Engaged Buddhism's topics - tribe.net

Are many Republicans Buddhist?

2008-05-14T15:54:10Z

I never thought about it.. but my personal biases tell me that there are not too many of them around..

what do you think?

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 9 replies

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... And Spring: My Mother's Day.

2008-05-13T08:05:06Z

Yesterday, I was gifted with this prayer, written by my oldest son:

[Prayer for Mother’s Day

Spirit of Life, Great Mother and Father of Many Names, You Who are Greater than Each of Us and Yet Reside Within Each of Us, be present to us today.

We recognize that today is Mother’s Day. It is a day that we come to with mixed feelings. For some of us it is a time to honor the person who gave us life, and who shaped our lives. We have gratitude for all of the ways our mothers have stood with us when we were alone. We have gratitude for the example some of our mothers have shown us. We have gratitude for all of the gifts that special person gave us without being asked.

For some of us, Mother’s Day is bittersweet. Many of our mothers have passed. We hold in memory the gifts that they gave us, and we hold in community one another’s grief. And we also recognize that, for some of us, Mothers Day does not bring positive feelings. So we hold in community one another’s pain.

Let us be together in our joys and sorrows. Let us celebrate the gifts that have been given us, and let us reflect on the ways that we can pass those gifts on to others. Spirit of Life, at this time we lean into your silence.

Amen.]

My middle child brought me brownies after we dined on pizza and salad.

And my daughter, tho working far away, text messaged me with a "Happy Mother's Day, I Love You."

A good day, despite the cold and rain that kept me from my daily walk.

David and I, then, spent the evening sipping wine over a movie called "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.... and Spring." This little Buddhist film spoke to me of what Mother's Day is really about.... the great cycles of life. Including the painful choices any mother must make if she is to do her job well ... the decision to die, and to let her children go.

Here is a review that did the Korean film justice, I think: http://www.kfccinema.com/reviews/drama/sprinsummerfallwinter/springsumemrfallwinter.html
Pay no attention to the American reviewers of the "Sesame Street" generation who claim it was slow to start, or boring. Bah! No such thing!!

Amma

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 2 replies

Cooks needed for youth meditation retreats, 6/6-13 and 6/14-21

2008-05-10T03:23:11Z

Have you ever had one of those jobs where you worked hard knowing you were part of something deeply meaningful, even transformative? This could be one of those jobs.

The Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s Youth Program seeks an experienced kitchen manager and 1-2 cooks with a love of service and a sense of adventure to prepare healthful, delicious vegetarian meals for a meditation retreat for teenagers (ages 15-19), June 14-21, at a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center near Cazadero, Calif. (Sonoma County coast). We also seek an experienced cook for a meditation retreat for young adults (ages 18-30), June 6-13, at the same location.

The kitchen manager’s and cooks’ duties include:
- cooking healthful vegetarian meals and snacks using mostly organic ingredients
- working collaboratively with other cooks and kitchen volunteers
- keeping the kitchen clean and organized

The kitchen manager is also responsible for:
- coordinating menu planning, including the accommodation of special dietary needs (i.e., food allergies and sensitivities, vegan diets)
- ordering wholesale groceries and produce and coordinating retail shopping (we have sources)
- developing and managing the work schedule for cooks and kitchen volunteers

We need you to have:
- experience cooking for groups of 50-60 in a retreat or camp setting
- current, relevant references
- your own reliable transportation

You’ll be a great fit if you also have:
- a passion for building healthy communities with likeminded others
- a commitment to open, responsible communication and mature, respectful, collaborative problem-solving
- the ability to respond to the unexpected with ease, humor and creativity
- experience or familiarity with meditative practices such as mindfulness, yoga or qi gong
- experience working with/around teenagers

We offer:
- a $500 stipend and a private room for the kitchen manager
- a $300 stipend per retreat for each cook (one cook could work at both retreats)
- a comfortable, quiet shared lodging for the cooks
- all meals
- opportunities to meditate and participate in the retreat
- a week in a beautiful setting with mountain-top views of the ocean
- the gratitude of the community you work with and feed

To learn more, contact Jim Brown, retreat manager, at one_more_jim@yahoo.com or 916-508-7578 no later than May 16.

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

BEthe change!

2008-05-05T18:13:18Z

"

Choose your intention carefully and then practice holding your consciousness to it, so it becomes the guiding light in your life. --John Roger

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

buddhism and anarchy

2008-05-01T18:57:49Z

As an anarchist who advocates for social change, naturally I found myself attracted to the philosophy of Buddhism. Anarchy seeks to build a society without hierarchy, including sexism, racism, beautyism, ageism, etc. It is through these hierarchies that create the societal problems we face on a local, national and global scale.

Yet, it seems that Buddhism is the foundation of anarchy. How can we possibly create an anarchist society if we cannot be whole, healthy individuals? How can we eliminate hierarchy if we cannot control our anger and/or not live our lives dominated by our egos? Besides, it seems that a Buddhist community wouldn't need to work to build anarchy, because by living by Buddhist principals, naturally there anarchy would exist.

It seems to me there might be room for a new "sect" of Buddhism revolving around these ideas. I don't understand how Buddhism can support hierarchies in governance, because it seems that many of those hierarchies are egos manifesting themselves into the public sphere.

I am just beginning to study Buddhism, but it seems that people in "1st world countries" (especially the U.S.) are not connecting their lifestyles to the suffering of people around the world. For example, many wealthy people are now into yoga and Buddhism, yet they don't see how consumerism and capitalism are causing huge amounts of suffering in "developing" nations and on the natural world. It seems that by applying the laws of karma, that Americans are collecting a lot of bad karma because we are causing so much suffering.

Thus, it seems that in this day and age, there is a natural intersection between anti-globalization activism and Buddhism, as well as working on other progressive issues such as sexism, racism, etc.

Does anyone know of any resources that may discuss these ideas?

thanks! solidarity from the southwest,
Cienega

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 14 replies

buddhism is a PART of the "New Earth"~

2008-04-27T04:46:41Z

http://tribes.tribe.net/eckarttolle

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 3 replies

Please Sign this Petition Against "Starvation Art."

2008-04-20T09:13:34Z

The "artist" allowed a dog to starve to death, as part of an "art" exhibit.

But this is not all... the prestigious Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American decided that the 'installation' was actually art, so that Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel action for the biennial of 2008.

http://www.petitiononline.com/ea6gk/petition.html

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 1 reply

... peace ...

2008-04-16T06:26:25Z

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.

If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.

If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.

-- Lao Tzu (570-490 B.C.)

shanti shanti shanti
may your smile reach through and beyond as you go about the daily whatever...

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

Tibet Help: Please engage

2008-04-05T02:45:45Z

After gaining 1.5 million signatures on the petition it is time for the next step:

send a letter to your head of state to take action about Tibet!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_report_back/7.php/?cl=69966565

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 1 reply

Dharma or Deception?: Chinese Soldiers Dressed as Monks

2008-04-01T02:06:11Z

There is an image and a story traveling around the internet in emails and plastered all over the blogosphere right now that needs to be addressed.

I received an email thru my Buddhist community's email list. The article claims British intelligence has taken images, via satellite, of Chinese soldiers dressed as Tibetans starting the recent violence in Lhasa, Tibet. The image that accompanied the article is quite startling and appears to be quite damning evidence of Chinese soldiers carrying the robes of Buddhist monks, apparently at the ready to don the robes and start some trouble sometime during the recent unrest in Lhasa and elsewhere in Tibet.

However, the photo seemed somewhat familiar to me... like I had seen it somewhere before... that and the fact that the image's angle tells me that it could not have been taken from a satellite raised my curiosity level and prompted me to look into the truth of these claims and origin of the image. The results of which I wish to share and encourage the reader to pass on.

Rather than repost my entire blog entry here (which uncovers and explains the origins of this photo and article), please read the entry and feel free to comment/discuss it here or there.

Link to the blog entry here: http://people.tribe.net/thinkpossible/blog/b019e6d5-f576-4a04-9106-f0d73070e5f1

Respectfully in the Dharma,

Ehron Asher

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

Engaged Ethics and Democracy Vs. the Total Society and the Rule of Arbitrary Law : Examples and References ( from Tribe Ethics and Morals )

2008-03-29T19:35:08Z

Title "Engaged Ethics and Democracy Vs. the Total Society and the Rule of Arbitrary Law : Examples and References" ( from Tribe Ethics and Morals )

Keywords : universal human rights and "well-ordered societies", John Stuart Mill, United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and related treaties, Total Society ( Medieval Christianity, Radical Islam, Stalinism, Fascism, etc. ), internationally oriented democracy, Nobel Peace Laureates HH the Dalai Lama and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, Rio Earth Summit, Dr. Vandana Shiva and sustainable environmental democracy, prosocial behavior, Aquarian Conspiracy.

Summary: This is an brief overview of some of the main principles in universal human rights as related to Total Societies, with some key references to significant people and books. It is based on the concept that arbitrary and oppressive social order, whether politically or religiously based, is self-contradictory, unstable and irresponsible by definition, and that history shows Total Societies to be inherently dangerous and destructive, and that they can and must be fought when overly aggressive.

