The Journey of Women Going Forth into the Bhikkhuni Order in Bangladesh: Part 3

The Bhikkhuni Order Is Established

By John Cannon and Jnan Nanda Buddhistdoor Global  2016-06-24

This article forms part of the “Buddhist Voices from the Land of Rivers” series, which is based on visits by the authors to Buddhist sites in Bangladesh and their meetings with leaders and activists from the Buddhist community.

During their latest visit to Bangladesh in March 2016, John, a Western Buddhist practitioner, and Jnan, a Bangladeshi Theravada monk, met with four bhikkhunis (fully ordained nuns) and two samaneris (female novices) in Chittagong, where they talked about the latest developments in the establishment of a female monastic order and their future plans. One bhikkhuni from Khagrachari was unable to attend. 

Bangladeshi bhikkhunis and samaneris having a conversation with Muslim women. From Bangladesh Bhikkhuni Sangha Facebook

Alagaddupama Sutta MN 22

"What do you think, monks: If a person were to gather or burn or do as he likes with the grass, twigs, branches & leaves here in Jeta's Grove, would the thought occur to you, 'It's us that this person is gathering, burning, or doing with as he likes'?"

"No, lord. Why is that? Because those things are not our self, nor do they belong to our self."

"Even so, monks, whatever isn't yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term welfare & happiness. And what isn't yours? Form isn't yours... Feeling isn't yours... Perception... Thought fabrications... Consciousness isn't yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term welfare & happiness.

Dhammapada 60

"Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law."

A Meditator’s Near-Death Experience

May 22, 2016

Dr. Umesh Perera, who practices general medicine in Australia, learned Vipassana in Sri Lanka in 2003. After suffering a heart attack at the age of 43, he recorded his experiences.

On August 28, 2014, I nearly died.

How many times should you forgive someone? ~ Ajahn Brahm

Always one more time.

The Journey of Women Going Forth into the Bhikkhuni Order in Bangladesh: Part 2

An Interview with Samaneri Gautami By John Cannon and Jnan NandaBuddhistdoor Global  2015-09-25

Bangladeshi samaneris with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (2nd from left), president of the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. From Sramoni Sangha Facebook

This article forms part of the “Buddhist Voices from the Land of Rivers” series, which is based on visits by the authors to Buddhist sites in Bangladesh and their meetings with leaders and activists from the Buddhist community.

When Samaneri Gautami publicly announced her intention to take novice or samaneri ordination, there were no objections from Bangladeshi monks; in fact they were very supportive. She and four other women from Bangladesh and two from Calcutta were ordained together in India. Subsequently, 18 other women, inspired by their example, also took novice ordination in India. “I was given the sangha name Gautami to represent my work leading the bhikkhuni order and the female community in Bangladesh, like the Buddha’s stepmother Pajapati Gautami,” says Samaneri Gautami.

Nalaka Sutta, Sn 3.11

Listen to the sound of water. Listen to the water running through chasms and rocks. It is the minor streams that make a loud noise; the great waters flow silently.

The hollow resounds and the full is still. Foolishness is like a half-filled pot; the wise man is a lake full of water.

The hermit can talk of many things with good sense and precision. He can describe the Way Things Are from a position of knowledge. There is much that he can talk about from that position.

But when a man of knowledge retains his self-control, when a man of knowledge speaks only a little, then you have found a man of wisdom, a man for whom that silence is appropriate and deserved.
Such a man has found the “silence of wisdom.”

Eight Essentials of Forgiveness

A mindfulness practice to help you forgive those who've hurt you the most.

By Mindful Staff | March 25, 2016We have all suffered hurts and betrayals. Choosing to forgive is a way to release the distress that arises again and again from the memory of these incidents—but forgiveness is often a long and difficult process.

Bhuridatta Jataka. 6.543

Why does he not to all give happiness?
Why do fraud, lies, and ignorance prevail?
Why triumphs falsehood — truth and justice fail?
I count your God one among the unjust , who made a world in which to shelter wrong.”

The Journey of Women Going Forth into the Bhikkhuni Order in Bangladesh: Part 1

An Interview with Samaneri Gautami By John Cannon and Jnan Nanda Buddhistdoor Global  2015-08-21 

Bangladeshi samaneris on their daily alms round. From Sramoni Sangha, FacebookThis article forms part of the “Buddhist Voices from the Land of Rivers” series, which is based on visits by the authors to Buddhist sites in Bangladesh and their meetings with leaders and activists from the Buddhist community.

There is an ongoing controversy within the Theravada tradition over the validity of bhikkhuni or female ordination. However, with strong support from some senior and influential monks within the sangha, the bhikkhuni order is now undergoing a revival. One such advocate is Venerable Ajahn Brahm, who participated in the ordination of four nuns in Perth in October 2009. In June this year, at the 14th Sakyadhita International Conference in Indonesia, Ajahn Brahm took the opportunity to remind bhikkhunis from all traditions of the Buddha’s last advice to monks—that the Dhamma and the Vinaya should be the teachers after him. Therefore, he said, if bhikkhuni ordination is performed in accordance with the Vinaya, bhikkhunis should not be overly concerned about the views of more conservative monks.

Culakamma vibhanga sutta

“All living beings have kamma as their own, their inheritance, their congenital cause, their kinsman, their refuge. It is kamma that differentiates beings into low and high states."

THERAVADA BUDDHISM IS SPREADING IN EUROPE NOW

THE PICTURES WERE TAKEN IN ITALY. THE ITALIAN BUDDHIST LAY DEVOTEES WERE PRACTICING THE OFFERING FOODS TO THE BUDDHIST MONKS. ALSO PRACTICING THE BUDDHIST MEDITATIONS FOR HAVING THE INNER PEACE IN THEIR DAY TO DAY LIFE.

