Beginning Anew

The Buddhist teaching on Beginning Anew is very clear: 

"The un-skillfulness comes from our mind, and the un-skillfulness can be transformed by our mind…” 

If there is light, there is enlightenment in your consciousness; there is a strong determination, the awareness that "This is something negative, this is something harmful… and I am determined not to allow it to happen again," and then the mind is transformed… And now, with your enlightenment, with your determination, you will never allow these conditions to come together again in order to repeat the same thing.

Thich Nhat Hanh, in ”Beginning Anew” Dharma Talk. Photo: Brigitta Moser

The Zen of Weight Loss: Further Reflections on my Consciousness Diet

April 27, 2017 by James Ford 

Today I officially became a life time member of Weight Watchers.

What that means is that I achieved my official “goal” weight, and now six weeks from that weigh in I’ve been able to stay within four pound range of my achieved goal weight (two tenths of a pound over the mid-point, thank you for asking). And now as long as I keep within some parameters, mainly not exceeding that goal weight by more than two pounds and weighing in at least once a month, there are no continuing fees for my participation at Weight Watchers.

Student unlocks mysteries of Norlin’s Tibetan Buddhist texts

By Kenna Bruner, AS Magazine, Colorado U, April 17, 2017

Boulder, CO (USA) -- How did a fruit farmer’s son in New York’s Hudson Valley come to be a graduate student in University of Colorado Boulder’s Religious Studies Department, studying Tibetan Buddhist texts?

<< Eben Yonnetti, a master’s student in religious studies, focuses on the contemporary transmission and translation of Tibetan Buddhism. His primary research interests include the contemporary trans-national and trans-linguistic dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as translation and ritual studies more broadly. CU Boulder photo by Patrick Campbell.

As an undergraduate at Siena College, Eben Yonnetti, on a whim, went on a study abroad trip to Nepal to study in the Tibetan and Himalayan Peoples program. Yonnetti lived with a Tibetan exile family who helped him assimilate among the people and learn about their religious community.

The Bodhisattva

April 18, 2017 by Daniel Scharpenburg 

geraldford, flickr cc

The Bodhisattva is willing to be authentic, willing to get hurt and be sensitive and have a fully exposed heart. A Bodhisattva cooperates with the world instead of making enemies with everything all the time. Bodhisattvas are sometimes called spiritual warriors, described as daring and fearless. On the Bodhisattva path you have to let go of the lies that you tell yourself all the time. You have to put all of your egocentric bullshit aside and face things as they really are.

That’s why it’s fearless.

When we put that aside we are free to be more genuine and authentic. This path isn’t so much about manifesting Enlightenment as it is about expanding our openness, gentleness, and compassion. But, I suppose when you get down to it that, in itself, is Enlightenment.

Kyoto-based Buddhist group struggles with decline in temples and priests

The Japan Times, Apr 24, 2017 KYOTO, Japan -- A Kyoto-based Buddhist group with the largest number of followers in Japan is boosting its support to its member temples in other prefectures amid a shortage of incoming chief priests and a decline in danka (financial supporters). The main building of a Buddhist temple in the city of Toyama has been pulled down after its organization was dissolved. The Honganji group started offering support to member temples suffering from a shortage of priests and local supporters. In Toyama Prefecture, a temple of the Honganji sect of Jodo Shinshu, also known in English as “Shin Buddhism,” has been unattended for a long time, with weeds and bamboo growing around the grounds and tiles falling off from the eaves of the main hall.

Good actions will lead you to be able to meditate

Question:  If I do good actions, I gain kusala karma and if I do bad actions, I acquire akusala karma. Both ways, I am going to be reborn again and again. If I don’t do anything, I won’t accumulate any karma. Why should I do good actions because if I accumulate a lot of kusala karma, I may be reborn in the Rūpa or Arūpa realms whose lifespan is in maha-kappa. I will be wasting my time there since my goal as a Buddhist is to attain Nibbāna. So why should I do good kamma?