A counterpoint is outlined in terms of John Stuart Mill, key United Nation treaties and the necessity of balancing shared human and social concerns based on global interdependence and "inalienable" human rights ( as advanced primarily by references and citations to be followed up by interested readers ). The basic ideas of universal rights and responsibilities and "sustainable environmental democracy" are then put forward together. These are promoted as a necessary alternative to any and all total societies and as an alternative to advancing social and cultural destruction throughout the planet.

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759; (b1706 - d1790)

"Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power."
Aung San Suu Kyi, elected leader of Burma ( presently imprisoned by military junta ), Nobel Pease Laureate

"No defeat baby, no surrender."
Bruce Springsteen

"Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always." -- Mohandas K. Gandhi

"Today's world requires that we accept the oneness of humanity. . . In the context of our new interdependence, considering the interests of others is clearly the best form of self-interest." HH the Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Laureate and Mahayana Buddhist teacher

Re TMIbo on Tribe Ethics and Morals:
"Evil is as evil does. I would define evil as that which seeks chaos over order. Or destroys order to create chaos, take your pick."

K T answers
Democracy is a kind of "social chaos", compared with Fascism, Stalinism, Medieval Roman Catholicism, and "Radical" Islam ( e.g. Afghanistan under the Taliban ), and the People's Republic of China. Those latter systems are all about social control of the many by the few, and their capabilities for crushing human rights are renowned throughout the world and throughout history. They also don't work, as history has shown again and again by the collapse of totalitarian regimes.

Know this: where books are burned or banned, individuals and groups are or will be jailed or banned or tortured or even burned to death. The Christian Middle Ages were also known as the Dark Ages, and a lot of the history represented the subjugation of pre Christian beliefs and lifeways, including the Burning Times, and also official Ex Cathedra opposition to scientific thought and research.

Thus, there is an obvious and inherent set of problems in elevating social order AS SUCH over AND ABOVE basic human freedoms such as democracy and freedom of speech, and that clearly includes so called moral or idealistic systems of belief or "faith based societies". . . even though basic freedoms are also problematical in practice.

So, a social system based on psychological or cultural control of private persons, one which opposes freedom of thought or belief( intellectual anarchy etc. ), will eventually progress towards tyranny unless opposed. It has happened all over the world in different ways. This is a now a major problem in the world today, with the rise of broadly based low-intensity to medium intensity paramilitary attacks on democratic societies and institutions worldwide.

We all have to pay attention to this, or eventually humanity can lose much or most that has been gained in progressive human culture and society, because progressive society and culture can be restricted or banned outright, as happens in one party or one religion states and social orders.

The first problem is
What is the social recourse for mistakes or bias or unlawful behavior by a ruling social order?
The second problem is
Who shall decide which kind of social order shall prevail?
The third problem is
What shall be done when a ruling social order determines to make war on another, outside social order?

After all, every one can see that Fascism, Stalinism, Medieval Roman Catholicism, and Sunni Islam, and Post-Marxist Chinese "Communism" are all fundamentally incompatible! Who then is to rule? "There can be no agreement on the basis of exclusivist dogmas. Each excludes the other." ( K T )

So to this we can add a fourth problem: Isn't it true that while claiming to support and maintain order, totalitarian systems actually create massive chaos and destruction?
This is clearly demonstrated in Cambodia under Pol Pot, in Afghanistan under Mullah Omar and the Taliban, in Germany under Hitler and the Third Reich, in Russia and Eastern Europe under Stalin, and in China under Mao during the Cultural Revolution.

And that is why the United Nations, following World War II, in 1948 approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ( See http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm ) This reads in part,

"Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people. . ."

The "order over chaos" social alternatives to democratic society and human freedom, whether derived from religious or nationalist or internationalist dogma, ALL fully fit the definition of Total Society, in which the individual has few or no rights, and the state claims basically arbitrary control over the most essential aspects of human life and freedom.

This is a crucial point : absolutist or primarily one-sided social control is a form or mechanism that can be "religious", or "nationalist", or "internationalist". The *process* is what matters, *not* the dogmatic content per se. Such a process is what distorts and even destroys human society, specifically and especially while claiming to promote "coherence" and "order" and "harmony". Violent and arbitrary oppression of many diverse people both near and far is by definition the opposite of those claimed values.

That is, an authoritarian-leaning society or Total Society, to the extent that it is authoritarian or Total in practice, is
a) NOT well-ordered society
b) NOT designed to advance the good of its members and
c) NOT effectively regulated by a ( truly ) public conception of justice.

"Justice" means "rights" and the balancing of rights through corresponding responsibilities among people. This is well developed in the writings of John Stuart Mill. But a Total Society is one in which rights are arbitrarily abridged. It was not so long ago that the Civil Rights movement ( 19th and 20th C. ) brought upheaval to the American South.

Ironically, it was a broad and ever larger set of American citizens who worked for peace and freedom for blacks in the Southern states for blacks ( often illegally or under direct attack by police ), and many blacks were Christian but still oppressed by a basically Christian society / slave system that was clearly worse than Imperial Rome. In Rome, slaves could read and write, and some were Greek scholars. In the American South, black Christian slaves were not allowed to learn to read and write ( the Bible, etc. ) by their Christian masters. So that is an example of a Total Society in recent American history, and one that was conclusively overthrown.

In the above example, it is clearly unfair and therefore unreasonable that some Christians were allowed to go to school and some were not. That's arbitrary abridgement. Basic rights means no arbitrary abridgement, i.e. that the laws and basic rules of fairness apply throughout society, to all human beings.

The main point here is that laws and social systems are always distorted in total Societies, that basic rights are arbitrarily abridged so that the few apply law to the many, while basically remaining above the law. And that is the opposite of a reasonable civil society, whether it is Medieval Catholicism or Nazi Germany or black slavery in the American South or Stalinist control of Eastern Europe.

Rights fundamentally opposed by large scale religious and political organizations can include some or all of the following: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Association and Assembly, Freedom of Worship, Freedom of Political Self-Determination through Elected Representation. ( In fact, the Vatican did not formally acknowledge the legitimate rule of democracy until 1962. )

A key example of abridged rights is the "establishment" of Nazi rule in Germany. This was *not* authorized in the national German legislature, as many think. In fact, the National Socialist regime came to power in significant part by literally holding the German legislature hostage until that body resigned to Nazi rule. It was a state coup. How is that so called "order" IN ANY WAY legitimate? Since it is not, we can all agree that order and law are *not* the same thing as legitimacy, and can in fact promote the opposite.

Thus, a total society can be established by a social force that works like organized crime, and since large scale crime is inherently antisocial, this is contradicts the most basic notions of a well-ordered society.

When TMIbo ( on Tribe Ethics and Morals ) says "I would define evil as that which seeks chaos over order", this is a deep self contradiction. Clearly, the National Socialists sought "order", and their appeal to the German people was to lead the people from economic chaos and national weakness to strength and power. The Nazis represent an evil will to power, a power that claimed to protect the people from weakness and anarchy, but evil and self-defeating because universally destructive.

Historical perspective matters greatly in this discussion, and so do the perspectives of those who have worked long term and very effectively for peace and freedom, such as Mohandas Gandhi and Albert Einstein.

Dr Einstein said:
"Politics is a pendulum whose swings between anarchy and tyranny are fueled by perpetually rejuvenated illusions."
"The unlimited desire for ever greater power seeks to become active and aggressive wherever and whenever the physical possibility offers itself."
"Democratic institutions and standards are the result of historic developments to an extent not always appreciated in the lands that enjoy them."

TMIbo publically and clearly elevates "order" over "chaos", and we can all agree that the problem is not limited to Nazi Germany or to any one specific time or place. Feudal Totalitarian Christianity, Total Society in many Islamic Nations, National Socialism and Stalinist Dictatorship of the Proletariat emphasize "order" over "chaos" ( i.e. non-Christians or Freethinkers, the so-called "International Jewish Conspiracy", feminists and those who seek freedom from Islamic rule or jihad, etc. ).

We know this because all these institutions historically have emphasized war and bloodshed to subjugate or completely eliminate opposing positions, individuals, groups and even whole societies. Up through and including wholescale genocide. The Twentieth Century was largely largely dominated by Total Societies and their massive efforts to reshape the world into their own images, up through and including unlimited warfare ( along with contervailing forces such as the Allies in World War II ).

A casual, rough estimate of the 20th Century destruction of unarmed civilians under Communist rule ( in Russia, China, Cambodia ) runs from fifty million lives to eighty million lives, perhaps more. How is that "well-ordered" ? Yes, there is a strong sense of "order" in Marxist Stalinist rule, but the cost is astonishingly severe. And Communism still failed in Russia, throughout Eastern Europe, and so forth.

The same is true of Fascism in Spain and Germany. Yes, the Fascists ruled ( established and maintained complete "social order" ), but The Third Reich fell most spectacularly, even after amazing efforts to establish control over all of Europe, and so forth. Even after all the bloodshed of World War II, which claimed over thirty million lives.

