (1) a teacher (chosen by the teachers) (2) a board member (chosen by the board) (3) a staff member (chosen by the staff) (4) a general community member (chosen by the board). If a teacher's ethical conduct is questioned, then (1) Members of the community who are concerned are requested to go directly to that teacher to discuss and try to solve the difficulty. (2) If this proves unsatisfactory, or if the issue is of major concern, then the community members are requested to bring the concern to the Ethics Committee, which can be contacted through the Insight Meditation Center offices. (3) The committee will meet with the teacher and/or the concerned party (parties) either together or separately to address and resolve the problem or to decide, if necessary, any steps toward further resolution. (4) For matters of major concern that might require the suspension of teaching at our institutions, the Ethics Committee will consult with the general Insight Meditation teachers' body in jointly setting the best course of action. (5) The Ethics Committee in conjunction with the teachers' body will develop a set of guidelines for responding to ethical problems, based on the monks' rules of order. These guidelines will be made known to the community. Furthermore, the Ethics Committee, in conjunction with the teachers' body, will also recommend ethical guidelines for staff and board members in the fulfillment of their responsibilities to these organizations. In creating and further developing these guidelines, we hope to support and include our whole community in a continuing refinement and investigation of ethical living. We do not intend the Ethics Committee to be some kind of moralistic body that seeks out bad teachers or students to punish them. We all jointly hold a responsibility to create an environment of integrity. We invite all students and staff members to help us create this environment and hope tat any feelings and concerns can be shared among us all. We hope that these issues that finally come before the Ethics Committee will be infrequent and easily resolved. By articulating and clarifying the basic Buddhist precepts and our commitment as teachers to follow and refine them, we are honoring a life of virtue and the liberation of all beings. As it is traditionally chanted after the recitation of the precepts: The five precepts of nonharming Are a vehicle for our happiness, A vehicle for our good fortune, A vehicle for liberation for all. May our virtue shine forth. * * * * * Excerpted with the author's permission from Jack Kornfield's A PATH WITH HEART: A GUIDE THROUGH THE PERILS AND PROMISES OF SPIRITUAL LIFE (New York: Bantam Books, 1993). ======================================================================= {9} ARTICLE ======================================================================= DHARMA UMBRELLA OPENS IN PORTLAND by Kyogen Carlson Abbot of Dharma Rain Zen Center I feel privileged to be part of something special developing in Portland, Oregon. Center leaders and teachers from Buddhist groups in the area, including Soto Zen, Vipassana, and several Vajrayana lineages, have formed a group that meets regularly to discuss the Dharma, the role of teachers, and the importance of a peer group. We haven't really settled on a name for it. For awhile we were "The Next Vehicle," sometimes jokingly called "The Ma¤ana-yana." Sometimes we call it "Northwest Buddhist Umbrella," or "Dharma Umbrella." We're a little too informal to settle for very long on a name. What is truly remarkable about this group, however, is the depth of connection that is forming. We are becoming a Sangha; one that crosses divisions between lineages and traditions formed in the far East at very different times, and separated by great distances and often by sectarian suspicions. Perhaps it is inevitable that something like this would happen, given the way these traditions are all arriving on Western soil at the same time. Still, I can't help but marvel at it. What we have in common is the experience of being Westerners, Americans, basically, that have immersed themselves in Buddhadharma. We entered these different traditions, that really don't understand each other very well in the East, and after a number of years found ourselves running centers of our own. Now we are in the process of making our traditions fully accessible in this cultural environment. It has been an amazing and joyful process to discover just how much alike our experiences have been -- despite the differences in tradition. And now we see that our efforts at Westernizing the practice are much the same. We come from a common cultural background, so perhaps we are in a truly unique position to gain an understanding of just what the common denominator is that makes these different traditions expressions of the same Buddhadharma. When Gyokuko and I came to Portland in 1982 to run our center, then very tiny, there were a number of small Buddhist groups here, much like you would find in most small to medium sized cities at that time. The groups were isolated and somewhat idiosyncratic, as each was trying to establish its own identity, while still following the lead of a larger organization somewhere else in this or another country. Most were run by very busy people with careers to balance along with their Dharma work, so there was little opportunity to get to know anyone else involved with the Dharma, even when the idea did come up. Since then a number of changes have occurred. The various groups became more secure in their identities, and the leaders became more mature and secure in their roles. Along with this has been a tendency toward independent thinking. In 1986, our temple became independent from the organization with which it had previously been affiliated. This was a very important move for us, because for the first time really, we have been able to truly focus on the needs of our members, making decisions on our own. Since then we have grown tremendously, so that we bought a larger house in 1987, and a church building across the street in 1991. In addition, we began inviting people from other traditions to give presentations to our members. We included all kinds of people: Patanjali Yoga; Taoist; Vedanta; Sikh; Metanoia Peace Community. We also made our first real contact with the other Buddhist groups. Eric Marcoux, who heads the "Waking Peacock Sangha," a Kagyu Vajrayana group predominately made up of gay men, was one of the first. He and his partner Gene stopped by to purchase some incense, and we got to talking about his experience at "Our Lady of Gethsemane" when Thomas Merton was teaching there as well as his experience with Tibetan Buddhism. We hit it off right away, and soon we invited him to teach a series of classes on Ch”gyam Trungpa's well known book //Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism//. As a student of Trungpa's, he checked with Liza Goldblatt, head of "Portland Dharma Study Group", which is affiliated with Dharmadhatu, before taking on such a duty. He taught the classes up to the last two chapters, then she joined us for those. That was our first meeting with Liza. As all this was happening, we were also becoming close friends with Hari Dass Singh Khalsa and Holy Kaur Khalsa who are the group leaders for the local Sikh community. This connection happened because we bought the Center House in 1987 from the Sikh community. It had been their ashram, and before that a Christian commune, and before that, it was owned by a Vedantist student of Swami Aseshenanda. When she accompanied the Swami here to give a talk, she showed us where her shrine had been back in the 1950s. Sometimes it feels like the house itself played a role in the development of Dharma connections in Portland. We started having dinner with the Khalsas on a regular basis, and thoroughly enjoyed debriefing with them as fellow center leaders. We also began having dinner with Eric and Gene, and eventually thought up the idea of getting a number of people from different traditions together for a social gathering. We hosted a dinner for local leaders from the Sufi community, Unity ministers, the Khalsas, Eric and Gene, Gyokuko and myself. It was quite an evening. About the time this happened we had the opportunity to buy the church building across the street. We had been eyeing it for some time, thinking "Maybe in ten years they will want to sell that place, and by then we might be able to afford it." To our amazement and panic, it came up for sale just three years after we moved into the Center House. We started scheming ways we could make the building pay enough for us to make the payments. We thought of weddings. We found out there is a very big market in places to hold weddings. We also found out the neighbors would not go for that because of the noise and crowds weddings cause. Then the idea occurred to us that perhaps some of the other Buddhist groups in town would be interested in renting space. We first contacted "Zen Community of Oregon," an affiliate of "Zen Center of Los Angeles," headed by Jan Chozen Bays. As luck would have it, they had been having meetings about trying to find another place to meet. We left messages with other groups we knew about, and pretty soon Ani Paldr”n, head of "Portland Sakya Center," gave us a call. Committees from both these groups came over to look at the place, admittedly not at its best at the time. It took a good imagination to see how the space could be developed, and a lot of trust to envision how we might share the space gracefully. Both groups decided to give it a go. We also got commitments from a couple non-Buddhist groups, and it started to look like we could do it. We got our Conditional Use Permit, and the sale went through. Since then we have cleaned up the building and made it quite comfortable as a Dharma Center, with considerable help from many people in these groups as well as a ton of hard work from our own members. We have also been joined by "Portland Vipassana Sangha," headed by Robert Beatty, and rented the space to "Kagyu Changchub Chuling," a Kagyu Center, for an event with a visiting high Lama. These connections were beginning to gel just as our dinners with other center leaders were happening on a regular basis. Jan and Laren Bays (Chozen and Hogen), Ani Paldr”n, and Robert Beatty became regulars. Pretty soon we had the idea to draw in more Buddhist people, and soon we were hosting all-Buddhadharma dinners including Liza Goldblatt, plus Sanje Elliott, president of "Kagyu Changchub Chuling," and Clark Hansen, who heads up "Portland Yeshe Nyingpo." We have recently been joined by Michael Conklin, who is guest- teaching at KCC, and his wife Tara, and Jacqueline Mandell, an independent Vipassana teacher who has recently moved to Portland. One day someone said "Hey, you don't have to host all these gatherings," and since then the group has been meeting regularly at various houses for lunch or dinner and lots of discussion. We have developed a completely non-competitive view of promoting the Dharma. When we help each other, the Dharma prospers. When the Dharma prospers, all the groups prosper. It has also helped the Dharma to have a fairly large Center where major Dharma events can take place. Have you ever noticed that car lots and fast food places are clustered together? Buddhadharma has a larger profile in Portland now, and all the groups have benefited because of it. One idea that Ani Paldr”n suggested at an "Umbrella" meeting was a big gathering for meditation co-sponsored by as many local Dharma groups as we could get together. The result was the first "Big Sit." In November 1992, ten different groups signed on to the program, and the only promotion done was through each group's newsletter. One hundred fifty people showed up. It was a little cramped for walking meditation, but the energy of it was incredible. We tried it again last April 1993, with even less promotion, and 130 people showed up. Several of our members have told me that the experience of sitting with that many people, and seeing the different traditions represented had a powerful effect on them. It has also provided a way for the different groups to get together that really works. Something I have noticed is that, as a rule, groups don't mix very well. Individuals can mix together in a group, but if two groups get together, each with their own internal dynamic and identity, you get little clusters of people gathering who know each other. At "The Big Sit" there were so many people and so many groups that people mingled freely afterward. At the second gathering, our group provided a table of samples from a cookbook we put together, and people gathered in the downstairs rooms, eating and talking, and the magic lasted for several hours. As members of the various groups get to know each other, and feel more comfortable with the styles of practice they see, they are starting to feel comfortable joining other groups for special practices and retreats. There is a growing feeling that each group is part of the larger Buddhist landscape. We are seeing a connection between the different Sanghas that looks a lot like the connection we have found as Center leaders. It is wonderful to watch. Another important development from our meetings came out of our discussion on ethics. We drafted something that amounts to a general statement on ethics, rather than a detailed code. I will paraphrase it here: Dharma organizations serve their members and the community. Individuals often make sacrifices for the Dharma, but their welfare and best interests should not be sacrificed for the organization. While the Bodhisattva aspiration should be encouraged, an organization should not take undue advantage of it. The needs of both the teachers and the students are important and should be recognized as such. Teachers have the power, and so bear the responsibility of ensuring this. Teachers should not serve their own needs to the disadvantage or harm of the students: not in terms of money, time and labor, or sex. Ultimately the teacher should work to empower the student. Teachers may need to push students, but ultimately students have charge over their own lives. At the same time, students must realize that their own best interests and simply having things their own way are not the same thing. It is the teacher's responsibility to make students aware of these matters, and to not aggrandize themselves at the expense of their students. The "Northwest Dharma Umbrella" has created a network of support and friendship for Center leaders in the Portland area. We are developing a peer group where we can speak of our experience as teachers and Center leaders in a way that is vitally important for our own healthy development. The trust is such that we have agreed to let our students know that they can go to one of the other Center leaders if they have questions about their experience in our Centers. We have announced this at gatherings like "The Big Sit." This gives the students a way to confer with someone that is knowledgeable and understanding, but outside their own group, and some have done just that. Gyokuko and I have recommended to some of our students that they attend various programs or practices at the other centers when we think there is something of particular value for them there. We would have little knowledge of these programs and practices if we didn't have these intimate connections. I think what we are doing here may be a model for the development of Buddhism in America. It really works well for us. When we first discussed renting space in our building with the other groups, we assured them that we expected they would probably grow to where they would want space of their own, and we hoped to grow to where we could manage the expense of the building on our own. This assured them that we weren't going to want to tie them to this arrangement, which was important at the time. What none of us realized then was how much we would gain by being thrown together. Now we would not want to run the place any other way. It's a wonderful gift when just doing the best you can you receive a blessing you could not have foreseen. * * * * * Kyogen and Gyokuko Carlson are married, and run Dharma Rain Zen Center full time. They trained at Shasta Abbey, where they met. Contact: Dharma Rain Zen Center, 2539 SE Madison, Portland, OR 97214. 