Buddhist museum has seen better days

by P. Samuel Jonathan, The Hindu, Apr 25, 2017 Lack of maintenance over a period of time hits footfalls Guntur, India --  A rickety and dusty signboard guides one to the oldest State  archaeological museums. A narrow cement road leads to the open courtyard of  the Baudhasri Archaeological Museum. Crying for attention: The stone sculptures at the Baudhasree Archaeological Museum, Guntur, are in need of a facelift. Photo Credit: T VIJAYA KUMAR Several rock-cut sculptures and  stone inscriptions statues  perched on the manicured  lawnstake one back to ages and inside, a treasure trove of Buddhist artefacts  beckons the visitors.

The taste of Dhamma surpasses all other tastes

Homage To The Buddha By Dr. Rina Sircar

https://soundcloud.com/integraleducation/homage-to-the-buddha-by-dr-rina-sircar?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=facebook



Dr. Rina Sircar is professor emerita at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, California where she taught as a professor in the Philosophy and Religion Department for nearly four decades from 1974 to 2013. From 1988-1992 she was named the distinguished Haridas Chaudhuri Professor of South Asian and Comparative Philosophy and later held the World Peace Buddhist Chair at CIIS.  In addition, she received the honorary title of Vidasanachariya from Calcutta in 1982, and Dhammaratna from Bangladesh.

Rina earned an MA (1957) from University of Rangoon and a doctoral degree (1974) in Indian Philosophy from Gujarat University in India as well as a second PhD (1976) in South Asian Studies from the California Institute of Asian Studies. She also received degrees in Law, Oriental Philosophy, and the Abhidhamma  and Sutta Pitakas from Rangoon University in Burma.

WHAT THE BUDDHA SAY ABOUT EATING MEAT

by Ajahn Brahmavamso

Since the very beginning of Buddhism over 2500 years ago, Buddhist monks and nuns have depended on almsfood. They were, and still are, prohibited from growing their own food, storing their own provisions or cooking their own meals. Instead, every morning they would make their day's meal out of whatever was freely given to them by lay supporters. Whether it was rich food or coarse food, delicious or awful tasting it was to be accepted with gratitude and eaten regarding it as medicine. The Buddha laid down several rules forbidding monks from asking for the food that they liked. As a result, they would receive just the sort of meals that ordinary people ate - and that was often meat.

Puppha sutta, SN 22:94

"Bhikkhus, just as a blue, red, or white lotus is born in the water and grows up in the water, but having risen up above the water, it stands unsullied by the water, so too the Tathagata was born in the world and grew up in the world, but having overcome the world, he dwells unsullied by the world.” 

Science and Buddhism Agree: There Is No "You" There

by Lori Chandler

Evan Thompson of the University of British Columbia has verified the Buddhist belief of anatta, or not-self. Neuroscience has been interested in Buddhism since the late 1980s, when the Mind and Life Institute was created by HH Dalai Lama and a team of scientists. The science that came out of those first studies gave validation to what monks have known for years — if you train your mind, you can change your brain. As neuroscience has begun studying the mind, they have looked to those who have mastered the mind.

This is how Buddhist monks live without money

by Tree Watson, Economy, 15 April 2017

Laypeople and the monastic community have a relationship of mutual dependence. It's called 'gift economics'

"Take money, for example. In the past there wasn’t any paper money. Paper was just paper, without any value. Then people decided that silver money was hard to store, so they turned paper into money. And so it serves as money."

"Maybe someday in the future a new king will arise who doesn’t like paper money. He’ll have us use wax droppings instead—take sealing wax, melt it, stamp it into lumps, and suppose it to be money. We’ll be using wax droppings all over the country, getting into debt all because of wax droppings. Let alone wax droppings, we could take chicken droppings and turn them into money! It could happen. All our chicken droppings would be cash. We’d be fighting and killing one another over chicken droppings."

-- Ajahn Chah, monk, founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition, & instrumental  figure in the establishment of Theravada Buddhism in the West

Buddhism in Slovenia

Dear friends,
Today it was published in a national newspaper in Slovenia. Now whole Slovenia knows about Samanadipa, about Ajahn Hiriko and also knows that there is place and a teacher to practice and learn The Buddha's teaching (Dhamma) even in Slovenia.