Thus we can see the repeatedly demonstrated truth of Gandhi's statement that tyrants eventually fail. This means, more generally, that no Total Society ( such as Medieval Roman Catholicism, or Fascism, or Stalinism, or Radical Islam ) is inevitable, stable, or unassailable.

I argue the reverse: I will argue that all total societies, including Post Marxist Chinese Communism and Radical Islam, are inherently unstable and are doomed to failure. One basic reason for this is very simple: the more a violent social order succeeds, the more other societies will become concerned and seek to counterbalance naked aggression.

Another fundamental reason is that oppressive social orders fail to develop the potential of many or most of their members. For example, about 51% of the world's population is female, yet women are oppressed by Total Societies. ( See "The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith", by Irshad Manji, and "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. )

That total societies are inherently unstable is demonstrated by much historical evidence. This is true of Ancient Rome and Medieval Spain, which were based on continuous conquest, which cannot always proceed. It is structurally true today becasue of fundamental ( and basically unresolvable ) problems within Post Marxist Communism and within Islam ( e.g. the Sunni Shia divide as seen historically, as well as in present day Lebanon, Iraq, and so forth ).

It has never been shown that any culture based on war or conquest is ever really sustainable as a whole. Although Sunni Islam and Shia Islam are both quite powerful today, they are not unified, and for many centuries they have fought each other. Thus to a significant extent, they weaken themselves and each other in overall terms.

Devolution of imperial power is well demonstrated in major cases, with the development of near democracy or effective democracy asa replacement. Witness the development of self-rule in India and the many countries which became free of 16th century Spanish rule ( see http://encarta.msn.com/media_461518061/spanish_empire.html ), or free of the British Empire and so on.

It is quite clear that the overall progression of human societies from the time of the Protestant Reformation to today is characterized by several trends:
1) the breakdown of large scale total societies, such as Medieval Catholism and royalist rule;
2) the breakdown of colonialism and international imperial rule;
3) the tremendous and widespread development of human rights efforts and organizations ( including nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs ) and progress towards universal human rights as principle, as model, and as main priority for large scale societies.

This is due to many major economic, cultural, and international factors, including the global rise of literacy and freer more powerful forms of communication and networking ( e.g. the internet ). It is also based on tested working models of democracy that balance rights and responsibilities through transparent and equitable means. These social models are in turn based on well developed definitions of "social contracts" as advanced by John Stuart Mill and others.

The point is to find and uphold a balance based on freedom and responsibility, consciously and mutually addressed. The claim is not that people and groups will in general come to "mutual understanding and consonance with other people" ( Einstein ), but rather all will have to come to terms with fair and reciprocal standards of rights and responsibilities which favor nor one group and which are as little arbitrary as possible, paricularly in terms of negative rights ( non-interference ).

But Non-interference is the opposite of social control as defined by any Total Society. Therefore it is in the interest of the many to seek the opposite of any one model for a total society. When the many can and do work together effectively, or at least begin to work together, then movement towards a total society can be slowed, or reversed, and basic freedoms strengthened or reestablished.

This means negotiated rights and responsibilities through a civil order that
a) accords equal rights to all individuals by default as a matter of course;
b) is negotiated through a system of law that is always independent of any specific political party ( e.g. the US Bill of Rights and the US Supreme Court );
c) is always independent of any specific religious system ( separation of church and state ), i.e. that fundamentally rejects Judaism, Christianity, Islam etc. as foundational to society and social agreements;
d) actively promotes peace and co-operation and democracy in all parts of the world
( e.g. the United Nations and interventions by democracy-backed peacekeeping forces - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacekeeping ).

Furthermore, it also means, in our time,
e) the basic idea of "sustainable environmental democracy" as an alternative to any and all total societies based on squandering resources needed for future generations. This basic concept is called "intergenerational equity", or equity between generations. This has been developed by for example the Rio Earth Summit ( 1992 ) and environmental democracy has been advanced in particular by Dr. Vandana Shiva ( see following references ).

"Universal responsibility" and "universal human ethics" have been well communicated by for example HH the Dalai Lama, a Buddhist teacher awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He says
"Human beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering. With that
feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering, and everyone has the basic right to do this. In this way, all here are the same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner, believer or non-believer ... and so on. Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value we are all the same."-- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight."

( See also The Global Community & the Need for Universal Responsibility - by H.H. the Dalai Lama, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 1990. )

The point is that this kind of ethic is strongly prosocial, it actively seeks peace and freedom for all, not just this group or that. The alternative, isolationist viewpoint fails, just as failing to address the Nazi threat would have been a tragic failure for the US and others, just as failing to address the threat of Taliban style Islamic rule can become a major problem for any and all democratic societies.

HH the Dalai Lama belives in and works for peace. But peace is very different than pacifism. The Dalai Lama makes it very clear that he definitely supports the war effort that destroyed National Socialism in Germany. So did Dr. Albert Einstein.
Peace therefore is not the absence of war per se, it is the active promotion of freedom and democracy, including sometimes, acts of defensive warfare.

This is acceptable by definition at the United Nations, and it is only fair. It is universally agreed theat there is a need to fight for peace and freedom. This has major implications today in dealing with long-term aggressive and expansionist social orders that develop by swiftly or incrementally burying human rights. These must be dealt with using "scalable response".

There are several principal sets of documents that frame and illuminate the issues of negotiation based civil society. These include
1) "On Liberty and Utilitarianism" by John Stuart Mill
( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill and http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill/ ) ;
2) the founding documents and historical development of democracy in the American Colonies, esp. the sources of American style democracy in the Iroquois Confederacy;
3) the founding documents and historical development of the United Nations
( see http://www.unhchr.ch/map.htm );

To these I would add several additional current sources:

1) information on Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi
see also the book "Freedom From Fear and Other Writings", by Aung San Suu Kyi
http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Fear-Other-Writings-Revised/dp/0140253173

2) information on the Nobel Peace Prize Winner HH the Dalai Lama
( e.g. "The Global Community" http://www.dalailama.com/page.75.htm )

3) The Rio Earth Summit documents and process
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Summit

4) information and books related to Dr. Vandana Shiva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva

5) Aquarian Conspiracy, by Marilyn Ferguson
http://www.amazon.com/Aquarian-Conspiracy-Marilyn-Ferguson/dp/0874774586

But politics is not something that happens "out there". Professor Todd Gitlin famously pointed out that "politics isn't where you stand on the issues, politics is how you live your life". And that necessarily involves personal principles, models and priorities, not mere acknowledgement of social "realities" and "concerns". This is why I claim that the Dalai Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi are relevant. I will offer some words from Aung San Suu Kyi and Marilyn Ferguson on the inner ethic of progressive social change.

Freedom From Fear Speech, by Aung San Suu Kyi
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Burma/FreedomFromFearSpeech.html

". . .Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear ofdeath, fear oflosing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure.

"A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man's self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.

"The wellspring of courage and endurance in the face of unbridled power is generally a firm belief in the sanctity of ethical principles combined with a historical sense that despite all setbacks the condition of man is set on an ultimate course for both spiritual and material advancement. It is his capacity for self-improvement and self-redemption which most distinguishes man from the mere brute.

"At the root of human responsibility is the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if not to the end at least the distance needed to rise above individual limitations and environmental impediments. It is man's vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear. Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power."

. . . . this is . . . For All Our Relations, and not least for the Dalai Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi. Sarva mangalam.

K T

"Our past is *not* our potential. In any given hour, with all the stubborn teachers and healers of history who have called us to our best selves, we can re-choose, to awaken. Awakening brings it's own assignments, chosen by us, unique to each of us. But whatever you have thought about yourself, and however long you may have thought it, you are not just "you". You are a seed, a silent promise. You are the conspiracy."
Marilyn Ferguson, the Aquarian Conspiracy

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 4 replies

URGENT! PLEASE HELP TIBET! SIGN THIS PETITION!

2008-03-18T21:59:39Z

URGENT! PLEASE HELP TIBET! SIGN THIS PETITION!
PLEASE REPOST!