503-239-4846. A much shorter version of this article appeared in the August-September issue of "Northwest Dharma News," published by Northwest Dharma Association in Seattle. This article may be freely distributed electronically. ======================================================================= {10} ARTICLE ======================================================================= SANG-NGAK-CHO-DZONG AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE APPRENTICE PROGRAMME by Ngakpa Chogyam Rinpoche (Presentation for the March 1994 Conference of the Network for Western Buddhist Teachers with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala) The evolution of Buddhism in the West, and what possible part I could play in that, has been my primary interest and concern for over ten years. I have in that time, together with my students, created an individual context of practice that may be of interest here. What we have established isn't perfect but it functions very happily, having evolved out of the hard work and kind-hearted commitment of a small number of enthusiastic people. For this reason I would like to introduce some aspects of our history, and the ideas that led to the establishment of Sang-ngak-cho- dzong in Britain and the US. Sang-ngak-cho-dzong is the name we were given by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, specifically for the work in establishing a Ngakphang Sangha in the West. The word Ngakphang, means 'mantra holding' and applies to those who take Tantric vows and live as non-celibate householders. Ngakphang practitioners are usually called Ngakpas (male) and Ngakmas (female). They have uncut hair, and maintain the Tantric samayas. They wear robes which are more or less like monk's or nun's robes, but the skirt or shamthab is usually white (Ngakphang Sangha members sometimes wear red shamtabs, especially outside the Nyingma School). They also wear a red, white and blue striped shawl called a Ngakphang Sen. Sang-ngak-cho-dzong, which has recently become a Registered Charity, is a relatively small but enthusiastically committed group of Nyingma practitioners who attempt to live by the principles of Kindness and Awareness. We are a Ngakphang Sangha, or White Tantric Community, and attempt the practice of being Vajra brothers and Vajra sisters, in terms of trying always to see each other with pure-vision. In practice, this means relating to what is intrinsically good in each other, rather than giving undue weight to each other's confusion and neuroses. This is a quality that we endeavour to apply in the outside world as well, with regard to feeling a genuine kindness and good heart towards everyone. We maintain a respect for each other as practitioners, based on the shared commitment to living the View of our tradition. We place a lot of emphasis on genuine kindness, and genuine friendliness; as well as sincere courtesy and real tolerance. We view tolerance as that which allows for the differences and opposed views of different traditions and approaches, without the need to take any kind of hostile stance. The 'tolerance' which has to make everything the same in order to be tolerant, we view as an immature form of tolerance. We try to take the approach in which it should be possible to be friendly with anyone. We maintain that to disagree with a person's view or approach to Buddhism (or anything else) doesn't have to preclude an otherwise warm and humane interaction. We regard humour, enthusiasm, naturalness and spontaneity as crucial in our approach to being a functioning Sangha. We have attempted to create an atmosphere, within our Sangha, in which no one has to modify their personality or language in order to be accepted. New Apprentices are unconditionally welcomed and made to feel part of the Sangha. There is no 'inner circle' to break into by being seen to be 'special' in any way. There is a continually advocated proscription against engaging in the discussion of Buddhism as a method of 'making conversation'. Apprentices are encouraged only to discuss Buddhist topics when they actually have the need to know something, or when the subject arises naturally in terms of shared experience. The reason behind this is to eliminate the tendency to gravitate to stilted forms of cultic conversation; or, to using Buddhist technical vocabulary as a form of status enhancement. I encourage this atmosphere of 'ordinariness' by spending a lot of informal time with Apprentices. In such 'informal time' conversation can take many forms, with Buddhist teaching weaving in and out of many different topics -- in an atmosphere of good humour and frequent hilarity. We endeavour to create an atmosphere of interpersonal acceptance and mutual support, in which no one ever offers anyone gratuitous advice or criticism for any reason. We try to remember that, at best, our negative subjectivity is subjective. We therefore try only to express our warm and positive subjectivity. Each person is considered to be responsible for their own motivation, and if problems arise between students I regard it as my responsibility to help them come to a kind and open-minded understanding of each other. We endeavour to be good examples of what it is to be a Buddhist of any School; but, at the very least, we simply try to be kind, open and friendly people. Non-sectarianism has always been a central theme of Sang-ngak-cho-dzong, and we have continued to try to establish friendly contact with other Buddhist organizations. We have become a member of the 'Network of Buddhist Organizations'; which is currently being founded in Britain, and view this as a wonderful opportunity to overcome the suspicion that sometimes exists between the Buddhist organizations of different schools and traditions. We hope to see far greater exchange and co-operation between groups, and are committed to participating to the furtherance of this end. I feel that it is useful for students to remain as open to teachers of other Buddhist traditions as possible. I feel that a broad range of contact with other Buddhist traditions is essential for the purpose of students having a wide and detailed understanding of Buddhism. We are probably quite unusual as a Buddhist organization, in that we are small by design. Although our organization may possibly grow larger, it is enshrined in our charitable constitution that we will never develop in a pyramidal manner. As soon as there are other Ngakphang Lamas working within Sang-ngak-cho-dzong, I will automatically cease to be the central figure. This is something I instigated at the outset in order that the future development of Sang-ngak-cho-dzong would remain as free as possible from spiritual imperialism, even if I were no longer alive. I have a deep sense of responsibility for the future in terms of the organization that is growing around me, and my strongest wish has been to prevent Sang-ngak- cho-dzong becoming an unwieldy monolithic empire with me or anyone else at its head. To this end, I have always involved my students in terms of how Sang-ngak-cho-dzong has evolved. I have often been saddened the superstar Lama phenomena in which students have almost no personal contact with their Teachers. I have been saddened by the appalling accounts of sexual abuse that have come to my attention from such quarters, and convinced that their must be some better way to proceed. I have been especially saddened to meet people whose financial or family circumstances have prevented any real sense of being involved with Lamas or their Sanghas. Because of this, I felt it important to attempt to establish an alternative model; at least for people who wanted to study and practise with me. The model was to be one in which people were able to have a high degree of access, especially in times of crisis. The model was to be one in which those who were interested in the Nyingma Ngakphang tradition could gain access to someone who had some degree of experience. On the basis of limited student numbers it is only possible for Sang-ngak- cho-dzong to grow laterally; that is to say, with a greater number of teachers, rather than one teacher with an unwieldy number of students. Because of the problems that I saw inherent in the large student numbers, I decided from the outset to limit the total number of Students to between 50-60 people. I based this number on the average extended family gathering at a wedding. This was a somewhat arbitrary choice, but one that was established in terms of how many people it was actually possible to know individually. My decision was based on the great importance that I saw in being able to relate as personally as possible to each student. It has been a crucial consideration for me, especially in terms of the teaching and practice of Tantra, that the teacher-student ratio be kept small. With regard to my own understanding of Tantric view, meditation and action, it is not easily possible to give guidance to hundreds of students; many of whom may be unknown to the teacher. Perhaps for Enlightened masters this is possible, but for an inconsequential eccentric yogi like me, it can be quite hard work sometimes keeping abreast of the life circumstances of those with whom I currently relate as a teacher. I have 49 Students at the moment, and there is currently a waiting list for men, because I am concerned about the experience of women living in a male dominated society. For this reason I have committed myself to working with a larger proportion of women students, and to giving them greater support. This is one of the stated aims and objectives of our charitable constitution. I correspond with all my students on a fairly regular basis, and am also available by telephone and FAX almost where ever I travel. I am also able to see them all individually according to personal need. They are all able to visit me, and to invite me to their homes in order that our personal connection is maintained and nurtured through informal domestic contact. I would not feel that I was being of any real help to these people if I knew any less about them than I do at the moment. I also make a practice of thinking about them all every day, and sometimes write to them purely because I wonder how they are getting on. On a more formal basis we have established regular private group retreats for my personal apprentices where I am able to teach and give short private interviews. These retreats are held several times a year. These are all things that I would have valued myself as a student -- so these are the circumstances I decided to make available for others. Some of these things I experienced and appreciated very deeply with His Holiness Kyabje Khordong gTerchen Tulku Chhi'med Rig'dzin Rinpoche in particular, such as informal personal time and the possibility of receiving letters which maintained a sense of contact. My students and I have been involved in this effort together, and we have all been inspired with the idea of creating something different, something that could possibly serve as a model for other people wanting to organize themselves around any particular Lama. We have made a practice of looking at the functioning of the student-teacher relationship together over the years, and what we have arrived at seems to suit our respective needs as a group. My needs are met in terms of being financially supported. This allows me to: lead retreats; give individual guidance and solitary retreat schedules; give individual tuition to such Apprentices as our Thangka painter and to others involved in art and craft work; give public teachings; write books; edit teachings and interviews that have been transcribed; answer Apprentice letters and telephone calls; be available to receive Apprentices at my home; and, to travel to their homes. I also send out periodic 'Apprentice Letters' which keep Apprentices informed about my travels, plans, and ideas; interwoven with aspects of teaching that spring naturally out of these topics. Their needs are met in terms of allowing me to function in the ways I have described. They are aware that they always have the possibility of making other needs known to me, and that I will respond to the limit of my ability. We are committed to each other. Sang-ngak-cho-dzong came into being through the interest shown in a style of explaining the Tantric teachings that made them accessible to ordinary people. My primary feeling has always been, that of wishing to make something possible for people, that I believed was possible -- an association of practitioners who could work and play together in a spirit of real kindness and friendship. I believed from the beginning that it must be possible to undermine the tendencies that I saw as being so harmful; such as: gossip; 'Dharma' politics; the