Anumodana to all the supporters for realizing Samanadipa in Slovenia. By this merits, may you all be healthy and happy. Finally may this merits help us to attain Nibbana.

Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu.

Now, what, friend Sāriputta, is the pleasant, and what is the painful?

"Rebirth, friend, is painful; non-rebirth is pleasant. When, friend, there is rebirth, this pain is to be expected: cold and heat, hunger and thirst, excrement and urine, contact with fire, contact with punishment, contact with weapons, and anger caused by meeting and associating with relatives and friends. When, friend, there is rebirth, this pain is to be expected.

"When, friend, there is no rebirth, this pleasantness is to be expected: neither cold nor heat, neither hunger nor thirst, neither excrement nor urine, neither contact with fire, nor contact with punishment, nor contact with weapons, and no anger caused by meeting and associating with relatives and friends. When, friend, there is no rebirth, this pleasantness is to be expected."

~ Pathama Sukha Sutta, AN 10:65

Budhist centre opened in Uganda, the first on the African continent

Published on Apr 23, 2017

A renowned Buddhist Monk from Myanmar visited the country this morning to officially open the first Buddhist Centre on the continent. Dr Ashin Nyanissara opened the centre in Garuga, off Entebbe Road and ordained an Egyptian and Ugandan monk to a senior level. The two monks received the title of “Upasampada’ which refers to the rite of ordination by which one undertakes the Buddhist life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uShTM01UaLw

Who is the real thief?

Buddhist New Year: Celebrating by Temporary Ordination in Myanmar

By BD Dipananda Buddhistdoor Global | 2017-04-21 

Buddhist women and girls of all ages and backgrounds can become nuns during the seven-day Thingyan festival. From dvb.com

While many people in South and Southeast Asia last week welcomed the Buddhist New Year by spraying copious amounts of water over each other, for Buddhists in Myanmar the festival is also a time for spiritual enrichment as many women spend the week-long holiday as temporarily ordained nuns.

The traditional celebration is known as Thingyan in Myanmar, which means “change;” moving from the past year into the next. This change is celebrated by people across the country by sprinkling water over each other to wash away ill health and bad luck, and to shower one another in blessings of peace, health, happiness, and prosperity. The festival is not only about merrymaking; many make time to pay tribute to the Triple Gem—the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha—to chant from the Tipitaka, to listen to a Dhamma talk, to bathe images of the Buddha, and to pay respect to community elders. In addition, an increasing number of girls and women take the week long holiday as an opportunity to temporarily ordain as nuns and experience a devout and monastic life.

How can I trust myself? By Thich Nhat Hanh

Short film about 9 minutes.

on 14 APRIL 2017 

Cultivating trust in yourself and your Buddhist practice.

Monk walks into a bar... His own

Published  8:55 PM, APRIL 21, 2017  Today Weekend

TOKYO — Drinking at your neighbourhood bar would appear to be inconsistent with a Buddhist’s quest for clarity of mind and enlightenment.

Intoxicants, after all, have the effect of clouding the senses, not to mention one’s judgement.

But for Buddhist monk Yoshinobu Fujioka, who operates a bar in central Tokyo with other clergy of his faith, nirvana — it appears — is just a sip away.

The Vowz Bar, which has found its niche among Japanese professionals, students and foreign tourists, is already in its 17th year of business. Add a rock band to the mix, and this group of Buddhist monks is taking unorthodoxy to new heights.

If you can attain the first level of enlightenment, it should give you a lot of encouragement to pursue a higher level of enlightenment

Question: Does a layperson who attains Stream Entry still have desire to earn money? To love his/her partner? Or be bothered by mundane worldly life?

Than Ajahn: He will not be bothered by mundane worldly life such as aging, sickness or death or separation from the loved ones because he has seen the truth of aniccā, that everything rises and ceases. Everything doesn’t belong to anybody, it belongs to this earth. Everything comes from the four elements. However a Sotāpanna has not gotten rid of his sexual desire, he still has sexual desire, so s/he still wants to have a wife or a husband. That’s because he has yet to develop asubha. That’s the next step.