> Dear friends,
>
> After decades of repression under Chinese rule,
> the Tibetan people’s frustrations have burst
> onto the streets in protests and riots. With the
> spotlight of the upcoming Olympic Games now on
> China, Tibetans are crying out to the world for
> change.
>
> The Chinese government has said that the
> protesters who have not yet surrendered "
> will be punished". Its leaders are right
> now considering a crucial choice between
> escalating brutality or dialogue that could
> determine the future of Tibet, and China.
>
> We can affect this historic choice--China does
> care about its international reputation. China’s
> President Hu Jintao needs to hear that the ’Made
> in China’ brand and the upcoming Olympics in
> Beijing can succeed only if he makes the right
> choice. But it will take an avalanche of global
> people power to get his attention--and we need
> it in the next 48 hours.
>
> The Tibetan Nobel peace prize winner and
> spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has called for
> restraint and dialogue: he needs the world’s
> people to support him. Click below now to sign
> the petition--and tell absolutely everyone you
> can right away--our goal is 1 million voices
> united for Tibet:
>
::: SIGN THE PETITION! :::
http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/6.php
>
> China’s economy is totally dependent on "
> Made in China" exports that we all buy, and
> the government is keen to make the Olympics in
> Beijing this summer a celebration of a new
> China, respected as a leading world power. China
> is also a very diverse country with a brutal
> past and has reason to be concerned about its
> stability -- some of Tibet’s rioters killed
> innocent people. But President Hu must recognize
> that the greatest danger to Chinese stability
> and development comes from hardliners who
> advocate escalating repression, not from
> Tibetans who seek dialogue and reform.
>
> We will deliver our petition directly to Chinese
> officials in London, New York, and Beijing, but
> it must be a massive number before we deliver
> the petition. Please forward this email to your
> address book with a note explaining to your
> friends why this is important, or use our tell-a-
> friend tool to email your address book--it will
> come up after you sign the petition.
>
> The Tibetan people have suffered quietly for
> decades. It is finally their moment to speak--we
> must help them be heard.
>
> With hope and respect,
>
> Ricken, Iain, Graziela, Paul, Galit, Pascal,
> Milena, Ben and the whole Avaaz team
>
> PS - It has been suggested that the Chinese
> government may block the Avaaz website as a
> result of this email, and thousands of Avaaz
> members in China will no longer be able to
> participate in our community. A poll of Avaaz
> members over the weekend showed that over 80% of
> us believed it was still important to act on
> Tibet despite this terrible potential loss to
> our community, if we thought we could make a
> difference. If we are blocked, Avaaz will help
> maintain the campaign for internet freedom for
> all Chinese people, so that our members in China
> can one day rejoin our community.
>
> Here are some links with more information on the
> Tibetan protests and the Chinese response:
>
> BBC News: UN Calls for Restraint in Tibet
> http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7301912.
> stm
>
> Human Rights Watch: China Restrain from
> Violently Attacking Protesters
> http://hrw.
> org/english/docs/2008/03/15/china18291.htm
>
> Associated Press: Tibet Unrest Sparks Global
> Reaction
> http://ap. google.
> com/article/ALeqM5gSSpPcDOPMoAiRLhPUyezuCRiXBQD8VFDD680
>
> New York Times: China Takes Steps to Thwart
> Reporting on Tibet Protests
> http://www. nytimes.
> com/2008/03/18/world/asia/18access.html?ref=world
>
> --------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> ABOUT AVAAZ
> Avaaz. org is an independent, not-for-profit
> global campaigning organization that works to
> ensure that the views and values of the world’s
> people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz
> means "voice" in many languages.)
> Avaaz receives no money from governments or
> corporations, and is staffed by a global team
> based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York,
> Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

What to do and how to help? - Tibet

2008-03-18T20:30:17Z

The least you can do to help Tibet !
http://meyul.com/

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 5 replies

Fundraiser for Mama Cats!

2008-03-11T12:16:34Z

Kitten season is nearly upon us, and we will really need help if we are to save some tiny lives!! We are so thankful to TL2 Productions for hosting this fundraiser for our mama cats. It is at The Pink Door in Louisville KY.

I know you will be able to catch the ladies of Mystic Hips performing, as well as Jajira (doing a drum solo or two with Dave.) I believe Taletha is performing as well... with her troupe and, maybe, her band!

The online portion of the fundraiser has already begun! If you can't be with us in Louisville (or even if you can, and just want to get an early start) go to this website:
https://www.thebodyshopathome.com/web/jchischillie/home/overview.do
When you submit your order mark the hostess block as either "TL2" or "3SistersCats" and a hefty portion of the proceeds will come straight into the vet care fund for our cats. The Body Shop has the finest line of cruelty free cosmetics and body care products ANYWHERE. (I highly recommend the Tea Tree products, which I use on myself... and also on my special "mangey" dogs.)

Here is a link for Raffle Tickets:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=skhergert%40yahoo%2ecom&undefined_quantity=1&item_name=Body%20Shop%20Raffle&item_number=BSR0315&amount=5%2e00&shipping=1%2e00&no_shipping=1&tax=0%2e00&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8
I'll be posting pics of raffle items in my photos as we get them!

TIA,

Amma

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 2 replies

self immolation by Buddhist activists in Viet Nam was a life saving personal sacrifice, not mere self-destruction as with typical suicide

2008-03-09T08:02:08Z

"Self immolation by Buddhist activists in Viet Nam was a life saving personal sacrifice, not mere self-destruction as with typical suicide."

Re: Paganism and Suicide : the classical Buddhist teaching
Wed, January 23, 2008 - 4:29 PM

Re Ike on Modern Paganism:
"Right... if Buddhist teaching makes it emphatically clear, it makes me wonder how they feel about the guys who immolated themselves in protest during the Vietnam war..."

This is a completely valid criticism. I am aware of the specific situation. It happened in South Viet Nam, in about 1964.

These seven men and women deliberately immolated themselves, and they did so to protest the police state under the Dictator Diem.

The Diem regime had rounded up more than eight hundred Buddhist monks as subversives. The monks were all going to be killed.

This desperation move was done as a sacrifice to save the lives of many more. Although technically this does come under the heading of self-murder, it was done with the intent to save many hundreds of lives, with profound spiritual discipline and meditative awareness. This is quite different than a purely self-destructive act. It was bartering one's own life to save many lives.

The self-immolations were successful. World opinion was triggered, in France and so forth. The eight hundred monks were freed, and soon after the Diem regime completely collapsed.

It is a great lesson to us all. A handful of really great Buddhist practitioners or compassionate people can accomplish what an army of ordinary and unevolved people cannot.

As a noble and most painful self-sacrificing act, this is greatly meritorious in the sense of protecting the Buddhist community, and also more generally in terms of saving human life. As a an act of great compassion, the result is incredibly positive, not spiritually self-destructive.

Please note that this kind of desperation move is not recommended. Do not try this at home.

Note also that those who claim a religious authorization to commit mass murder of innocents as human bombs do go straight to hell, because that is what they chose. The presumed "creator god" cannot save these psychopaths from their own karma.

Thus it is karma and intention that rule, not religious belief systems.

Everyone makes their own destiny, for good or for evil. Think carefully on this and choose well.

And thanks for allowing me to honor those who have gone before, and who are by the examples of their own lives so much better at teaching the Law, so much better at helping others, than I am. I am simply bearing witness to really good practitioners.

As Lady Diana said,
"I am a humanitarian. I always have been. I always will be."

All Our Relations. Sarva mangalam.

In partial fulfillment of mahayana teacher vows,

K T, inner medical tantrika and dagger priest.

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 2 replies

Green monks

2008-02-12T17:50:46Z

I foundthis article very interesting.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02/11//news/top_stories/20_41_172_10_08.txt

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 1 reply

Eckhart Tolle: holding space

2008-02-07T03:42:59Z

funny video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx526pO9UV0

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

Drikung Kagyu Global Resources / Tantric Buddhism and Mahamudra Book References / Vajrasattva Retreat in North Carolina

2008-01-27T15:30:37Z

Title: Drikung Kagyu Global Resources / Tantric Buddhism and Mahamudra Book References /
Vajrasattva Retreat in North Carolina -- Repost from "Tribe : Teaching Yoga"

Keywords: Deity Yoga, global resources for Kagyu lineage Tantric Buddhism and Mahamudra practice, book: "Pearl Rosary The Path of Purification", inner healing yoga, interfaith retreat center, North Carolina, Southern Dharma Retreat Center, Drikung Kagyu lineage, Vajrasattva empowerment and retreat January 2008.

NAMO GURU SRI HASYAVAJRAYE

Homage to Mila Joyous Vajra, King of the Mountain Yogis. For the ordeals you endured, for the sweetness of this profound transmission, and for "a few cotton threads" we thank you from our innermost hearts.

"Knots of the right and left channels [ of the human energy body ] are loosened to their natural state
By Vajrasattva mantra which draws currents in and out of the central channel.
Don't rely on any mental support other than Vajrasattva mantra repetition."
Milarepa to Rechungpa,
quoted in "Drinking the Mountain Stream: New Stories and Songs by Milarepa"

A vast amount of effective Buddhist / yogic teaching is available through the web site for Vajra Publications, specifically for Kagyu lineage tantric Buddhism and Mahamudra practice. See the web site at
http://www.vajrapub.org/

The Drikung lineage is not yet well known in the West( and that WILL change, I promise you ), but it is powerful and available in different parts of the world. See
http://www.dkinstitute.org/
This lineage offers a serious and direct path to inner yogic discipline and primordial awareness yoga ( i.e. Mahamudra ). The Drikung lineage descends from great yogic masters such as Tilopa and Naropa of India, and Marpa and Milarepa of Tibet.

The Drikung lineage is, I will state from personal and professional experience as a yogi and vajrayana guru, entirely authentic, classical, and effective: I personally received two major rounds of empowerment from His Holiness Chetsang Tulku Rinbochay, once in Seattle and again in Hawaii ( Big Island ).