giving of gratuitous advice and gratuitous criticism; the formation of clique and inner circles; elitism; sectarianism; self-righteousness; the assumption of artificial 'Buddhist' personality; the cultivation of a style of piety designed for the enhancement of self-image; and, many types of dysfunctional interpersonal behaviour. We have created an ethos within Sang-ngak-cho-dzong where the adoption of an 'artificial Buddhist personality' is not only not required, but which is actually practically nonexistent. The adoption of an 'artificial Buddhist personality' is unnecessary, when all that group acceptance depends upon -- is being an Apprentice. The result of this is a wide range of personalities and styles of expression, united by an interest in the practice, teachings, lineage, and, a kind heart. I was originally called upon to be of help to people in Cardiff Wales who were experiencing varying degrees of confusion in terms of their experience of Tibetan Buddhism. I had returned to live in Cardiff at the end of the 70's, having spent that decade in study, practice, and retreat within the Nyingma School under the guidance of His Holiness Chhi'med Rig'dzin Rinpoche; His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, and His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. I had also studied with other Nyingma Lamas such as Lama Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche, Lama Konchog Rinpoche, Jetsunma Khandro Ten'dzin Drolkar, and Lama Yeshe Dorje. My main Transmission Lineage, the Aro gTer, however came directly from Jetsunma Khandro Yeshe Rema. As it is known, I am the sole surviving holder of this Lineage and so I have the considerable responsibility to keeping this tradition alive for the benefit of future generations. When I returned to the West, it was with H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche's instruction to teach and establish the Nyingma Ngakphang tradition in the West. The beginnings of this teaching were quite organic, and came from invitations from people who came to hear of me by word of mouth -- simply as 'a person who lived locally' who could explain things in ordinary language. As you will know, I was recognized as the incarnation of Aro Yeshe, by His Holiness Kyabje Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche; and as the incarnation of Aro Yeshe's predecessor, 'a-Shul Pema Legden, by H.H. Kyabje Khordong gTerchen Tulku Chhi'med Rig'dzin Rinpoche, but this did not play any part in how my role as a Lama in the West originated. The explanation of the Buddhist teaching in creative Western vernacular idiom has always been important to me, because I am not an intellectual in any sense of the term. I am also not endowed with excessive intelligence. I didn't find it easy to understand many of the books that I tried to read when I first became interested in Buddhism over twenty years ago; and although I have now learnt to read complex language, in abstruse cultural modes, I still find such books rather heavy going. Many of the available books are found to be highly inaccessible or totally alien to those people who study with me. I have always had immense sympathy and empathy with people who find Tibetan Buddhist literature impenetrable, and so my writings have been dedicated to providing material not only for my Apprentices, but for others who feel intellectually and culturally overwhelmed by what they try to read. I am also rather unsophisticated, so I have always felt for those who wanted to remain 'ordinary' at some level. I remember, with both amusement and affection, being described in a book review by Stephen Batchelor as: "the working man's Lama Govinda." One of the main things I noticed in the West, was how people would enter into practice with great fervour, and then become completely overwhelmed by the nature of the commitments they had taken. Tantric commitments were often entered into quite inadvertently. Sometimes married couples would find themselves to have made vows to abstain from sexual contact with each other; and in the early days I was often being contacted to talk with those who felt guilty about wishing to relinquish commitments that they had never intended to take. Sometimes people would simply experience confusion. They would find it hard to understand why they were involved with in-depth studies of hell-realms when they'd originally come to learn about something that would help them in their lives; to be kinder, happier, more relaxed and peaceful. They were certainly interested in the development of wisdom and compassion. They were certainly interested in meditation, but were often simply bewildered by the cultural philosophical infrastructure that dominated the presentation of the teachings. People often stayed in this state of frustration for years, out of devotion to the Lama -- and then disappeared 'for no apparent reason', without ever having expressed their inability to make sense of anything. It seemed to me that people often suffered from some sort of 'Dharma burn-out'; they would seem to make valiant attempts to enter a Tibetan Buddhist cultural world-view, and then become disheartened when time and time again that world-view would clash with the reality of their actual situation. The 'good students' tended to be those who remained with teachers, and the 'bad students' were those who left. The 'good students' were those who didn't question much about the cultural aspects of the teaching, and the 'bad students' tended to be those who couldn't adapt to accepting statements as a matter of faith. I was saddened by what I saw of Buddhism in the West, but soon realized that many of these things seemed to happen by default -- no one was guilty of doing anything on purpose. The interpersonal behaviour of students seemed to incorporate the use of 'insider language', and the assessment of others according to specific criteria, such as: extent of Buddhist vocabulary; knowledge of Buddhist technical categories; Empowerments received; and trips to India, Nepal and latterly Tibet. I could continue at great length on this subject, but it is not my wish or interest to be critical. I mention these issues simply to give examples of things I encountered in the West, and among Western people in the East. It was the attitudes I encountered, and the default mechanisms I saw in operation, that fuelled me with the strong wish to make some other possibility available. It struck me as very sad to see people with energy and enthusiasm for these teachings that I held so dear, fall away through inability to integrate them with their ordinary Western family lives. The first three people who came to see me in Cardiff in 1982 eventually asked me to be their teacher. They are still my Students, and one, Khandro Dechen Tsedrup, became my wife. Khandro Dechen Tsedrup is an equal partner in all respects, and the fact that I am still her teacher doesn't play any part whatsoever in our domestic arrangements or personal relationship. We make this quite obvious in the way in which we live our lives. This means that Apprentices are fully aware that we are not replicating any form of hierarchic relationship which subverts her freedom and dignity as a woman. I do my share of house work as a worthwhile part of my life, because we regard everyday life as practice. I encourage her as much as possible in terms of her giving teaching input on 'Open Retreats', and it is my hope that at some point in the future we will travel and teach together as a couple. Soon other people expressed interest in working with me; and the questions they asked all had the same purpose: "How can I make sense of this for myself?"; "How can I relate this to my daily life?"; and "How does the complex symbolism and ritual of Tantra relate to what I experience as the actual nature of the world in which I live?" Because of the nature of my own personality, orientation and experience (and because of the nature of my own process of understanding) I found myself being able to speak with people in terms of realities, that were common to our everyday experience of existence. These first students organized weekend retreats under my guidance, and gradually other people became interested. It was a slow and gradual process, and one in which we were able to work together. I made a priority of adapting according to what I perceived to be the real individual needs of each student. It was not long before I decided that it was vital to look carefully at what was coming into being around me. At one point in the evolution of my relationship with these first students, I suggested that they look to older, more qualified teachers in the Nyingma tradition; but they were quite adamant that this was not what they wanted. These particular people were all quite vocal in their unwillingness to involve themselves with the recitation of lengthy Tibetan liturgies on a daily basis. They expressed to me that they recognized from past experience that there was no possibility of being able to maintain such practices, or even generate the enthusiasm to begin them. The students who gathered around me were very enthusiastic to be engaged in practices that they could maintain, and they were happy about the style in which I explained the teaching. They wanted to have a teacher who facilitated the adaption and essentialization of the practices to their life circumstances, and who encouraged them to question whatever they didn't understand. Because of this I decided to accept the challenge of continuing with them as their main teacher. This caused me a lot of problems in some areas of the Buddhist world, but I will not address that here. Suffice it to say that I became for a period of time the target of hostility, resentment, and gossip from certain factions of Western people and certain Tibetan Lamas who felt that I was encroaching of their territory. I naturally regard this challenge as the most tremendous responsibility. It is also a most joyful and rewarding responsibility; but one that absorbs my life completely. From that point onward it became crucial to me not to fall, by default, into the problematic socio-political systems that I had seen in some other places. I decided to examine as carefully as I could, the 'default problems' I had seen, and organize Sang-ngak-cho-dzong in such a way that these could be avoided. I am aware, when I say this, that it not possible to create anything without problems; and for this reason I regard the structure we have created together as being continually open to adaption. It has been wonderful to see the way in which my Apprentices have grown as people. They have been an inspiration to me and to each other, and continually encourage me in the belief that the essence of the Tibetan Buddhist teaching can really be of great value to ordinary working people with families in the West. We all hope that our practice, and the example we would hope to set, will be of some value to the world in general. The most substantial factor in avoiding what I felt to be the 'default problems' that I saw elsewhere, was the 'Apprenticeship Programme'. 'The Apprenticeship Programme' is something that my students and I have devised together over the years of our association. It includes a systematic procedure for becoming an Apprentice that has the following features: a. Informational booklet that explains all aspects of Apprenticeship. b. Information about leaving Apprenticeship. c. Details of the Ngakphang Tradition. d. The mutual obligations of Apprenticeship (Entry into Apprenticeship requires that Apprentices have to refrain from smoking or using illegal drugs). I call my personal students Apprentices, to distinguish them from the students of other teachers, and the people who attend public retreats on an irregular and informal basis. I lifted the word 'Apprentice' from the American Indian tradition, specifically from my friend Sun Bear, who first invited to come and teach in the US. I chose this word, because I wanted to establish a category of student who could be free to leave without the attendant problems that many people experience if they decide to leave a teacher. During my teaching over the last ten years, I have met many people who have experienced incredible distress in the process of leaving their teacher and their teacher's organization. People have given me tragic accounts of having lost their friends, because the had been 'excommunicated'. I saw this as being highly undesirable from my perspective, and decided that I would do what ever I could to avoid any manifestation of 'cultism' that I saw arising within Sang-ngak-cho-dzong. So, today we find ourselves working toward the establishment of retreat land somewhere in North Wales. Up until now we have held our retreats the home of one of my Apprentices -- an old farm in North Wales where we regular convert a barn space into a shrine room. This would be sufficient for our purposes but for the fact that accommodation and frequency of usage is limited. I have avoided any move toward establishing a 'centre' up until now, because I have wanted people to invest in their own practice both in terms of retreat time and the acquisition of Buddhist symbolic supports for practice. This has resulted in everyone having a shrine at home, and owning their own vajras, bells, drums, and other supports of practice in the tradition we follow. It is wonderful to see the barn become transformed into a shrine room in an hour, with thangkas and rupas arriving from everyone's home. We have our own thangka painter who produces very beautiful thangkas for anyone who wishes to acquire one for their practice. We produce a journal called 'Hidden Word', and a quarterly news-letter called 'Hidden Agenda'. The name Hidden Word is a loose translation of 'Sang-ngak', the first two words of our name Sang-ngak-cho-dzong. These publications are intended to provide information on the Nyingma Tantras, and on the Ngakphang Tradition. They also provide information on the Ngakphang Traditions of the other Schools of Tibetan Buddhism. We provide Open retreats every year which can be attended by anyone. The Open Retreats have teaching input from my 7 disciples -- senior Apprentices who have been ordained into the Ngakphang Sangha. There are also various practice groups in Britain and the US which are attended by my Apprentices, and by the growing number of 'Friends of Sang-ngak-cho- dzong'. The 'Friends of Sang-ngak-cho-dzong' are people who are not my personal Apprentices or disciples, but people who like to attend the 'Open