Dhammapada 328-329

Basic human need

“It is a basic human need that everyone wants to live a happy life. For this, one has to experience real happiness. The so-called happiness that one experiences by having money, power, and indulging in sensual pleasures is not real happiness. It is very fragile, unstable and fleeting. For real happiness, for lasting stable happiness, one has to make a journey deep within oneself and get rid of all the unhappiness stored in the deeper levels of the mind. As long as there is misery at the depth of the mind all attempts to feel happy at the surface level of the mind prove futile.”
~ S.N.Goenka.

11 Steps Toward Daily Mindfulness

Zindel Segal offers 11 ways to slow down and increase focus throughout 
the day so you don't get tripped up by the same old mental ruts. By ZindelSegal | June 1, 2016

By becoming more aware of our thoughts, feelings, and body sensations, from moment to moment, we give ourselves the possibility of greater freedom and choice; we do not have to go down the same old “mental ruts”  that may have caused problems in the past.

AN 7.74 (A IV 137)

"'Just as a dewdrop on the tip of a blade of grass quickly vanishes with the rising of the sun and does not stay long, in the same way, brahmans, the life of human beings is like a dewdrop — limited, trifling, of much stress & many despairs." 

Four Indonesians jailed over IS-linked terror plot to blow up Buddhist temple

Police officers react near the site of a blast in Jakarta, Indonesia, January 14, 2016. PHOTO: Reuters

JAKARTA – An Indonesian bomb-maker inspired by an Islamic State extremist was sentenced Wednesday (June 15) to five years in prison for plotting to blow up a Buddhist temple on Java island.

Pathama mitta macca sutta, SN 55.16

"Those for whom you have sympathy, those with whom you communicate - your friends, intimates, kinsmen and relations - all should be told about, grounded in, established in the Four Limbs of Stream-Winning. What are these four? Faith in the Buddha, faith in the Dhamma, faith in the Sangha, and virtue that is dear to the Noble Ones and conducive to concentration of mind."

Keanu Reeves Gets Temporarily Ordained In Tibetan Himalayas

18 June 2016

"Focus on the now and you will never have to rush anything. Too many people don’t realize the power of the present time by spending it everywhere but in the present moment."

13 Buddhist Jokes That Will Enlighten Your Day

Buddhists are one of the least understood religions out there, not because of a disinterest in understanding it, but because of so much disinformation. Buddhist jokes actually help us understand Buddhism the way it should be. These are a few of my favorites.

“Contentment is the greatest wealth.”

The Buddha said at Dhammapada verse 204

Thus Buddhism, which teaches such contentment through selfless love: “Whatever you do, the door of my heart is open to you”, is all about wealth creation. The meaning of life is to generate such wealth. Contentment is your portfolio, selfless love are your shares, giving the most secure of investments with dividends literally “out of this world”, all guaranteed by the Chairman of the Reserve, the Buddha Himself.

Dhammapada Verses 328, 329, 330

Theravada Buddhist Council of Malaysia

Sace labhetha nipakaṃ sahāyaṃ
Saddhiṃ caraṃ sādhu vihāri dhīraṃ
Abhibhuyya sabbāni parissayāni
Careyya tenattamano satīmā.

If you gain a mature companion —
a fellow traveler, right-living, enlightened —
overcoming all dangers
go with him, gratified,
mindful.

No ce labhetha nipakaṃ sahāyaṃ
Saddhiṃ caraṃ sādhu vihāri dhīraṃ
Rājā'va raṭṭhaṃ vijitaṃ pahāya
Eko care mātaṅgaraññe'va nāgo.

If you don't gain a mature companion —
a fellow traveler, right-living, enlightened —
go alone
like a king renouncing his kingdom,
like the elephant in the Matanga wilds,
his herd.

Ekassa caritaṃ seyyo
Natthi bāle sahāyatā
Eko care na ca pāpāni kayirā
Appossukko mātaṅgaraññe'va nāgo.

Going alone is better,
there's no companionship with a fool.
Go alone,
doing no evil, at peace,
like the elephant in the Matanga wilds.

The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings, Wisdom Publications (2005), p.54

"It is very important to understand that the core teachings of the Theravada tradition embodied in the Pali scriptures are the foundation of the Buddha's teachings. Beginning with these teachings, one can then draw on the insights contained in the detailed explanations of the Sanskrit Mahayana tradition. Finally, integrating techniques and perspectives from the Vajrayana texts can further enhance one's understanding. But without a foundation in the core teachings embodied in the Pali tradition, simply proclaiming oneself a follower of the Mahayana tradition is meaningless."

~ Dalai Lama, Essence of the Heart Sutra

Thana sutta, AN 5.57

"There are these five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained. Which five?

"'I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.' This is the first fact that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained.

"'I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness.' ...

"'I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death.' ...

"'I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.' ...

"'I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.' ...

"These are the five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained."

US Photographer Josh Bulriss on Searching for Lost Buddhas Across Asia

BY ROBERT MICHAEL POOLE | JUNE 15, 2016 

A Buddha of the Gal Vihara rock temple in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.

(Courtesy Josh Bulriss)

Photographer Josh Bulriss, from upstate New York, is on a mission. Torrential rain is flooding the ancient city of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka. But he has learned that persistence pays off, and upon reaching the 12th Century rock temple of Gal Vihara, soaked to the skin, he is in his element, capturing images of Buddha that have been carved in granite by Sinhalese sculptures some 800 years ago.