During one of these, a Heruka Vajrasattva in 1987, I experienced energy pouring down through my crown center as though a gallon of milk was literally being poured through the top of my head. How many yoga teachers do you know that can do that? ( I was outwardly and inwardly sick and exhausted at the time from several years of severe difficulty, so that was very much a necessary healing for my magnetic field. Reason enough to receive Vajrasattva empowerment and do the 100,000 recitations, although of course your mileage may vary. )

Understand therefore that HH Chetsang Tulku is a New School guru and a Kagyu guru of the first rank, someone to be respected as much as Vajradhara Kalu Rinbochay and Kyabgon Khentin Tai Situpa ( these being some of my other Kagyu teachers ). He is a very gentle, quiet, generous man, very warm and approachable. I would certainly trust anyone he names vajrayana guru.

I have many primary practice texts of the Drikung Kagyu, which are excellent, and indeed these were among the first key practice texts for Kagyu devayoga sadhana to be published. Since they keep producing more great study and practice materials, I needs must make more ( debit card ) offerings to receive the precious dharma ( although my dharma and yoga book stacks are more than overflowing ). It must be emphasized that these practice texts are generically useful for all New School tantric Buddhists, where New School refers to the Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelugpa Orders of Tibetan Buddhism.

Beyond this, be aware that the Drikung school, like the Karma Kagyu school of vajrayana, incorporates a substantial amount of Old School ( Nyingma and Great Perfection ) teaching and practice. For example, their Phowa ( Consciousness Transference At Time Of Death ) does not derive from the Kagyu lineage Six Yogas of Naropa, but rather from an Old School Treasure Teaching ( terma ).

As this letter goes out to a diverse and broad set of audiences, I will say a few words on the Kagyu lineage, on deity yoga, and Mahamudra. In short, here are some truly wonderful books for you:
Book 1) "Drinking the Mountain Stream: New Stories and Songs by Milarepa", by Lama Kunga Rimpoche and Brian Cutillo. This book is extraodinarily good as an introduction and in providing key teaching/ precept songs which are both poetic and intuitive.

Book 2) "The Garland of Mahamudra Practices", by Khenpo Konchog Gyaltsen and Katherine Rogers. This is a short summary of Cakrasamvara / Vajrayogini deity yoga and Mahamudra awareness yoga translated by a Drikung abbot from the writings of Kunga Rinchen, the Fifteen Lineage Holder of the Drikung Kagyu transmission. It is remarkably clear teaching on the essentials of New School vajrayana practice.

Book 3) "Clarifying the Natural State", by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal ( translation by the priceless western scholar Eric Pema Kunsang ). This practice summary for the primordial awareness yoga of Mahamudra is held to be "preeminent" and "indispensible" by the great modern scholar-yogi Khenchen Thrangu Rinbochay. 'Nuff said.

Book 4) "Becoming Vajrasattva; the Tantric Path of Purification", by [ Lama ] Thubten Yeshe, 2nd edition. A remarkably useful retreat and teaching manual on Vajrasattva. With this and Vajrasattva empowerment one can practice the indispensible deity of Purification, Vajrasattva / Diamond Being.

Now, there is going to be, in early January, a Vajrasattva empowerment and retreat to be given by a Drikung abbot ( Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin Rinpoche ) in North Carolina ( Southern Dharma Retreat Center ). Being given by an abbot, it could possibly be a major empowerment (i.e. a "four-banger", a four level catur-abhisekha empowerment ) for Vajrasattva, although I do not know. Even a medium level "three banger" Vajrasattva empowerment is really quite good.

If you live near there, farther from the world-class vajrayana empowerment venues, this is a truly great opportunity. Vajrasattva is the ultimate swiss army knife of tantric practice.
- If you are a healer, or someone in need of deep healing, this is for you.
- If you are someone oriented towards "higher consciousness", you can take this as a primary practice.
- If you have chronic psychic or mental or environmental discord, then Vajrasattva and the included Vajrapani ( Thunderbolt Holder ) are ofgreat importance for inner cleansing.
- If you are a western witch who wants to do goddess practice, you can take this transmission and thereby fully engage all the Twenty One Taras.
- If you wish to practice any of the standard Buddhist deities, such as Manjusri, Avalokitesvara, Amitabha, Vajrapani and so forth, you can do so on the basis of this one empowerment and a compendium of deity yogas, which is

Book 5) "Pearl Rosary The Path of Purification ( Sadhanas and Commentaries )" available from Vajra Publications. See
http://shop.vajrapub.org/product.sc?categoryId=1&productId=79

From that web page:
"Pearl Rosary The Path of Purification
"The content of this text is primarily meant for people who are far away and don’t have the opportunity to engage in Dharma practice in the presence of the teacher. The book itself is a representation of the teacher, and therefore is meant to help one’s Dharma practice. The text describes the methods of visualization and how to incorporate practice into our day to day life experience. .... The visualization of these deities is mainly concerned with the practices of tantrayana and mantrayana, which are the highest forms of practice. The path of visualization is very powerful and if properly engaged in, it is capable of transforming our life within a single moment.
"By engaging in this kind of practice, infinite clarity of mind is achieved, and through such power, we are able to purify our ordinary body and manifest the body of the deity. Likewise, we are able to purify ordinary speech, and manifest wisdom speech. Furthermore, we are able to purify the deluded ordinary mind, and realize the wisdom mind.
From the foreword by His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche"

The point is that it is much more direct and useful to take a single encompassing empowerment, such as the Vajrasattva, than to go here and there for smaller blessing empowerments. The Vajrasattva is of crucial importance in all schools of Indo-Tibetan vajrayana, AND at all levels, up through and including Great Seal and Great Perfection practice. I have therefore placed a short basic teaching ( under tribe member "k t" photo "Hundred Syllable mantra" ) for you.

This practice is really pervasive. You can get full Vajrasattva through many differently named transmissions, such as Cakrasamvara, Hevajra, Kalacakra, Padmasambhava, Tsik Sum Ne Dek/ Hitting The Three Essential Points, Vajrakilaya and so forth. I myself have received sixty one full Vajrasattva empowerments, often through primary lineage holders, and have completed a quarter million of the long Vajrasattva mantra. . . and intend to do more, because of the great purifying and empowering effects of this mantra and sadhana.

A story: some twelve years ago I was in Vancouver taking Native American yogic teachings from a Tsalagi ( Cherokee ) teacher named Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo. In addition to being a Tsalagi teacher of family lineage, she is also a Tibetan lama of the Nyingma lineage through HH Dudjom Rinbochay, and a Drikung Kagyu lama through HH Chetsang Tulku Rinbochay. Her young son decided to run through the teaching hall, so she called out to him, "Hey, wouldn't you like to DO SOME VAJRASATTVA PRACTICE? That was her way of telling him to settle down. So parents, this is a good practice for the kids. It's really one of the best gifts one could give a child or children, for their entire life.

I thank the Drikung lineage and Vajra Publications, HH Chetsang Tulku Rinbochay, Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin Rinpoche, and so forth. With abiding gratitude I dedicate the merit of sharing this teaching on Kagyu dharma to the Drikung teachers, all the Kagyu teachers, and those who take up these quintessential liberating practices for the benefit of all our relations.

May the Mahamudra transmission remain wide open like the sky!
May the Mahamudra transmission remain pervasive like the earth!
May the Mahamudra practitioners remain unshakeable like mountains!
May awareness remain shining like a flame!
May wakefulness remain lucid like a crystal!

OM AH NAMO GURU VAJRA DHRIKA MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM
OM AH NAMO GURU PRAJNABHADRA MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM
OM AH NAMO GURU JNANASIDDHI MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM
OM AH NAMO GURU DHARMAMATI MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM
OM AH NAMO GURU VAJRA DHVAJA MAHAMUDRA SIDDHI PHALA HUM. . . . .
NAMO NAMAHA

With best wishes to all at Southern Dharma Retreat Center, and best wishes to all of you who are willing to go forward in authentic yogic bodhisattva practice, this brief note is written quite unofficially, yet in partial fulfillment of serious formal teaching responsibilities.

Sarva mangalam! Siddhi rastu! Samaya . . .

K T, inner medical tantrika and dagger priest

Original event notice etc. follows:

" Southern Dharma Retreat Center is an interfaith retreat center which hosts meditation retreats representing the world's various spiritual traditions. Retreat teachers are experienced and recognized in their own traditions. All retreats have meditation, contemplation, and silence as underlying threads. Between teacher-led retreats, individual private retreats may be arranged.