Teaching Retreats' and other Sang-ngak-cho-dzong events. Although we have evolved in relative isolation from other groups, it has always been our wish to interact with other Buddhist sanghas in the West. In the USA we have very cordial relationships with Lama Tharchin Rinpoche and Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. I go to the West Coast of America twice a year to give 'Open Teaching Retreats' at Tharchin Rinpoche's Retreat Centre of Pema Osel Ling. Students of Tharchin Rinpoche and Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche often attend 'Open Teaching Retreats', and my Apprentices often attend retreats and empowerments given by these two Lamas. My Apprentices are encouraged to attend the Teachings of other Lamas from all Schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon -- and from Buddhist Teachers in general; whenever they have the enthusiasm opportunity, interest or inclination. My Apprentices are particularly encouraged to study with my Vajra Brothers, Tharchin Rinpoche and Sonam Sangpo Rinpoche; and with my Vajra Sister Jetsunma Khandro Ten'dzin Dolkar. Tharchin Rinpoche will be coming to Britain this Summer to give some Teachings, and our British sangha are looking forward very much to meeting him. Unfortunately we do not as yet have such good relationships with other Lamas and their Sanghas in Britain, but we hope that our affiliation to the 'Network of Buddhist Organizations' in Britain will facilitate a more open and accepting atmosphere for all the organizations who are part of it. We are very keen to promote a sense of openness, kindness, tolerance, and mutual respect within Buddhism; because if we fail to be able to befriend each other as Buddhists, what purpose is there is dedicating practice to the benefit of all sentient beings? I would like to conclude by thanking Your Holiness, and every one here very much indeed for listening to my account. I would like to offer my warmest appreciation for having been invited here, and for this marvellous opportunity to participate in what ever way I am able. I look forward to a happy and creative future of friendly contact with you all. Ngakpa Chogyam Ogyen Togden Rinpoche, Spiritual Director of Sang-ngak-cho-dzong Notes 1. This article will also be published in the Summer 1994 edition of "Hidden Agenda". 2. Sang-ngak-cho-dzong is spelt with an umlaut over the "o" in "Cho" this has been removed in this version as have various other accent marks. 3. For more information about Sang-ngak-cho-dzong, please contact: the Secretary, Sang-ngak-cho-dzong, 5 Court Close, Whitchurch, Cardiff, CF4 1JR, Wales, U.K. tel: 0222 620332. 4. Sang-ngak-cho-dzong is a Registered UK Charity, No. 1019886. ======================================================================= {11} ARTICLE ======================================================================= FOR THE AWAKENING OF ALL: The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka by Joanna Macy The Sarvodaya movement started in Sri Lanka, where in 1958, a Buddhist high school teacher named A.T. Ariyaratne took a handful of his students and started work camps in the poorest of outcaste villages. From that inconspicuous beginning grew a movement which has spread to over 5000 towns and villages and is now, as the largest non-governmental organization in the country, offering an alternative to the Western industrial model of development. Ariyaratne, inspired by Gandhian thought, adopted the name Sarvodaya for the movement. However, as a devout and learned Buddhist, he recast the notion in terms of the Buddhadharma, translating it as the "awakening of all." That is what the Buddha did under the Bo Tree: he woke up. And that is the movement's definition of what development is: not necessarily the transfer of technology or foreign aid schemes or steel mills or nuclear plants, but a "waking up" on every level -- personal, spiritual, cultural, economic. A wholistic view of social change results, one which is deeply inspired by Buddhist teachings. Because of its extraordinary record in winning popular participation on the grassroots level, Sarvodaya has attracted the attention of development experts worldwide. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with very beautiful people who are beset with the crushing problems endemic now to Third World societies -- inflation, joblessness, deforestation, growing poverty, and hunger. In the Sarvodaya experience, Buddhism serves as a resource for social change. It is used to define what development is in terms that are meaningful to the people, and it offers community organizing strategies that release their energies and commitment. Sarvodaya means "everybody waking up" -- waking up to the degenerate condition of our village, waking up to work together and harness our energy, waking up to our capacity for compassion and joy and responsibility. The Four Noble Truths are even expressed in these terms, painted with illustrations on the walls of village centers: there is a decadent village, there is a cause for its misery, there is a hope for its regeneration, and there is a path. It is not expressed abstractly, but very concretely in terms of repaired roads, de-silted irrigation canals, nutrition programs, and schools. The Eightfold Path is even expressed architecturally. The movement's headquarters near Colombo is built on an octagonal plan around a large central courtyard with open prayer hall. The building on each side is named after an aspect of the path. The volunteers' hostel, for example, is in Right Action; the accounting office is in Right Mindfulness. Most important of all, perhaps, is the notion and practice of "shramadana." Shramadana is how we wake up. The word means the sharing (//dana//) of human energy (//shrama//). The movement's full name, Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya, literally means "the movement of everybody waking up by working together." Note the skillful means at work here in the use of the word //dana//. Generosity is the pre-eminent Buddhist virtue -- in no other tradition is it accorded so central a position; but over the centuries //dana// had come to mean alms to the monks, the material support of the Buddhist Order. What the movement has done is to reclaim the original scope of //dana// and to present it, not just as alms-giving, but the gift of one's time, energy, skills, goods, and information to the community. So people "wake up" by giving. I am convinced that a chief strength of the movement lies in the fact that it asks people what they can give rather than what they want to get -- and provides them the opportunity to offer that in the shramadana camps. These are collective work projects which a village chooses and undertakes, such as cutting an access road, digging latrines, roofing the pre-school. In that context even the poorest families are expected to contribute, not only their labor but also food for the collective meal, and songs and ideas in the meetings. This is empowering to people. Even if it is only a betel leaf or matchbook of rice you can give, you walk differently on the earth as a bestower. Another Buddhist teaching that is skillfully drawn upon is the four Brahma abodes, or as the subsequently became known, the four abodes of the Buddha: //metta//, //karuna//, //muditha//, and //upekkha//, or lovingkindness, compassion, joy in the joy of others, and equanimity. In the sutra in which this teaching appears, the Buddha is approached by someone who asks, "How can we enter Brahma's abode?" This was the goal of the Vedic people of his time and, up until then it was a question of the ritual sacrifices one performed and the ritual cleanliness one maintained. But the Buddha answered, "You can enter Brahma's abode right now; it is fourfold: just practice //metta//, //karuna//, //muditha//, and //upekkha// and you are in it." The Sarvodaya movement takes these abodes very seriously and very engagingly as means and measures of being awake. They are translated, not just by clergy but by the lay adults and children into day-to-day behavior in social enterprises in the village. //Metta// is the loving respect for all beings that gets you off your duff and liberates you from self- involvement. Compassion is being out there, digging or dancing, to improve the common lot. //Muditha// is the pleasure you find in being of service, and equanimity keeps you going in spite of criticism and setbacks. These abodes are on the lips of every village organizer and painted on the walls of village centers. Every meeting, whether it is a village gathering or a committee on latrines, begins with two minutes of silence for //metta// meditation, extending loving thoughts to all beings. Learning Love and Compassion The primary dictum of the Judeo-Christian tradition is to love your neighbor as yourself, but we are never told how to do it. It is not always easy to love people. It might be easy to love people in general, but how do you love somebody you do not even like? The Buddhist tradition, with its high regard for means, for technique, teaches how to do this. These teaching can be enablers and motivators to skillful personal and social change. Qualities like love and compassion are not just abstract virtues that are the property of saints and adepts. There are concrete ways by which anyone can experience these qualities in themselves. As the Buddha said, "//Ehipassiko//," come and see. You don't have to be a Buddhist; come and see for yourself in your own experience. In our workshops on despair and empowerment, we draw upon these teachings of the four abodes. There is a meditation practice for developing the quality of //metta// or lovingkindness, the first abode, which involves focusing on someone mentally and experiencing your desire that this person will be free from fear, from greed, free from sorrow and the causes of suffering. Taking a moment to internally identify with your desire that another be free from suffering changes the whole ambiance of a conflicting relationship. It gives endurance and patience, and it releases our tremendous capacity for love. The second abode, compassion, means to identify with the suffering of others, to experience their pain as your own. We are often reluctant to experience pain because we think we will fall apart, or we do not want to look at a problem unless we know the solution. Buddhism teaches that the first step is simply to experience the pain -- we won't fall apart -- and the ability to respond creatively and skillfully will arise naturally out of this openness. There is an exercise adapted from the Mahayana tradition that I share with people that we have found to be enormously helpful in this regard. It involves visualizing the suffering of the world coming in with the breath, passing through the nose, throat, lungs, and heart, and then out through the bottom of the heart back into the world. You simply permit yourself to experience the pain, allowing it to pass through the heart and then letting it go. This is a very effective tool in opening to the compassion that inheres in us. The third abode, joy in the joy of others, is a quality we tend to overlook. It is the flip side of compassion, and to the extent that you can experience the suffering of another as your own, you can also experience the joy and power and gifts of another as your own. The synergy that is inherent in dependent co-arising is made available through taking joy in the joy of others. The courage of Martin Luther King Jr. or the endurance of Gandhi is not just Martin Luther King's or Gandhi's, but is ours too, by virtue of //anatman//, by virtue of the fact that we do not exist as separate beings but interpenetrate with all. We can draw on this imaginatively by seeing that the good done by beings, past or present, enters into this reality structure in which we exist, and constitutes an ever-present resource. Anyone with whom we come in contact -- family, friends, the person next to you at the check-out counter -- all have goodness and capacities that we can open to and share in. Looking at things this way helps release us from the envy and competitiveness which are such energy drains. The fourth abode, //upekkha//, is usually translated as equanimity or impartiality, but those terms seem rather weak. As with the others, //upekkha// springs from the Jewel Net of Indra, the co-arising web in which we take being. This is an image from the //Avatamsaka Sutra//, in which reality is likened to a multi-dimensional net with each knot a jewel reflecting every other jewel. As we regard another, we can let our consciousness sink within us like a stone, below the level of word and deed, to that deeper level of interdependent relationship. In each moment it arises in new forms, but the substratum of dynamic ordered unfolding of reality persists and sustains, and in it we can rest. Out of it we cannot fall. Below the separate "I's" that come like froth on the sea, that net is where we are, and in it we find the great peace. The sense of deep trust and peace in the intertwining web of reality permits us to take risks, because we know we can never be separated from it. No stupidity or failure can sever us from it. Imprisonment, even death, cannot sever us from it. I am certain that our Vietnamese Buddhist sisters and brothers, who have worked so long for peace in their homeland in the face of violent repression, have been sustained and empowered by the deep peace of knowing that in the co-arising nature of things nothing that happens can sever them from the reality of that great peace, or from us. The Dharma of Social Change Sarvodaya has taught me much about how spiritual teachings can inspire and guide people -- Buddhist and non-Buddhist -- in social action. Also, we can see in Sarvodaya that as well as empowering individuals in the work of social change, the Dharma gives direction to the change itself. The Buddha's teachings on economic sharing, political participation, right livelihood, and so forth, offer guidelines for building a sane, equitable, ecological, and nonviolent society. In reclaiming these teachings, Sarvodaya is creating a "social gospel" form of Buddhism. Some fellow scholars of Buddhism, whom I had consulted, considered Sarvodaya's reinterpretation of doctrine -- such as in its version of the Four Noble Truths -- to be a new-fangled adulteration of Buddhism, lacking doctrinal respectability. To present release from suffering in terms of irrigation, literacy, and marketing cooperatives appears to them to trivialize the Dharma. When I asked very learned Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka what they thought of this recasting of the Four Noble Truths, I did so with te expectation that they, too, would see it as a corruption of the purity of the Buddha's teachings. Instead, almost invariably, they seemed surprised that a Buddhist would ask such a question -- and gave an answer that was like a slight rap on the knuckles: "But it is the same teaching, don't you see? Whether you put it on the psycho-spiritual plane or on the socio-economic plane, there is suffering and there is cessation of suffering." In other words, you are not diluting or distorting the Noble Truths by applying them to conditions of physical misery or social conflict. Their truth lies in the contingent nature of suffering, however you view it. Because it has a cause, it can cease. Because it co- dependently arises, it can be overcome. On Sarvodaya charts and murals the Four Noble Truths are illustrated with wheels of causation featuring the interrelationship of disease, greed, and apathy, or between nutrition, literacy, //metta//, and self-reliance, for example. They reveal another way in which the notion of dependent co- arising is empowering to social action, because there is not one single cause you have to seek out and attack -- be it malarial mosquitoes or local interest rates. Everything is so interrelated that whatever you do, whether you decide to organize a pre-school, a community kitchen, or a craft cooperative, each is equally valid. Each endeavor toward human well- being pulls a prop out from under the house of suffering. I find that very applicable to social change here in North America. Whatever our contribution, it is of great value; we need not feel torn between responses to different aspects of the global crisis: "Oh, should I go out and try to protect the whales, or should I go march for disarmament at the U.N.?" If you simply stick with trying to stop the strip-mining, you're helping to save the whales, because it is all interwoven. And that is important to know if we are to stay sane and collected in our work, and if we are to respect and support each other. It helps us be more effective with other people, to assume that we are already working together. By the same token, we become more effective by also assuming that we are all aware of the suffering and would like to stop it. When you intuit that everyone -- to some extent, at least, and on some level of consciousness -- feels pain for what is happening to our world, it changes your style. Your strategy and tactics become different. For example, our style in the anti-nuclear and peace movements has been largely predicated on the assumption that people do not know and do not care. So we come on to them with more and more terrifying information and an accusatory tone: "There are 50,000 nuclear missiles on hair-trigger alert -- don't you realize where your tax dollars are going? Or how fast you would incinerate?" But when your point of departure is one of pre-existing interconnection -- that is, when you assume that people hurt and care -- the approach is different. It is one of opening -- providing an opportunity, perhaps by just asking a question, that allows people to open to what they know in the depths of their being and have feared to acknowledge. What people need most to hear is not our information, but what is inside them already. In the last analysis, what we are and what brought us into being is the Jewel Net of Indra. Co-arising and inseparable, we can never fall out of the web of our reality/home. Opening to its presence and resilience, we can now trust. Moving beyond ego fears, we can risk; we can act. Act, as the Buddha said, "//bahujana hitaya bahujana sukhaya//" -- for the sake of all beings and for their happiness. * * * * * JOANNA MACY teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and is author of //World As Lover, World As Self//, //Dharma and Development// and //Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age//. This article is reprinted, with the author's permission, as it appeared in //Karuna: A Journal of Buddhist Meditation// (Summer/Fall 1988). A revised and expanded version appears in //The Path of Compassion// (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1985, 1988). * * * * * [Since this article was published in 1988, Sri Lanka's political situation has shifted dramatically. In 1989 President Premadasa came to power after a series of political assassinations. The political climate under his rule severely inhibited the ability of humanitarian aid organizations (in particular, Sarvodaya) to carry out their work. In 1993 Premadasa was assassinated. Since then, Sarvodaya has regained its place as Sri Lanka's largest and most effective force for poverty alleviation in Sri Lanka. In 1993 Ariyaratne received the Niwano Peace Prize from the Japanese government, in recognition for his work. --GASSHO] ======================================================================= {12} PRACTICE ======================================================================= A DAY OF MINDFULNESS at Dharma Well a Dhamma-talk by Daito Zenei, Sensei Life Abundance Zen Buddhist Sanctuary Saturday, February 26, 2538 B.E. (1994) [This is an introductory Dharma talk given by the Venerable Zen Master Thompson at the commencement of this One-day Retreat.] NA MO A DI DA PHAT. <1> -PREFACE- I would like to begin our Day of Mindfulness here at this most beautiful and sacred BodhiMandala retreat site, known as //Dharma Well//, by first bowing with my deepest respect and gratitude to all those friends, students, and disciples, and especially to Senior Dharma Teachers Dhamma- Ratta and Dhamma-Dayavati for exemplifying their utmost adherence to the SIX PARAMITAS, or PERFECTIONS in making the Dharma Well Retreat site a reality for us all. [Dharma Master Thompson makes deep bow.] Let me recite these SIX PERFECTIONS for the benefit of all of us here tonight: 1) The Perfection of selfless Giving. 2) The Perfection of Keeping the Precepts. 3) The Perfection of Patience and Humility. 4) The Perfection of Zeal and Perseverance. 5) The Perfection of Samadhi. 6) The Perfection of Wisdom, Compassion and Enlightenment. What we will be attempting to accomplish here today is to awaken to our true-nature, known as Buddha-Mind. Many people come to Zen Retreat for many reasons. Usually one comes to Zen Retreat for one of three reasons. 1) Firstly, for an intellectual understanding or confirmation of Dhamma (Truth). 2) Secondly, for the purpose of learning the Precepts and how to live a good life. 3) Thirdly, from ones compassionate heart -- seeing the suffering among all sentient beings -- one wishes out of heart-felt kindness to deliver oneself and others from defilements and suffering. It does not matter which of these three reasons you have decided to join with others today. All three reasons will be fulfilled at the end of our retreat. Let me put into your minds from the very onset that each of you are like a precious gem whose brilliance is hidden by a coating of impurities. If you are to enjoy the pure brilliance of your gem-being your true Buddha-Mind nature- you must first resort to "polishing", to rid yourself of all impurities which cover up your very Buddha-Mind. Polishing what? Polishing of your "mirror-like mind". Enlightenment is like polishing your contaminated mirror-like mind. There are four significances relating to uncovering your true-nature by such "polishing". Let me briefly explain the four. 1) The first significance to be revealed is when by reason of removing all objects to a distance from a mirror there is no reflection, so when all disturbing mental conditions and all mental spheres in contact with objects through your sense-organs are done away with, there is no disturbance of your Mind's tranquility. 2) The second significance is one of greatness of its affirmation of trueness. No matter what the phenomena or the conditions may be in the world -- they are reflected in the mirror of your Mind's Buddha-Nature with perfect trueness and impartiality. There is nothing that enters, nor that departs, there is nothing that is lost, nor destroyed. For, in the true Buddha-Mind, all conceptions are of the same flavor, that in its suchness abides unchanged and permanent. For true Buddha-Mind yields to no contaminations that can possibly contaminate it, and even its reflected contaminated conceptions have no effect upon it. Its intuitional nature is never disturbing and, on the contrary, is in possession of boundless nonintoxicating virtues that influence all sentient beings to draw them into the unity and purity of Buddha-Mind. 3) The third significance of Buddha-Mind considered as a mirror, is an affirmation of the greatness of Freedom. Just as a mirror freely reflects all objects brought before it, so Buddha-Mind reflects all concepts freely without being contaminated by them. They go forth freely just as they are, separated from all hindrances and annoyances of knowledge, and all the phenomena of composition and conformity. 4) The fourth significance is an affirmation of Compassionate helpfulness, for being free from all limitations of selfness, it draws all alike into its all-embracing purity and unity and peacefulness, illumining their minds with equal brightness so that all sentient beings have an equal right to Enlightenment in this very lifetime; an equal opportunity to practice this ultimate principle of Kindness; and equal certainty that ultimately all sentient beings will attain Enlightenment, mature in their root of merits and realize their awakening to Buddha-Mind. Your daily activities of your mind is an outer activity bringing about changes and increased complexity and confusion in your daily life. But the inner activity of "polishing your mirror-like mind" through our Zen training here today enables you to calm the mind, which brings about harmony, simplicity, peace, health, truth and unity. Because of the THREE POISONS: ANGER, GRASPING and DELUSION, your very being is contaminated. Therefore you cannot know true Enlightenment. If there should be no rising of these three poison, your Buddha-Mind would naturally appear upon its own accord and you would manifest Wisdom, Compassion and Enlightenment. It is like placing perfectly fresh clean clothes into a chest with perfumed herbs. The clothes have no odor of themselves. But after awhile, the clothing becomes contaminated with the scent of the perfumed herbs. It is the very same with your true Buddha-Mind! Your precious gem-like nature is glazed over by the contaminations of the Three Poison and that of Karma-consciousness and the false sense of the phenomena world by means of your lower Manas, or six senses. Your Mind gives rise to three kinds of conceptions which are in close mutuality and are inseparable from all discrimination. 1) The first is the conception of activity, called KAMMA. 2) The second is the conception of an "actor", called Ego-self. 3) The third is the conception of the "world of action", called the phenomenal world around you. We create "Kamma", born of our "thoughts, speech and actions". So, it becomes vitally important for us to constantly be mindful of our "thoughts, speech and actions". We must learn to recognize the fact that "cause and effect" are one, not two separate things. When your realization of "cause and effect" is felt not only intellectually, but with your whole being, you become liberated to the fact that there is no way to avoid taking responsibility for your life -- and for the life of others. You can no longer make excuses like, "she made me angry!", and the like,because you know that in reality, there is no "anger", to become angry with. And armed with this new reality induced by Zen awakening, you empower yourself to do something about not only "anger", but all aspects of your life! This newly found empowerment -- and responsibility -- encompasses the whole universe, because it is based on the realization that we are not separate from the universe. What happens to the Ten Thousand Things, likewise happens to you. What is happening in Somalia, the Mid-east, downtown L.A., the Ozone layer, etc., is also related to this "cause and effect" of your very own being. This one aspect of Zen awakening -- experienced with your very being -- is what Buddhism is all about. It's what the Precepts are all about. Dogen Zenji, the founder of our Soto Zen tradition says it this way: "To study the way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to remove barriers between self and others. To remove barriers between self and other is to become Enlightened." When you "get-it", you become "one with all of it". Suffering, Enlightenment, defilements, purity. No inside. No outside. No dualism whatsoever. This is what our Zen training can accomplish for you. Thusly we come to understand that defiling thoughts and our personal sufferings DO NOT exist in their own right, but arise only from the non- enlightened mind induced by these three kinds of conceptions. All Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Zen Masters from their very beginning have developed their HIGHER MANAS in order to rise above such defilements and personal sufferings. They have developed their hearts of Compassion and Wisdom- upholding the Six Perfections and the Bodhisattva Vow, not to gain for themselves this special Enlightenment, until all sentient beings have been emancipated from the bondage of the outer activity of mind. By our practicing advanced true Samadhi -- Zazen -- we acquire in this present lifetime the TEN GREAT ADVANTAGES, which are: 1) First, you will at all times be under the protection and support of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who constitute the Eternal Sangha. 2) Second, you will never fear evil. 3) Third, you will attain clear insight and intuitive understanding, and will cease to be confused or disturbed by false teaching and false teachers. 4) Fourth, you will no longer doubt the profound Dharma teaching, their predispositions and karma hindrances will gradually disappear. 5) Fifth, the rising of instinctive desires, suspicious and malicious feelings will cease. 6) Sixth, your faith in the purposive good-will of the Tathagatas and of the wisdom and compassion of Buddhahood will increase naturally. 7) Seventh, you will become courageous and serene in the face of issues of life and death, escaping grief, and all feelings of contrition and despondency. 