Located part way up one of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina, isolated and forested, Southern Dharma provides a comfortable, secluded gathering place removed from everyday distractions. Retreats create an atmosphere of quiet reflection, peace, and opening to the truths within the heart. "

Contact information for SDRC:

Southern Dharma Retreat Center
1661 West Road
Hot Springs NC 28743
828-622-7112

southerndharma@earthlink.net

www.southerndharma.org

Registration Information at
http://www.southerndharma.org/RegistrationInformation.htm

-- In Drikung-Sangha@yahoogroups.com, Hun Lye <HLye@...> wrote:

Southern Dharma Retreat Center
Hot Springs, North Carolina

Presents

"Vajrasattva Retreat: Empowerment, Teachings and Practice"
January 1-4, 2008
Cost: $180 (includes meals and housing, offering to teacher is
according to one's abilities)
For registration info:
http://www.southerndharma.org/RetreatSchedule2007.htm or contact
Michael Campbell at 828-622-7112 or southerndharma@earthlink.net

*Retreat Description*
For four days of the retreat Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin Rinpoche,
co-spiritual director of the Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick,
MD will lead us in Vajrasattva meditation, a purification practice
from the Vajrayana path of Buddhism, as practiced in Tibet. The main
meditation practice in the Vajrayana path is deity yoga. With this
technique one first visualizes a being with a perfect form of a
deity. Then one creates a perfect auditory note, for example "OM,"
then one imagines a perfectly clear luminous mind. In the practice one
is empowered to first imagine all of these as a mentally "created"
being - outside oneself, then one merges with that being and imagines
oneself to have those physical qualities of perfection. Then one chants the
appropriate mantra and acquires "perfect speech." Finally one
dissolves the visualization into emptiness, thus realizing the
"perfect mind."

In doing this practice one comes to see that one's very nature is now
and always has been the same as the Buddha's - that is,
pure,uncontaminated - uncreated emptiness and luminosity. It has just
been tarnished by one's unskillful actions in the past. The
Vajrasattva practice can help to remove the tarnish so that our true
nature comes into focus. Khenpo Rinpoche will explain this further
during the first session on the evening of the 1st. On the following
morning he will give the empowerment that allows you to do this
practice on your own. For the rest of the retreat we will alternate
between doing the Vajrasattva practice, doing silent meditation and
receiving dharma talks about the Path to Enlightenment as embodied in
the Six Perfections or Paramitas.

*Khenpo Rinpoche's Bio*
Khenpo Rinpoche was born in southeastern Tibet 1970. At the age of 14
he took his monk's vows and soon after began his Buddhist Studies at
Samye Monastery, the first monastery ever built in Tibet.
He was an outstanding student from the start and excelled in all of
his subjects. In 1987, he traveled to India to enroll in the Drikung
Kagyu Institute at Jangchub Ling in Dehra Dun.

After finishing his course work he spent three years teaching lower
classes in the monastic college. He was awarded the title "Khenpo" in
1998 and then spent another three years teaching Buddhist philosophy
at the Institute. He has completed the Ngondro, Chakrasamvara and
other deity-yoga practices in retreat. Khenpo arrived at the Tibetan
Meditation Center in April 2001 to become one of the Spiritual
Co-directors of the Center. He also began his study of English at that
time and is now
quite fluent in it. He has been teaching at the Tibetan Meditation
Center, The Garchen Institute and at other Drikung Kagyu centers in
the US since then.

*Southern Dharma Retreat Center*

Southern Dharma Retreat Center is an interfaith retreat center which
hosts meditation retreats representing the world's various spiritual
traditions. Retreat teachers are experienced and recognized in their
own traditions. All retreats have meditation, contemplation, and
silence as underlying threads. Between teacher-led retreats,
individual private retreats may be arranged.

Located part way up one of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North
Carolina, isolated and forested, Southern Dharma provides a
comfortable, secluded gathering place removed from everyday
distractions. Retreats create an atmosphere of quiet reflection,
peace, and opening to the truths within the heart.

Facilities include the meditation hall, lodge, and tent platforms.
The lodge, which can accommodate twenty-three, has a dining room,
kitchen, small library, double bedrooms on the second floor, and a
dormitory room on the uppermost floor. All retreatants are housed on
the premises. Four tent platforms are located adjacent to a small
mountain stream with many waterfalls. Tent platforms may be reserved
but we are unable to take reservations for rooms in the lodge although
any preference indicated on the registration form will be taken into
consideration. Rooms are assigned first on the basis of gender, then
for any special medical reasons, and finally in the order of
registration. Only for retreats with small enrollment is a single room
available.

There are several trails -- along the stream, affording mountain
views, and one to the top of the mountain.

Dana is a Pali word (the language spoken in India during the time of
the Buddha about 400 BCE) meaning generosity. Teachers are
reimbursed by Southern Dharma only for their travel. At the end of a
retreat, retreatants are offered the opportunity to offer
contributions (anonymous if they prefer) to the teacher. Southern
Dharma Retreat Center also relies on financial support through
charitable contributions.

--- End forwarded message ---

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 2 replies

Does Voting Make Us Happy?

2008-01-25T03:22:11Z

Did you know that the more often people *vote* the happier they seem to be?

Contrary to what we may like to think... about stress reduction .... active engagement in your country's political process is directly related to happiness.

Eric Weiner's "Geography of Bliss" is so fascinating....

Not tropical weather
Not wealth
Not pursuit of happiness

But voting????

Amma

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 21 replies

What can we do to support truthsayers?

2008-01-23T08:35:10Z

Is there a Buddhist opinion?
Or is it the opinion of no opinion?

http://people.tribe.net/sensei/blog/d0401146-200b-4657-be13-b4961ac65191?_click_path=Application%5Btribe%5D.Tribe%5B53bcf5c5-3cf0-488c-bac6-2cb87f6e569e%5D#comments

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

Weekly meditation group in the Mission

2007-12-30T08:19:11Z

Hello sangha!

Come join us on Sunday nights.
We sit in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.
For more details visit our website.

http://communitybuilders.meetup.com/3/

-Michael

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

Weekly sitting group in The Mission.

2007-12-30T08:17:01Z

Hello sangha!

Come join us on Sunday nights.
We sit in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.
For more details visit our website.

http://communitybuilders.meetup.com/3/

-Michael

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

Educational Video

2007-12-15T12:14:29Z

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 1 reply

Lakulish Yogasan Championships 2008: Feb. 22; 23; & 24th, - City of Surat, Gujarat State, India

2007-12-10T12:11:05Z

For details and application forms, please refer to: http://www.lifemission.org/ and under "New" go to item #4 and click on "World Open Yogasan Championships".

Please note, to optimize your India trip and your experience of Lakulish Yoga you could attend or participate in the Yogasan Championships and also take in the 3 week Certificate Yoga Training Course being offered at Swami Rajarshi Muni's Malav Ashram from January 30 -February 20th. For details on the training go to http://www.lifemission.org/ and under "New" click on item # 5 " "Overseas Students Annual Yoga Certificate Training Program"

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

HHDL Link

2007-12-04T21:13:05Z

http://www.dalailama.org.au/

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

Albert Camus - Nobel Laureate, Resistance Fighter and Humanitarian

2007-12-01T22:02:25Z

Albert Camus - Nobel Laureate, Resistance Fighter and Humanitarian

Keywords : Albert Camus, humanitarian ethics, universal responsibility, conscious engagement, struggle & freedom & redemption.

"Courage for our friends, Merry!"
Eowyn, in film production of Lord of the Rings

Albert Camus was one of the great thinkers and writers of the 20th Century, and made a profound and lasting contribution to the modern understanding of the human condition in terms of basic personal ethical responsibility and broader social relations. His long novel "The Plague" is one of the great modern stories which explores what it means to be a thinking, feeling human being in times of suffering and oppression, and shows through character development and story arc the meaning of life from a humanitarian viewpoint.

In a time when the world was polarized into different camps, Camus emphasized the inherent value of human freedom and conscious choice and shared existential issues. He also spoke and worked against totalitarian regimes and criticized or rejected their proponents in the free societies, such as the Marxist JP Sartre. Camus represented and embodied what is called "L'Homme Engage'", the Committed Man.

Here I reproduce one of his essays on human relations and social conscience, which is just as strikingly clear and relevant as today as when written in the Nineteen Forties.

Along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, and the Dalai Lama, Albert Camus is one of the Great Voices for hope and for a commitment to humanity which is both broad and deep. Like these others he represents and teaches a kind of universal responsibility. His words and actions show people a real alternative to one-party totalitarianism, blind religious belief, mere nihilism and unevolved personal self-obsession.

It's not about belief or dogma, it's not about "god" or money, it's about freedom and responsibility, which is what we all must engage, whatever our paths in life. This is because we are all human beings who must learn to live with ourselves, and with others. The point is to do so consciously, to live as though human life really matters, both our own and that of others.

Camus emphasized that slavery and coercion and lies and propaganda must be rejected on all levels for people to become authentic and conscious and free. This simple idea is one of the most radical and important steppingstones to a more human world and to more broader-based cooperation among the peoples of the world. That's what matters.

As a humanitarian social-change agent and Buddhist teacher, I will tell you that almost no-one has made a more profound difference in my understanding of what it means to be a human being than Albert Camus. This was true thirty years ago and it remains true now.

"The Plague" is a long book about struggle and suffering, it is true, but that's what life is, both for those who do not care for others, and for those who do. The question is how each of us faces struggle and suffering, alone or together. The answer Camus gives is that we have to give a damn.