8) Eighth, you will unfold a great heart of compassion, your spirit will become gentle and mild, discarding all pride of egoism and untroubled by others acts. 9) Ninth, you will cease to find pleasure in worldly things, and though you may not have attained Enlightenment, you will remain tranquil under ordinary conditions. 10) Tenth, after having attained Enlightenment, you will never again be in bondage to sense-originating of the lower manas. Finally, I'd like to say something about the power of the Bodhisattva Kuan Yin. Many of you have seen statues of Kuan Yin, or may have one yourself. Another name for Kuan Yin is Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. She is the hearer of the Cries of the World. And one of the characteristics is that she manifests herself in accord with each circumstance. So, she is always presents herself in a form that is appropriate to what is happening. Every time there is a stranded vehicle on the side of the road and a motorist stops to help -- Kuan Yin Bodhisattva has manifested herself. With selfless Compassion and Wisdom for all sentient beings. Each of us has the potential of being Kuan Yin within our very being. It' s simply a matter of awakening to it. You awaken to it by realizing that there is no separation between self and others -- as Dogen Zenji puts it. The next time you rush to the aid of someone needing help -- Kuan Yin is working through your very being. In THAT moment -- for a split instant -- there is no separation between you, the person needing help and the phenomenal world in which the giving of your help is given. It is my great desire that each of you will come away from our Zen retreat with the selfless compassion and wisdom of that of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva. And finally, in conclusion, let us recite the BODHISATTVA VOWS together. Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them all. Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them. The Dhamma is boundless; I vow to master them all. The Buddha Way is unattainable; I vow to attain it. To me, the impossibility of these Bodhisattva Vows is the very essence of our Zen practice. We are not to be concerned with the goal -- it's the process which is most important for us. Practice and enlightenment are not two separate things. It's not the goal of saving all sentient beings. It's the practice of saving all sentient beings. Of putting an end to our desires, defilements, delusions, of mastering Dhamma itself, and attaining Enlightenment. With the final attainment of such Wisdom, we are reminded of the very first of the Great Six Perfections: DANA: giving, the first of the Six Great Perfections. The Dhamma Master gives to the disciple. The disciple gives back to the Dhamma Master. It works both ways. Giving ourselves to the Dhamma (teaching); and to whom ever needs our help. NA MO A DI DA PHAT. [Venerable Dhamma Master Thompson bows.] Notes: <1> "NA MO A DI DA PHAT" is Vietnamese. It means, "Homage to the Buddha Amitabha". It is the custom -- a greeting, a sign of respect -- when approaching any Vietnamese Temple, Monk or lay-person to press the palms of the hands together in gassho and say "NA MO A DI DA PHAT". Since our group is closely involved with several Chinese and Vietnamese Monasteries, Nunneries, and Temples, we use this form of salutation. * * * * * Venerable Zen Dhamma Master Daito Zenei Thompson has practiced and studied Buddhism since 1971 and has lectured extensively on the subject of Zen Buddhism in Canada, Mexico, Korea and the United States. In 1978, he received Transmission and Inka (permission to teach) from the Venerable Dr. Soyu Matsuoka Roshi, Archbishop of Soto Zen Mission, North America. Ven. Thompson is a member of several interfaith organizations and works extensively with Asian Buddhist communities as a liaison within the non- Buddhist Western Culture and society; he recently established the Buddhist Community Services (BCS) outreach program. Ven. Thompson is currently the spiritual director of the LIFE ABUNDANCE ZEN BUDDHIST SANCTUARY, 1124 Market Street #2 Kirkland, WA 98033 USA. Tel/fax: (206) 827-9544. E-mail: dhammanet@aol.com ======================================================================= {13} CALENDAR: MAY ======================================================================= 1-14 SPRING WOMEN'S RETREAT - Ruth Denison. Dhamma Dena, HC-1, Box 250, Joshua Tree CA 92252. (619) 362-4815. 4-8 MINDFULNESS RETREAT - Thich Nhat Hanh. Near Zurich. Contact: Marcel Geisser, Haus Tao, CH-9427 Wolfhalden, Switzerland. (071) 44-35-39 6-8 ZEN AND QI GONG - Taizan Maezumi and MM Van Benschoten. Zen Mountain Center, PO Box 43, Mountain Center CA 92561. (909) 659-5272 6-8, 9-15 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Vimalo Kulbarz and Erik Knud-Hansen. Insight Meditation Society, Pleasant St, Barre MA 01005. (508) 355-4378 6-14 WOMEN IN MEDITATION - Christina Feldman and Anna Douglas. Santa Rosa. Contact: Julie Martin, 217 Los Angeles, San Anselmo CA 94960. (415) 721-7149 7 TOOLS FOR DAILY LIVING: AWARENESS MEDITATION & YOGA - Jacqueline Mandell and Simon Menasche. Portland OR. Contact: (503) 246-0272 or 239-0858. 7-8 MINDFULNESS RETREAT - Arnie Kotler and Therese Fitzgerald. Contact: David Briscoe, 720 Bird Street, Oroville CA 95965. (916) 532-0824 7-8 YONG MAENG JONG JIN RETREAT - Do An Sunim. Providence Zen Center, 99 Pound Rd, Cumberland RI 02864. (401) 658-1464. 7-8 100 PEACE & WRATHFUL DEITIES EMPOWERMENT; WEALTH DEITY EMPOWERMENT - His Holiness Kusum Lingpa. Chagdud Gonpa/Ati Ling, Yountville CA. Contact: Angie Arnold, 707-944- 8280. 7-11 THE TAKING OF RISKS - Christopher Titmuss. Gaia House, Woodland Rd, Denbury, nr Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6DY, England. Tel: Ipplepen (0803) 813188 9-15 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Vimalo Kulbarz & Erik Knud-Hansen. Insight Meditation Society, Pleasant Street, Barre MA 01005. (508) 355-4378. 10 SPONTANEOUS SPIRITUAL ADVICE FROM THE HEART - H.H. Kusum Lingpa. Sacramento CA. Contact: Steve Walker, 916-481-0424 or 725-3547. 11 THE AWAKENED WARRIOR: THE PATH OF COMPASSION AND CLARITY - H.H. Kusum Lingpa. Chagdud Gonpa & Davis Dharmadhatu, Davis CA. Contact: Dharmadhatu, 916-758-1440. 13-14 SEMINAR: THE FORMATION OF CH'AN IN CHINA - Professor John R. McRae. Ch'an Meditation Center, 90-56 Corona Av, Elmhurst NY 11373. 13-15 EMBRACING PEACE - Eddie and Debbie Shapiro. Gaia House, Woodland Rd, Denbury, nr Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6DY, England. Tel: Ipplepen (0803) 813188 13-15 BUDDHISM AND DEEP ECOLOGY - Christopher Reed (True Jewel). Big Sur, CA. Contact: (408) 667-3005. 13-15 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Mary Jo Meadow. Mankato MN. Contact: RES, PO Box 6, Mankato MN 56002-0006. 13-26 SIX BARDO TEACHINGS; CONSECRATION OF STATUES; CEREMONY TO REMOVE OBSTACLES TO DHARMA; WEALTH VASE CONSECRATION; CHETZUN NYINGT'HIG (restricted) - H.H. Kusum Lingpa. Chagdud Gonpa/Rigdzin Ling, Junction City CA. Contact: 916-623-2714. 14 VIPASSANA DAYLONG - Jack Kornfield. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, PO Box 909, Woodacre CA 94973. (415) 488-0164. 14-15 YONG MAENG JONG JIN RETREAT - Zen Master Wu Kwang (Richard Shrobe). Cambridge Zen Center, 199 Auburn St, Cambridge MA 02139. (617) 576-3229. 14-15 YONG MAENG JONG JIN RETREAT - Do An Sunim. New Haven Zen Center, 193 Mansfield St, New Haven CT 06511. (203) 787-0912. 14-15 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Narayan Liebenson-Grady. Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, 331 Broadway, Cambridge MA 02139. (617) 491-5070. 16-22 7-DAY SAMATHA/VIPASSANA INTENSIVE - Ayya Khema. 23-6/9 18-DAY RETREAT (Experienced Meditators) - Ayya Khema. Soquel CA. Contact: Toni Stevens, PO Box 1087, Felton CA 95018. (408) 335-3733. 16-23 MINDFULNESS RETREAT - Sister Annabel Laity (True Virtue). Near Toronto. Contact: Toronto Sangha, 205 Monarch Park Ave, Toronto, Ontario M4J 4R9, Canada. (514) 345-8038. 20-21 SEMINAR: THE HISTORY OF CH'AN MONASTICISM AND ITS PRACTICES - Professor T. Griffith Foulk. Ch'an Meditation Center, 90-56 Corona Av, Elmhurst NY 11373. 20-24 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Anna Douglas & Howard Cohn. Winona MN. Contact: Betty Kuhn, (612) 770-9165 20-30 METTA RETREAT - Steven Smith, Michelle McDonald-Smith and Kamala Masters. Insight Meditation Society, Pleasant St, Barre MA 01005. (508) 355-4378 20-6/5 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Ven. U Pandita Sayadaw. Contact: Waldhaus am Laachersee, D-56643 Nickenich, Germany. 21-24 THE TRUTH IN DAILY LIFE - Christopher Titmuss. Gaia House, Woodland Rd, Denbury, nr Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6DY, England. Tel: Ipplepen (0803) 813188 25 BUDDHA'S BIRTH, ENLIGHTENMENT & PARANIRVANA CELEBRATION. 26-30 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Shinzen Young & Shirley Fenton. Tucson AZ. Contact: Jonathan Cates, TCMC, 2033 E. Second St, Tucson AZ 85719. (602) 574-2948. 27-29 MEMORIAL DAY VIPASSANA RETREAT - Jim Hopper. Joshua Tree CA. Contact: Jim Hopper, 401 S. Fischer Av #5, Glendale CA 91205. (818) 543-0669. 27-29 VIPASSANA WEEKEND RETREAT - James Baraz. Vancouver BC. Contact: Dave Wollacatt, (604) 687-2802. 27-29 MINDFULNESS RETREAT - Sister Annabel Laity (True Virtue). Near Montreal. Contact: Maple Village, Chan Huy, 1730 Suede Crescent, Brossard Quebec J4H 1N7, Canada. (514) 466-8726 27-29 TEACHINGS AND EMPOWERMENTS - H.H. Kusum Lingpa. Chagdud Gonpa/Padma Amrita, Seattle WA. Contact: Richard Baldwin, 206- 546-4604. 27-30 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Julie Wester. Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, 311 W. McGraw, Seattle WA 98119. (206) 286-9060. 27-30 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Christopher Reed & Michele Benzamin-Masuda. Focus on deep ecology & the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. Ordinary Dharma, 247 Horizon Av, Venice CA 90291. (310) 396-5054. 27-30 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Rodney Smith. Oklahoma City OK. Contact: Aprita Smith, (405)478-8407 or Denise Newman, (405) 843-7333. 27-30 VIPASSANA MEDITATION WITH METTA - Kamala Masters. Contact: Nadine Delano, Southern Dharma Retreat Center, Route 1, Box 34H, Hot Springs NC 28743. (704) 622-7112. 27-30 MEDITATION AND THE ART OF WORKING - Martine Batchelor. Gaia House, Woodland Rd, Denbury, nr Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6DY, England. Tel: Ipplepen (0803) 813188 27-6/4 RESIDENTIAL RETREAT - Fred von Allmen. Stockholm, Sweden. Contact: Maja Fredricksson, Sodermannagatan 57M, S- 11666 Stockholm, Sweden. 28 MEDITATION AND INQUIRY - Howard Cohn. A day of sitting, walking, inquiry and discussion. Spirit Rock Center, Box 909, Woodacre CA 94973. (415) 488-0164 28 A DAY OF MINDFULNESS. Life Abundance Zen Buddhist Sanctuary, c/o Dharma Well, 4503 - 229th Ave NE, Redmond WA 98053-8316. Contact: Dhamma-Ratta or Dhamma- Dayavati at 868-2184. 28 MEN'S RETREAT - Joseph Cappell. Newbury Insight Meditation Center, One Rolfes Lane, Newbury, MA 01951. (508) 463-0131. 28-30 3-DAY RETREAT - Larry Rosenberg. Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, 331 Broadway, Cambridge MA 02139. (617) 491-5070. 28-6/4 INTENSIVE 7-DAY CH'AN RETREAT - Master Sheng-yen. Ch'an Meditation Center, 90-56 Corona Ave, Elmhurst NY 11373. (718) 592-6593. FAX: (718) 592-0717 29 DAY OF METTA - Daeja Napier. Newbury Insight Meditation Center, One Rolfes Lane, Newbury, MA 01951. (508) 463-0131. 29-8/28 SUMMER ANGO (PEACEFUL DWELLING) RETREAT - Taizan Maezumi. Zen Mountain Center, PO Box 43, Mountain Center CA 92561. (909) 659-5272. 30-6/10 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Steven Smith, Michelle McDonald-Smith, Kamala Masters and Stephen Armstrong. Insight Meditation Society, Pleasant St, Barre MA 01005. (508) 355- 4378 ======================================================================= JUNE ======================================================================= 1 DATHUN - Bhikshu Lodro Zangpo. Gampo Abbey, Pleasant Bay, Nova Scotia, B0E 2P0 Canada. (902) 224- 2752. 1-5 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Ajahn Tiradhammo. Contact: Seminarhaus Engl, D-84339 Unterdietfurt, Germany. 3-5 YONG MAENG JONG JIN RETREAT - Do An Sunim. Cambridge Zen Center, 199 Auburn St, Cambridge MA 02139. (617) 576- 3229. 3-5 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Bhante Gunaratana or Bhante Rahula. Bhavana Society, Rt 1 Box 218-3, High View WV 26808. (304) 856-2341. 3-5 CULTIVATING COMPASSION: A MINDFUL APPROACH TO SERVING PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC OR LIFE-THREATENING ILLNESS. Zen Hospice Project, 273 Page St, San Francisco CA 94102. (415) 863-2910. 3-6 INSIGHT MEDITATION - Yvonne Weier. Gaia House, Woodland Rd, Denbury, Nr. Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6DY, England. Tel: Ipplepen (0803) 813188. 3-10 TREASURY OF KNOWLEDGE RETREAT - Ven. Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Translation by Lama Yeshe. Rigpa Dorje Cenert, PO Box 690995, San Antonio TX 78269. (210) 698-0529. 3-12 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Mary Orr. Wolf Creek MT. Contact: Nomi Lev, 336 So 5th St, Missoula MT 59801. (406) 721-3687. 4-5 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Ajahn Tiradhammo. Switzerland. Contact: Buddhistiches Kloster, Am Waldrand, CH-3718 Kandersteg, BE, Switzerland. 5 THE NOBLE PATH AND THE RED ROAD - John Travis & Fred Wahpepah. Native American practice from the perspective of Buddhist practice. Optional sweat lodge ceremony. Limited registration. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, PO Box 909, Woodacre CA 94973. (415) 488-0164. 5 MOTHERING IN AWARENESS - Daeja Napier & Jan Surrey. The practice of mindfulness as a way to cultivate the sustaining power to mother with full presence of mind and heart. Newbury Insight Meditation Center, One Rolfes Lane, Newbury, MA 01951. (508)463-0131. 5-11 SOTO ZEN BASIC TEACHING & PRACTICE RETREAT. Shasta Abbey, PO Box 199, Mt. Shasta CA 96067. (916) 926-4208. Fax: (916) 926-5796. 6 EVENING TALK - Eido T. Shimano Roshi. Boston Dharmadhatu & Shambhala Center, Ashoka House, 515 Center Street, Newton Corner, Boston MA 02158. (617) 965-2827. 8 INFORMED CITIZENSHIP AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE - Roger Kamenetz. Talk & discussion about the interface of Buddhism & Judaism. Roger is the author of //The Jew in the Lotus//. Facilitated by Sylvia Boorstein. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, PO Box 909, Woodacre CA 94973. (415) 488-0164. 8-24 INSIGHT MEDITATION - Christina Feldman & Fred von Allmen. Gaia House, Woodland Rd, Denbury, Nr. Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6DY, England. Tel: Ipplepen (0803) 813188. 10-11 MONASTIC PRACTICE IN THE KOREAN ZEN TRADITION - Professor Robert E. Buswell, Jr. Ch'an Meditation Center, 90-56 Corona Av, Elmhurst NY 11373. 10-17 STUDY RETREAT: APPROACHING EMPTINESS (Intermediate). Aryaloka Retreat Center, 14 Heartwood Circle, Newmarket NH 03857. (603) 659-5456. 11 FAMILY DAY OF MINDFULNESS - Wendy Johnson. Green Gulch Farm, 1601 Shoreline Highway, Sausalito CA 94965. (415) 383-3134. 11 CONSECRATING THE ORDINARY: THE PRACTICE OF DAILY LIFE - Rachel Naomi Remen, MD. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, PO Box 909, Woodacre CA 94973. (415) 488-0164. 11-12 ZEN RETREAT - Yvonne Rand. Goat-in-the Road, Muir Beach CA. Contact: Yvonne Rand, 1821 Star Route, Sausalito CA 94965. (415) 388-5572. Fax: (415) 388-9615. 11-12 YONG MAENG JONG JIN RETREAT - Zen Master Soeng Hyang (Barbara Rhodes). Cambridge Zen Center, 199 Auburn St, Cambridge MA 02139. (617) 576-3229. 12 DAY OF METTA - Daeja Napier. Cambridge MA. Contact: Newbury Insight Meditation Center, One Rolfes Lane, Newbury, MA 01951. (508) 463-0131. 14-19 MEN'S COURSE - Steven Smith & Steven Armstrong. Insight Meditation Society, Pleasant St, Barre MA 01005. (508) 355- 4378. 15-19 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Shinzen Young & Shirley Fenton. Childs MD. Contact: Celia Coates, 7102 Brennan Ln, Chevy Chase MD 20815. (301) 718-2920. 17-19 VIPASSANA RETREAT - James Baraz. Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, 311 W. McGraw, Seattle WA 98119. (206) 286-9060. 18 CHRISTIAN-BUDDHIST RETREAT - Father Robert Morin and Do An Sunim. Cambridge Zen Center, 199 Auburn St, Cambridge MA 02139. (617) 576- 3229. 18 THE REAWAKENING OF THE SACRED FEMININE - Andrew Harvey. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, PO Box 909, Woodacre CA 94973. (415) 488-0164. 18-19 THE JUDGE: WORKING WITH THE INNER VOICE - Yvonne Rand. Sacramento CA. Contact: Betty Nelson, 645 J St, Davis CA 95616. (916) 756-2710. 18-23 STILLNESS AND KNOWING - Mary Jo Meadow. Rockford IL. A vipassana retreat for Christians (and anyone else). Contact: Jim Ferolo, 4094 W. Timberlane, Dixon IL 61021. (815) 652- 4742 19-20 VIPASSANA DAYLONG(S) - Jack Kornfield, Gil Fronsdal, Mary Orr, John Travis. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, PO Box 909, Woodacre CA 94973. (415) 488-0164. 19 MINDFUL AWARENESS - Jacqueline Mandell. Cincinnati Zen Center. Contact Patrick McKelvey, (513) 631-1221. 19-26 7-DAY SESSHIN - Taizan Maezumi, Roshi. Zen Mountain Center, P.O. Box 43, Mountain Center CA 92561. (909) 659- 5272. 20-26 SOTO ZEN MEDITATION RETREAT. Shasta Abbey, PO Box 199, Mt. Shasta CA 96067. (916) 926-4208. Fax: (916) 926-5796. 20-7/1 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Ruth Denison. Breitenbush Hotsprings Community, PO Box 578, Detroit OR 97342. (503) 854-3314. 23-26 THE ART OF HEALING: MINDFULNESS RETREAT ON BRUSHWORK & KI - Joan Halifax and Kazuaki Tanahashi. Upaya, 1404 Cerro Gordo Road, Santa Fe NM 87501. (505) 986-8518. Fax: (505) 986-8528. 23-27 YOUNG ADULTS VIPASSANA RETREAT - Steven Smith. Specifically for young adults ages 13-18. Insight Meditation Society, Pleasant St, Barre MA 01005. (508) 355-4378. 25 DAY OF MEDITATION FOR LESBIANS - Arinna Weisman with Carol Osmer Newhouse and Diane Mariechild. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, PO Box 909, Woodacre CA 94973. (415) 488-0164. 25-26 CAREGIVERS RETREAT - Zen Master Soeng Hyang (Barbara Rhodes). Yale University. Contact: New Haven Zen Center, 193 Mansfield St, New Haven CT 06511. (203) 787-0912. 25-26 2-DAY RETREAT - Larry Rosenberg. Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, 331 Broadway, Cambridge MA 02139. (617) 491-5070. 25-7/9 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Ajahn Munindo & Ajahn Subbato. Amaravati Buddhist Centre, Great Gaddesden, Hemel Hempstead, Herfordshire HP1 3BZ, England. Tel: 044284-3239 (in UK). 26 MINDFUL AWARENESS - Jacqueline Mandell. Cincinnati Zen Center. Contact Patrick McKelvey, (513) 631-1221. 27-7/3 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Fred von Allmen & Yvonne Weier. Contact: Carlos Gil Sobera, Apartado de Correos 528, E- Palma de Mallorca, Spain. ======================================================================= JULY ======================================================================= 1-4 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Mary Orr. Tucson AZ. Contact: Jonathan Cates, (602) 574-2948. 1-4 THE HEART IN VIPASSANA MEDITATION - Rodney Smith & Narayan Liebenson Grudy. Insight Meditation Society, Pleasant St, Barre MA 01005. (508) 355-4378. 1-4 INSIGHT MEDITATION RETREAT - Steven Armstrong. 4-17 INTENSIVE INSIGHT MEDITATION RETREAT - Steven Armstrong & Kamala Masters. Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, 311 W. McGraw, Seattle WA 98119. (206) 286-9060. 1-8 HEART OF MERCY, HEART OF WISDOM - Mary Jo Meadow & Barbara Brodsky. Mankato MN. Christian-vipassana retreat. Contact: RES, PO Box 6, Mankato MN 56002-0006. 1-10 TEN-DAY RETREAT - Bhante Gunaratana or Bhante Rahula. Bhavana Society, Rt 1 Box 218-3, High View WV 26808. (304) 856-2341. 2-3 YONG MAENG JONG JIN RETREAT - Do An Sunim. Providence Zen Center, 99 Pound Rd, Cumberland RI 02864. (401) 658-1464. 2-3 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Ajahn Tiradhammo. Switzerland. Contact: Buddhistiches Kloster, Am Waldrand, CH-3718 Kandersteg, BE, Switzerland. 2-9 ESSENCE OF SIDDHI DRUBCHEN - Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. Chagdud Gonpa, PO Box 279, Junction City CA 96048. Contact: Rambhali at (916) 623-2714. 3-10 LETTING GO INTO LIFE - Christopher Titmuss & Yvonne Weier. Gaia House, Woodland Rd, Denbury, Nr. Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6DY, England. Tel: Ipplepen (0803) 813188. 5-8 ZEN SESSHIN INTENSIVE - Kobun Chino, Roshi. Naropa Institute, 2130 Arapahoe Av, Boulder CO 80302. (303) 546-3568. 8-17 OLD YOGI COURSE - Larry Rosenberg & Corrado Pensa. Retreatants must have sat at least one 9-day vipassana retreat. Insight Meditation Society, Pleasant St, Barre MA 01005. (508) 355- 4378. 9 ENLIVEN YOUR PRACTICE - Anna Douglas & David Christensen. Includes Dzogchen energy/breathwork and yogic exercises. Spirit Rock Meditation Center, PO Box 909, Woodacre CA 94973. (415) 488-0164. 9 MINDFUL AWARENESS - Jacqueline Mandell. Grailville, Loveland OH. (513) 683-2340. 11-12 ZEN RETREAT - Yvonne Rand. Goat-in-the Road, Muir Beach CA. Contact: Yvonne Rand, 1821 Star Route, Sausalito CA 94965. (415) 388-5572. Fax: (415) 388-9615. 9-10 2-DAY RETREAT - Narayan Liebenson-Grady. Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, 331 Broadway, Cambridge MA 02139. (617) 491-5070. 10-17 VIPASSANA RETREAT - James Baraz & Carol Wilson. San Rafael CA. Contact: Beth Baker, 290 Redwood Rd, San Anselmo CA 94960. (415) 459-5670. 11-18 RED VAJRASATTVA DRUBCHEN - Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. Chagdud Gonpa, PO Box 279, Junction City CA 96048. Contact: Rambhali at (916) 623-2714. 13-15 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Joseph Goldstein & Sharon Salzberg. Naropa Institute, 2130 Arapahoe Av, Boulder CO 80302. (303) 546-3568. 15-17 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Jack Kornfield & Sharon Salzberg. Boulder CO. Contact: Debra Trausch Thornberg, 771 Lakeshore Dr, Boulder CO 80302. (303) 642-0132. 15-17 MEDITATION & LIVING A FULL LIFE - Susan Augenstein. Contact: Nadine Delano, Southern Dharma Retreat Center, Route 1, Box 34H, Hot Springs NC 28743. (704) 622-7112. 15-17 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Steven Smith & Michele McDonald-Smith. Molikai HI. Contact: Yuklin Aluli, 415C Uluniu St, Kailua HI 96734. (808) 262-5610. 15-22 UNCOVERING THE HEART OF ENLIGHTENMENT - Ven. Tsognyi Rinpoche. Naropa Institute, 2130 Arapahoe Av, Boulder CO 80302. (303) 546-3568. 15-25 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Shinzen Young & Shirley Fenton. Winona MN. Contact: Hal Barron, TCVC, PO Box 14683, Minneapolis MN 55414. (612) 332-2436. 16-23 THE WAY OF ZEN - Martine & Stephen Batchelor. Gaia House, Woodland Rd, Denbury, Nr. Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6DY, England. Tel: Ipplepen (0803) 813188. 16-23 MOUNTAIN WALKING RETREAT ON THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE - Joan Halifax and Randy Fox. Explore sky tradition of Buddhism in relation to deep ecology. Retreatants should be in good physical condition. Upaya, 1404 Cerro Gordo Road, Santa Fe NM 87501. (505) 986-8518. Fax: (505) 986-8528. 16-24 SILENCE & AWARENESS - Mary Jo Meadow & Kevin Culligan. Weston MA. Includes teachings of the Christian mystic St. John of the Cross. Contact: RES, PO Box 6, Mankato MN 56002-0006. 17 DAY OF METTA - Daeja Napier. Newbury Insight Meditation Center, One Rolfes Lane, Newbury, MA 01951. (508) 463-0131. 20-23 PENETRATIVE STUDY OF SHOBOGENZO - Taizan Maezumi, Roshi. Zen Mountain Center, P.O. Box 43, Mountain Center CA 92561. (909) 659- 5272. 21-22 CHRISTIAN-BUDDHIST RETREAT - Father Robert Morin & Do An Sunim. Hudson Meditation Grop, Oblate Retreat House, 200 Lowell Road, Hudson NH 03051. (603) 883-6089. 22-31 VIPASSANA RETREAT - Christina Feldman & Anna Douglas. Insight Meditation Society, Pleasant St, Barre MA 01005. (508) 355- 4378 22-8/17 THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT - Ven. Thubten Chodron. Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, Castle Rock WA. Contact: Northwest Dharma Association, 311 West McGraw St, Seattle WA 98119. 23 MINDFULNESS MEDITATION - Jacqueline Mandell. Dharma Center, 502 Livermore St, Yellow Springs OH 45387. (513) 767-9919. 24-31 7-DAY SESSHIN - Taizan Maezumi, Roshi. Zen Mountain Center, P.O. Box 43, Mountain Center CA 92561. (909) 659- 5272. 29-8/7 MEDITATION & LIVING A FULL LIFE - Susan Augenstein. Gaia House, Woodland Rd, Denbury, Nr. Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6DY, England. Tel: Ipplepen (0803) 813188. 29-8/1 INSIGHT MEDITATION & THE HEART - Rodney Smith. Contact: Nadine Delano, Southern Dharma Retreat Center, Route 1, Box 34H, Hot Springs NC 28743. (704) 622-7112. 30-8/12 APPLIED DEEP ECOLOGY: A Residential Summer School. Shenoa Retreat Center, Philo CA. Contact: Institute for Deep Ecology Education, Box 2290, Boulder CO 80306. (303) 939-8398. 31 REMEMBERING CHILDREN WHO HAVE DIED - Yvonne Rand. Goat-in-the Road, Muir Beach CA. Contact: Yvonne Rand, 1821 Star Route, Sausalito CA 94965. (415) 388-5572. Fax: (415) 388-9615. 31-8/7 INTRODUCTION TO TIBETAN BUDDHISM RETREAT - Namgyal Monastery monks. Namgyal Monastery, PO Box 127, Ithaca NY 14851. ======================================================================= {14} REVIEWS: ======================================================================= [No reviews submitted this issue.] Books Received: The Blooming of a Lotus: Guided Meditation Exercises for Healing and Transformation. Thich Nhat Hanh. 152 pages. ISBN 0-8070-1222-X. Beacon Press, 25 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02108. 1994. A Buddhist Bible. Edited by Dwight Goddard, with a new forward by Robert Aitken. 720 pages, paperback. ISBN 0-8070-5911-0. Beacon Press, 25 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02108. 1994. The Mind Like Fire Unbound. Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 140 pages, paperback. Dhamma Dana Publications, c/o Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Lockwood Road, Barre MA 01005. 1993. ======================================================================= {15} RESOURCES: ======================================================================= CHILDREN'S DHARMA by Jacqueline Mandell When Don Morreale was researching his book, //Buddhist America// (Santa Fe: John Muir Publications, 1988), he intended to include the availability of childcare at each meditation center, but at that time there was too little information to make that subject a category. Now some years later, with many more children and parents showing up in Dharma circles, the subject of Children's Dharma is of primary concern. In 1987 I gave birth to twin daughters and nursed them for 17 months. When they were six months old I joined together with other nursing mothers to form a mothers and children/babies meditation group. We met weekly for meditation. Just as I was weaning my daughters onto bottles I returned to teaching meditation. Every child is different. Some children are interested in aspects of Buddhism and/or meditation. The paramitas are certainly common ground for everyone -- young and old, alike. I talk to my own children about kindness, honesty and making choices that are empowering to themselves as well as being non-harming to others. There are terrific children's books available everywhere that teach wholesome qualities. My daughters have sat through half-day and all-day teachings and empowerments. Some of the time they are directly attentive. Other times they color or look at books or sleep. When I teach meditation I usually leave them with their Dad. Perhaps when they are a little older I'll bring them along if they would like to come with me. Since I believe in diversity, freedom of choice and open-heartedness, I share my Dharma activities with my children as a way of sharing myself. Their path in life may be the same, similar or different than my own. They undoubtedly will make informed choices. To begin to put some resources together I called on some Buddhist teachers in the Portland Buddhist Dharma Umbrella and other friends. This resource list, which emerged from those discussions, is but the beginning of a resource for children, parents, grandparents, child care assistants, Dharma teachers, Dharma students, and all concerned peoples. It is my hope that all of those who read this article will add to its content. For those of you who are concerned for our children as well as ways of bringing some of our own joys to our children I hope this piece will bring benefit. Meditation Centers Offering Programs for Children ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dharma Rain Zen Center 2539 SE Madison Portland, OR 97214 Contact: Erin, (505) 635-8409 Dharma Rain Zen Center has a bimonthly Children's Dharma class on Sunday mornings while their parents are in the zendo. This was created and co- ordinated by head priestess, Gyokuko, and Erin. Small children meditate for about 2 or 3 minutes. Older children sit for about 10 minutes. Children set up their own