"Giving a damn" for everyone's sake is one of the great themes in literature, and also for several schools of spiritual practice and classical philosophy. One finds that theme driving other books of existential challenge, war and personal struggle, such as The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series. Not surprisingly, these are some of my favorite works. Along with some of the principal documents of the United Nations.

In his song "Passing Through", Leonard Cohen says

"I was at Franklin Roosevelt's side
The night before he died.
He said 'One world must come out of World War II'.
Be you yellow white or tan,
A man is still a man.
We're all on one road and we're only passing through."

Ours is very much a time of accelerating careless or even destructive intent and increasing consequences of same. There are not many effective voices for free and peaceful co-operation, but those who call for blood and highjacking or even tearing down civilization are emboldened. This has severe implications for human societies everywhere and for the planet as a whole. It's why I sometimes make use of a rather unusual prayer, which is

"Pardon me thou bleeding Earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers."

But it is possible to be, as Camus pointed out, someone who is neither a victim nor an executioner, and to be someone who stands fast in the middle, someone who strongly works for balance on our long road to freedom. There are many stories there, both known and unknown.

To me, it's all the same story. It's a truly human story. It's about struggle and freedom and redemption being really pretty much the same thing, and for all of us at the same time. And that is why we say
"For All Our Relations."

Our past is not a binding condition nor is it our potential. We can re-choose to awaken to our own shared humanity, which is indeed no different than awakening to ourselves and our own hopes and our own lives. For better or worse, probably both, we are all in this together. Carpe diem!

Of course I never met Albert Camus in the flesh. Still he is one of my very few and very dear friends. So then, here I have introduced to you one of my friends.

K T

"Now the only moral value is courage, which is useful here for judging the puppets and chatterboxes who pretend to speak in the name of the people…"
- Albert Camus

From another web site -
Dr. Rieux of La Peste (The Plague), 1947, who tirelessly attends the plague-stricken citizens of Oran, enacts the revolt against a world of the absurd and of injustice, and confirms Camus's words:
"We refuse to despair of mankind. Without having the unreasonable ambition to save men, we still want to serve them".

From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus

Albert Camus (November 7, 1913 – January 4, 1960) was a French author and philosopher who won the Nobel prize in 1957. He is often associated with existentialism, although Camus refused this label; as he wrote in his essay The Rebel, his whole life was devoted against the philosophy of nihilism. His most important phrase for the future was: "All of us, among the ruins, are preparing a renaissance beyond the limits of nihilism. But few of us know it".

http://www.spunk.org/texts/writers/camus/sp001174.txt

Neither Victims Nor Executioners (French: Ni Victimes, ni bourreaux) was a series of essays by Albert Camus that were serialized in Combat, the daily newspaper of the French Resistance, in November 1946. In the essays he discusses violence and murder and the impact these have on those that perpetrate, suffer and observe them.

NEITHER VICTIMS NOR EXECUTIONERS by Albert Camus

Yes, we must raise our voices. Up to this point, I have refrained from appealing to emotion. We are being torn apart by a logic of history which we have elaborated in every detail--a net which threatens to strangle us.

It is not emotion which can cut through the web of a logic which has gone to irrational lengths, but only reason which can meet logic on its own ground. But I should not want to leave the impression... that any program for the future can get along without our powers of love and indignation.

I am well aware that it takes a powerful prime mover to get men into motion and that it is hard to throw one's self into a struggle whose objectives are so modest and where hope has only a rational basis-- and hardly even that. But the problem is not how to carry men away; it is essential, on the contrary, that they not be carried away but rather that they be made to understand clearly what they are doing.

To save what can be saved so as to open up some kind of future--that is the prime mover, the passion and the sacrifice that is required. It demands only that we reflect and then decide, clearly, whether humanity's lot must be made still more miserable in order to achieve far-off and shadowy ends, whether we should accept a world bristling with arms where brother kills brother; or whether, on the contrary, we should avoid bloodshed and misery as much as possible so that we give a chance for survival to later generations better equipped than we are.

For my part, I am fairly sure that I have made the choice. And, having chosen, I think that I must speak out, that I must state that I will never again be one of those, whoever they be, who compromise with murder, and that I must take the consequences of such a decision. The thing is done, and that is as far as I can go at present....

However, I want to make clear the spirit in which this article is written. We are asked to love or to hate such and such a country and such and such a people. But some of us feel too strongly our common humanity to make such a choice.

Those who really love the Russian people, in gratitude for what they have never ceased to be--that world leaven which Tolstoy and Gorky speak of--do not wish for them success in power politics, but rather want to spare them, after the ordeals of the past, a new and even more terrible bloodletting. So, too, with the American people, and with the peoples of unhappy Europe.

This is the kind of elementary truth we are likely to forget amidst the furious passions of our time. Yes, it is fear and silence and the spiritual isolation they cause that must be fought today. And it is sociability and the universal inter- communication of men that must be defended. Slavery, injustice, and lies destroy this intercourse and forbid this sociability; and so we must reject them.

But these evils are today the very stuff of history, so that many consider them necessary evils. It is true that we cannot "escape history," since we are in it up to our necks. But one may propose to fight within history to preserve from history that part of man which is not its proper province. That is all I have to say here.

The "point" of this article may be summed up as follows: Modern nations are driven by powerful forces along the roads of power and domination. I will not say that these forces should be furthered or that they should be obstructed. They hardly need our help and, for the moment, they laugh at attempts to hinder them. They will, then, continue.

But I will ask only this simple question: What if these forces wind up in a dead end, what if that logic of history on which so many now rely turns out to be a will o' the wisp? What if, despite two or three world wars, despite the sacrifice of several generations and a whole system of values, our grandchildren--supposing they survive-- find themselves no closer to a world society?

It may well be that the survivors of such an experience will be too weak to understand their own sufferings. Since these forces are working themselves out and since it is inevitable that they continue to do so,there is no reason why some of us should not take on the job of keeping alive, through the apocalyptic historical vista that stretches before us, a modest thoughtfulness which, without pretending to solve everything, will constantly be prepared to give some human meaning to everyday life.

The essential thing is that people should carefully weight the price they must pay.... All I ask is that, in the midst of a murderous world, we agree to reflect on murder and to make a choice.

After that, we can distinguish those who accept the consequences of being murderers themselves or the accomplices of murderers, and those who refuse to do so with all their force and being. Since this terrible dividing line does actually exist, it will be a gain if it be clearly marked.

Over the expanse of five continents throughout the coming years an endless struggle is going to be pursued between violence and friendly persuasion, a struggle in which, granted, the former has a thousand times the chances of success than that of the latter. But I have always held that, if he who bases his hopes on human nature is a fool, he who gives up in the face of circumstances is a coward. And henceforth, the only honorable course will be to stake everything on a formidable gamble: that words are more powerful than munitions.

[ end document ]

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

How Engaged?

2007-11-27T10:55:32Z

Id like to hear some stories of how people are engaging their lives with Buddhist ideal.

Thanks

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 41 replies

I Take Refuge (a chant to be sung in rounds)

2007-11-19T10:50:46Z

I take refuge in The Mother
Planet of my birth

I take refuge in the dharma
Work I do on earth

I take refuge in the Buddha
My own awakening

I take refuge in the sangha
Community wherein I sing

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

Bay Area Buddhism resource

2007-11-03T21:14:55Z

If you're in the bay area and looking for a Buddhist center or sangha, check out this site:

http://bayareabuddhism.blogspot.com

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

Feed the hungry by playing a game!

2007-10-30T03:29:57Z

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 0 replies

VAJRASATTVA, a Buddha to engage for everyone . . . with teaching and references ( repost )

2007-10-28T22:10:57Z

VAJRASATTVA KARMA MANTRA, with teaching and references ( repost )
repost from tribe: teaching yoga

Namaste. Om svasti.

I have uploaded a Sanskrit language text image for Vajrasattva mantra recitation at my tribe home ( "k t" ).

If you do not know about Sanskrit or Buddhist Sanskrit practices, an excellent book is
"Sacred Calligraphy of the East" by John Stevens.

There are online resources for Buddhist mantra in Sanskrit, including
<http://visiblemantra.org/>

Anyway, here is a short, casual teaching on Vajrasattva. I know, I know, it is woefully incomplete. But to actually study this teaching one needs a complete empowerment, a lot of practice, and real instruction from an authentic tantric Buddhist guru, such as commonly come from Tibet and teach in different parts of the West.

This is quite doable. I have received sixty full Vajrasattva empowerments in all different schools. I have not been to India.

Scroll down quite a bit further for several pages of classical tantric teaching. Somebody has to know how this stuff works. Back in India, this is known as "yoga", specifically "guhyamantra yoga".

As one of my many many teachers from Asia once said,
"In the final analysis, all talk is worthless. It is only the exact practice that gives a result."
He also said,
"Dharma eliminates the karma." ( You know, Dharrrrmahhh Heeeleeemeenaaates teee karrrrmmaahhh. )

All my relations! May this benefit all!