altar, light incense, control their own service and time the sittings. Lessons are designed to coordinate the western calendar and seasons as well as the Buddhist calendar. Art projects are developed to create sensitivity and learning for each lesson. Six or eight songs are learned over the course of the year. Precepts and New Year's resolutions are also included. A Greeting circle is created in the beginning. For this particular Dharma School children may enter in Fall or January. * * * Contact: Pam Holt, (503) 646-5771 At a three month retreat in France taught by Sogyal Rimpoche there was both a children's service before the morning teachings and all-day child care with spiritually oriented caregivers and volunteers. The natural setting of the beauty of southern France added to the connection of children-dharma and the beauty of mother earth. Pam Holt, meditation teacher and Portland Rigpa leader, attended this 3- month retreat with her six-year old son, Gaelen. He had his own meditation cushion. He learned to chant and to slow down. He learned sitting, mantra, and kindness. He made his own shrine and was very interested in Guru Rimpoche's green boots. The special sessions with Soguel Rimpoche or Ringu Tulku were every morning after breakfast. There was a 10-15 minute session of singing mantra, prostrating to the shrine and then making the wish "bless my body, bless my mind, make me strong, good and kind..." There were activities such as the making of prayer flags. On each piece of a cut up sheet the children crayoned in wishes such as "May everyone have enough to eat." Then the children watched the flags hung and the wind carried their wishes to come true. * * * Manzanita Village/Ordinary Dharma 247 Horizon Avenue Venice CA 90291 Contact: Michele Benzamin-Masuda and Christopher Reed, (310) 396-5054. At Manzanita Village, Christopher Reed, Dharma teacher, and Michele Benzamin work with children in the style of Thich Nhat Hanh. The ringing of the mindfulness bell has become universal for both parents and children. In France, the children do walking meditation in a large circle, taking time to smell the flowers and hear the birds. Walking meditation with children is done with a three-step mantra. "Yes, yes, yes, thank you, thank you, thank you." The children also learned pure perception. * * * Green Gulch Zen Center Highway 1 Muir Beach, CA 94965 Contact: Wendy Johnson, (415) 383-3134. At Green Gulch Zen Center, long time gardener and Dharma teacher Wendy Johnson teaches Mindfulness Days for children. She has, and teaches, a high regard for nature. The children don't pick the flowers. They do food offerings and tea ceremony. There is a photo-copy "Kid Magazine". There is the mindfulness bell, 5-10 minute sits. Also Dharma skits and stories. * * * Dharma teachings are also available for children at the following centers: Yeshe Nyingpo P.O. 124 Ashland, OR 97520 (503) 488-0477 Chagdud Gonpa (and affiliates) P.O. Box 279 Junction City, CA 96048-0279 (916) 623-2714 Insight Meditation Society Pleasant Street Barre, MA 01005 (508) 355-2378 Offers parents' and children's retreats, as well as a retreat for teens. Newbury Insight Meditation Center One Rolfe's Lane Newbury, MA 01905 (508) 463-0131 Offers a range of programs for children, parents, and families Amaravati Buddhist Monastery Great Gaddesden Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP1 3BZ England Tel: Hemel Hempstead (0442) 842-455 Offers an annual "summer camp" for families Books and other Resources for children ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Children's Dharma books are available through Wisdom Publications (1-800- 272-4050) and Snow Lion Publications (1-800-950-0313). The //Tara Coloring Book//, from Wisdom Publications, is always a favorite. The Jataka Tales for Children on cassette tape or books is available from Dharma Publishing, 2425 Hillside Avenue, Berkeley CA 94704; (1-800-873- 4276). Tibetan Folk Tales for Children by Ringu Tulku is available from Rigpa Fellowship, (408) 454-9103. Gold Mountain Monastery, 800 Sacramento Street, San Francisco CA 94108, has a song book for children. The Buddhist Churches of America, 1710 Octavia, San Francisco CA, has an extensive child section. There is a video of Lama Yeshe's Vision for Children. * * * * * Jacqueline Mandell has taught Buddhist meditation retreats and classes internationally for 18 years. A former Buddhist nun, trained in India, Burma and Thailand, she was a senior meditation teacher at Insight Meditation Society for six years. She now lives in Oregon. Contact: P.O. Box 2085, Portland OR 97208. If you have any corrections or additions to make to this list of resources, please contact Barry Kapke by e-mail at dharma@netcom.com or by postal mail to DharmaNet International, P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley CA 94704- 4951. This information is being incorporated into DharmaBase. ======================================================================= {16} SANGHA: ======================================================================= NORTHWEST DHARMA ASSOCIATION DIRECTORY OF BUDDHIST MEDITATION GROUPS Tibetan ~~~~~~~ BUDDHIST PEACE FELLOWSHIP - Tibetan sitting practice. Rick Harlan, 206-324-4153. CHAGDUD GONPA AMRITA - students of Lama Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. Richard Baldwin, 206-376-7377. CHAGDUD GONPA CANADA - students of Lama Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. 604-873-9390. DHARMADHATU, SEATTLE - students of the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Alan Ness, 206-860-4060. DHARMADHATU, VANCOUVER B.C. - students of the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. 604-874-8420. DHARMA FRIENDSHIP FOUNDATION - students of Ven. Thubten Chodron. Lesley Lockwood, 206-633-4715. KAGYU CHANGCHUB CHULING - est. by the late H.H. Kalu Rinpoche. Michael Conklin, 503-284-6697. KARMA KAGYU STUDY GROUP - students of the Gyalwa Karmapa. Brian Judd, 206-283-9968. LOJONG BUDDHIST CENTER - Geshe Jamyang Tsultrim, Lama in Sakya tradition. Geshe Jamyang & Carol De Ment, 206-438-3915. OLYMPIA MEDITATORS -students of the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Robert Lovitt, 206-456-1826. PADMA LING - students of Venerable Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. Lama Inge Sandvoss & Lama Yontan Yeshe Gonpo, 503-747-1559. PORTLAND DHARMA STUDY GROUP - students of the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Liza Goldblatt, 503-230-0796. PORTLAND SAKYA CENTER - students of H.H. Sakya Trizin & Jetsun Chime Luding. Ven. Ani Paldron, 503-224-3307. RIGPA - students of Lama Sogyal Rinpoche, in the Nyingma tradition. Ruth Yeomans, 206-325-1222. SAKYA TSECHEN THUBTEN LING - students of H.H. Sakya Trizin & Jetsun Chime Luding. 604-271-2651. SAKYA THUBTEN KUNGA CHOLING Geshe Tashi Namgyal, 604-385-4828. SAKYA MONASTERY - H.H. J. Dagchen Sakya Rinpoche. Adrienne Chan, 206-789-2573. SHAMBHALA CENTER, BELLINGHAM - students of the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Paul Warwick, 206-647-5413. SHAMBHALA CENTER, JUNEAU AK - students of the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Susan or Jerry Chapman, 907-780-6299. SHAMBHALA CENTER, SEATTLE - students of the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Susann Lyon, 206-329-7762. THUBTEN CHOLING, B.A.S.I.S. - Gelugpa tradition. Jhampa Shaneman, 604-748-6028. UNFETTERED MIND - Ken McLeod, Kagyu & Shangpo traditions. Ken McLeod, 310-397-1656. VAJRAYANA FOUNDATION - students of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche. Susie Iverson, 206-581-1925. ZURU LING MEDITATION SOCIETY - Gelugpa tradition. Nancy Harris, 604-736-7361. Zen ~~~ BELLINGHAM ZEN PRACTICE GROUP - informal weekly Zen practice. Tim Burnett, 206-398-1127. DAI BAI ZAN CHO BO ZEN JI - Rinzai. Genjo Marinello, 206-328-3944. DHARMA RAIN CENTER - Soto Zen. Kyogen and Gyokuko Carlson, 503-239-4846. DOHN-O ZEN & TAOIST CENTER - Korean Rinzai. Jin Sung, 206-526-1274. HAN-MA-UM ZEN CENTER - Korean Zen temple in Anchorage AK. Hae Il Sunim, 907-278-9228. LIFE ABUNDANCE ZEN SANCTUARY - Soto Zen Shu & Choe Gae Sa. Zen Master Thompson, 206-827-9544. ONE DROP ZENDO - students of Rinzai Zen Master Shodo Harada-Roshi. Roy Tribelhorn, 206-525-3569. PEACH TREE SANGHA - students of Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese-style practice. Melanie Weiss, 206-746-5745. RYOBO ZEN AN - affiliated with Rinzai Zen Master Sha Ku Sokatsu Roshi. 206-254-2320. SEATTLE DHARMA CENTER - affiliated with Zen Master Seung Sahn. 206-783-8484. THREE TREASURES SANGHA - Soto practice, affiliated with Aitken Roshi. Larry Kiel, 206-322-2447. VANCOUVER ZEN CENTER - Rinzai practice. 206-254-2320. WIND RIVER ZEN CENTER - Rinzai practice. 509-427-5009. ZEN CENTRE OF VANCOUVER. Eshin John Godfrey, 604-253-2572. ZEN COMMUNITY OF OREGON - Soto. Jan Chozan Bays, 503-636-9569. Jodo Shin Shu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SEATTLE BUDDHIST TEMPLE Rev. Don Castro, 206-329-0800. TACOMA BUDDHIST TEMPLE 206-627-1417. WHITE RIVER BUDDHIST TEMPLE 206-833-1442 Theravadan ~~~~~~~~~~ BUDDHIST VIHARA SOCIETY - study/practice in conjunction with the Burmese Buddhist community. Punya Sahabandu, 604-582-7592. CHUA CO LAM - Vietnamese Buddhism affiliated with the Japanese Koyasan lineage. Yukan Sensei, 206-723-4741. THERAVADAN BUDDHIST SANGHA (WAT LAO & COLAM TEMPLE) Ven. Vira Avalokita, 206-723-4741. Vipassana & Mindfulness Practice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COLUMBIA SANGHA - a leaderless group studying techniques of the Insight Meditation Society. Mike Echols, 503-233-2813. EUGENE VIPASSANA GROUP - students of Insight Meditation. Mary Wall, 503-683-3274. INSIGHT MEDITATION SOCIETY 503-355-4378. INSIGHT SEMINARS Robert Beatty, 503-223-2214. KARUNA MEDITATION SOCIETY - Vipassana & Zen practitioners studying various Buddhist traditions. Susan Fisher, 604-228-8517. MINDFULNESS TRADITION OF THICH NHAT HANH Eileen Kiera, 206-592-5248. NORTHWEST VIPASSANA ASSOCIATION - affiliated with S.N. Goenka. 206-328-4378. RODNEY SMITH & SHINZEN YOUNG - c/o Northwest Dharma Association. 206-782-9423. VIPASSANA FOUNDATION - affiliated with S.N. Goenka. 604-732-6664 in Vancouver; 604-479-6641 in Victoria. VIPASSANA HAWAII Michele McDonald Smith, 808-373-3641. VIPASSANA PRACTICE GROUP - students of Insight Meditation. Mark Hart - 206-527-2766. VIPASSANA SITTING GROUP - students of Vipassana not affiliated with a specific teacher. Kuaya Phillips, 206-323-5503. WOMEN'S VIPASSANA GROUP - Vipassana silent meditation, open to all women. Judy, 503-287-1539. New Forms ~~~~~~~~~ AMERICAN ZEN SOCIETY Colleen Lyons, 503-267-5062. AZS Press, 800-745-7814. Scott Morrison, 206-780-9234. BELLINGHAM MEDITATION SOCIETY - non-sectarian Buddhist society. John, 206-647-2066. CLOUD MOUNTAIN RETREAT CENTER - non-sectarian Buddhist retreat facility. 206-274-4859. ECUMENICAL BUDDHIST GROUP - morning meditation for all traditions. Robby Pellett, 206-682-7701. FLYING ELEPHANT PRACTICE CENTRE - informal sessions of silent meditation. Dianna or Jim, 206-293-3633. FRIENDS OF THE WESTERN BUDDHIST ORDER Dharmachari Aryadaka, 206-325-3196. HUMANKIND. Joel & Michelle Levey, 206-632-3551. LAUGHING FROG SANGHA - students of Thich Nhat Hanh, doing Vietnamese-style Vipassana & Zen practice. Carol Ann Stockton, 206-598-4247. MEDITATION FOR THOSE WITH HIV - group for people with HIV infection, friends, and supporters. Kerry, 604-687-1936. NORTHWEST DHARMA ASSOCIATION - non-sectarian Buddhist organization to disseminate Buddhist teachings in the Northwest. 206-286-9060. * * * * * [Revised 3/25/94] ======================================================================= {17} ANNOUNCEMENTS ======================================================================= CALL TO ARTISTS: Seeking submissions (slides/photos) in all* media; no fee. "Liberation by Seeing", an exhibit of contemporary Buddhist art, will take place Oct-Nov 1994 at the American School of Japanese Art in Santa Rosa, CA. To request a PROS send SASE to: The Gold Ridge Sangha, 1855 Burnside Rd., Sebastopol, CA 95472, marked "Attn: Victoria". Entries must be received by August 26, 1994. ( * We don't know whether we will be able to display electronic media but we would like to give it a try.) CALL FOR TIBETAN ARTISTS: The Museum of International Folk Art, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A., is planning an exhibit of "Tibetan Material Culture in Exile," planned to open in November of 1996. If you are a Tibetan artist or craftsman living anywhere in the world, please contact me for further information. We might be willing to consider your work on either a purchase or loan basis for our show. Those seriously interested should either call or send letters of inquiry to Dr. Frank J.Korom, Curator of Asian & Middle Eastern Collections, Museum of International Folk Art, P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87504, U.S.A. Tel: 505-827-6350; Fax: 505-827-6349. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: If you would like to help with various aspects of producing //The Mindfulness Bell// -- editing, typing, gathering sangha news, design, or soliciting articles -- or helping in the offices of Community for Mindful Living and Parallax Press, we need your input! Call (510) 527-3751. WESTERN MONASTIC SANGHA: Venerable Jigme Palmo (Elly van der Pas) is organizing a conference to be held near Santa Cruz, California, in June, for monastic sangha (monks and nuns) of any Buddhist tradition. This is for Westerners who are trying to support some kind of monastic lifestyle outside of the traditional support systems, for networking and creating support structures. E-mail to: elly@well.sf.ca.us or write to: Ven. Jigme Palmo, Editor, Mandala, PO Box 1778, Soquel CA 95073. ======================================================================= {18} PARTING THOUGHT ======================================================================= To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring to them the transformative power of our heart. Jack Kornfield, A PATH WITH A HEART (New York: Bantam Books, 1993) ======================================================================= {19} ABOUT GASSHO ======================================================================= GASSHO is an electronic journal that is distributed on DharmaNet, Fidonet, Internet, and other computer networks. There is no subscription fee. GASSHO is a bimonthly publication by and for the members of DharmaNet and the global online Buddhist community. 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