K T

Translation of the VAJRASATTVA KARMA MANTRA
( Diamond Being Action Recitation Which Is All-Accomplishing )

". . . Identical to Vajrasattva, the supreme siddhis ( powers ) are perfected in him; he attains the blissful pure land, supreme wisdom becomes his display, and he is an exemplar to gods and men; he is empowered in body speech and mind and whatever he imagines is actualized."
- - from the Thirty First Chapter of the Guhyagarbha tantra, The Chapter on Direct Perception of Vajrasattva

This mantra is quintessential to the foundational practices of Buddhist tantra ( i.e. mystical yoga ), and also is broadly and extensively used at the highest levels of Tantra, up to and including Mahamudra / Great Seal and Atiyoga/ Great Perfection.

The following text and teaching is most sacred.

Vajrasattva is the quintessence of ( all ) the Hundred Families of Buddhist tantra. It is a universal key to all the esoteric Buddhist tantric traditions of India, Tibet, China, and Japan. Vajrasattva practice distinguishes Inner Mahayana / Great Vehicle Buddhism from Outer Mahayana / Great Vehicle Buddhism, for in the latter it is either not found or very hidden.

Vajra has the sense of "indestructible, infinite, immovable, all-encompassing, timeless", ultimate awareness ( jnana ) and skillful means ( prajna ). As one of the Buddha Families it refers either to the Buddha Family of the East, or to the All Encompassing Six Families, i.e. Vajrasattva, the Five Buddha Families plus Vajrasattva.

As a ritual scepter vajra also has the sense of ultimate nobility and royal power, and the union of the Five Buddha Families and the great sacred circles ( mandala ). There are many different kinds of vajra scepters, with one, three, five, or nine prongs, and the vajra is usually part of other tantric implements such as the knife handle and bell handle. It is not realistic to practice Buddhist tantra without both a good vajra scepter and vajra bell: these are required and to be used as part of the tantric commitments.

From a practical perspective, Vajrasattva is one of the most important methods in Buddhist tantra for healing and purification on all levels of Body speech and Mind. ( Of course, no promises can be made for any specific medical condition. ) This includes purification of the practitioner to effectively practice tantra, and also to purify continuing minor infractions and even severely dangerous transgressions of the tantric commitments, which would otherwise be worse than fatal. It also includes psychic heat yoga ( Tibetan: tummo ) and in the Great Perfection full transmission, includes the quintessential precepts of Breakthrough ( dzogchen trekcho mannakde ) for direct liberation of awareness into primordial freedom and purity.

Vajrasattva is also an "All Accomplishing" ( Sanskrit: sarva siddhi ) mantra, as you can see in the translation that follows. Thus, Vajrasattva accomplishes the outer sacred circle magical activities of Purification ( Vajra Family ) , Enrichment ( Ratna Family ), Magnetization ( Padma Family ), and Eliminating Negativity and Obstacles ( Karma Family ). It also accomplishes the primary Great Work of Buddhahood ( Buddha Family or alternatively the Six Great Families, the Five plus Vajrasattva.

The most basic forms of Vajrasattva recitation are these
1) OM VAJRASATTVA AH
2) OM VAJRASATTVA HUM

There is also a basic wrathful form of Vajrasattva known as Vajrapani ( Scepter in Hand ). If one has any major Vajrasattva empowerment, this includes Vajrapani, for which the basic mantra is
HUM VAJRA PHAT
There are also variations of Vajrapani mantra, as Vajrapani is one of the principal angelic guardians ( dharmapalas ) of all the schools of Buddhist tantra across Asia, and also the Shaolin School of Ch'an Buddhist Kung-fu.

There are many images and forms of Vajrasattva, both peaceful and wrathful, and both with and without consort. The consort is for example Vajragarvi ( peaceful ) or Diptacakra ( wrathful consort of Vajrakilaya-Vajrasattva ).

Typically, the Peaceful Vajrasattva is brilliant shimmering transparent clear-white, holding a vajra ( diamond scepter ) in the right hand at the heart, and holding a ghanta ( diamond bell ) in the left hand at the left waist ( bowl up ). This peaceful Vajrasattva may then appear in union with the peaceful consort, or in the heart center of the Ultimate Wrathful Vajrasattva known as Vajrakilaya ( Diamond Dagger ).

As a ritual practice, the seed syllable ( bij mantra ) may be either HUM or AH, and there are other variants as well. The deity is visualized as oneself / an ideal being, atop one's head, and in different forms. So for example, a woman may well see herself as a female Vajrasattva, or as "Reversed Vajrasattva", i.e. as Vajragarvi in tantric union with the masculine aspect Vajrasattva.

Vajrasattva is the source deity of the Great Kalacakra mandala ( sacred circle ), and also the source deity of the Great Perfection ( Atiyoga or "dzogchen" teachings of primordial purity, the most profound, essential, and powerful awareness-yogas of the Early Translation ( Nyingma ) school.

For example, the first human teacher of Atiyoga was Joyous Vajra ( Tibetan : Garab Dorje ), a direct emanation of Vajrasattva. According to the Great Perfection / Atiyoga tradition sourced through Garb Dorje, there are six million four hundred thousand verses of teaching of Vajrasattva and the Great Perfection, of which a worthwhile fraction have been transmitted down to the present day. See for example the following
1) "The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation" ( i.e. the Gyurme Dorje translation and commentary ISBN-10: 0143104942 )
2) "Wellsprings of the Great Perfection", Erik Kunsang
3) many online texts, such as those available from Keith Dowman at
<http://www.keithdowman.net/dzogchen/>
These include
3a) Direct Perception of Vajrasattva ( The text that gave King Dza his enlightenment vision )
3b) The Exalted Spaciousness of Vajrasattva ( Garab Dorje's Source of all Dzogchen Precepts ).

Also, every key empowerment of Great Perfection Break Through ( dzogchen trekcho ), such as the renowned Patrul Rinbochay Tsik Sum Ne Dek ( Striking the Essence in Three Words ) includes the Vajrasattva Hundred Syllable mantra as a key practice. Finally, a greatly wrathful Vajrasattva practice is one of the Three Roots ( primary deity yoga practices of the Nyingma school ), either as Vajrakilaya or as Mahasri Heruka ( the wrathful Samantabhadra-Vajrasattva ).

In addition to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a crucial and comprehensive teaching with many Great Perfection mantras including Vajrasattva as a primary practice , there is also a rare transmission of Guru Padmasambhava as Vajrasattva. This is the Red ( Padma ) Vajrasattva, which would look superficially similar to other Vajrasattva practices but which has a very different structure and orientation. It is a quintessential restricted practice and requires a specific Red Vajrasattva empowerment. Apart from this, all major Nyingma Great Perfection transmissions, such as Padmasambhava, Yeshe Tsogyel, Tara, Vajrakilaya, Troma, Bardo, etc. include a full Vajrasattva.

In the New Schools of Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana ( i.e. the Sarma, including Gelugpa, Sakya, and Kagyu ), the ultimate Buddha realization is embodied in the Dharmakaya ( Primordial Dimension ) Vajradhara ( Diamond Bearer ). This Buddha Vajradhara is the fully realized Vajrasattva, just as Vajrasattva is the ( sambhogakaya / angelic ) Buddha of the Tantric Path. They are two aspects of the same ultimate teaching, which is known as Mahamudra, the Great Seal.

So for example the great renunciate yogi Milarepa, who was Vajra Family in the Five Buddha, accomplished Buddhahood as Vajradhara. Accomplishing the deity Kalacakra-Vajrasattva also brings one to the level of Vajradhara. ( Accomplishing the deity Yamantaka or Hevajra brings one to this same level. There are many tantric paths to universal awareness. This is known as polytheism. )

There are also many variants of the Hundred syllable mantra, as for Tara Karma Mantra, Mahakala Karma Mantra, Yamantaka Karma Mantra the different Heruka Karma Mantra and so forth. I know directly from having received all these transmissions and the corresponding texts. Thus the Hundred Syllable mantra, like the Hindu Gayatri mantra, serves as a core for many or most other practices.

There are also different extensions to this mantra, including that for "Purifying the Six Realms", and other versions. Most of these are sealed by the oath of tantric secrecy, which must be upheld by all initiates. The many variants of the basic mantra can be summarized in these categories:

a) with and without the optional ending seed syllables HUM and PHAT;

b) with different ordering of phrases, such as SUTOSNYO, SUPOSNYO, and ANURAKTO BE BHAVA;

c) via substitutions of different deities ( angels ) in place of Vajrasattva ( N.B.: not a simple substitution );

d) using basic substitutions for different Buddha families ( i.e. replacing each instance of VAJRA with PADMA to focus more on Lotus Family deities such as Avalokita, Hayagriva, etc. );

e) using the Tibetanization of the original Sanskrit recitation, by substituting for example BENZA for VAJRA. This is also effective as mantra. There is a close Chinese variant of the Tibetan form which is in use by four or five million practitioners.

These different permutations and combinations are all classical and valid, not mistakes in the various publications or traditions you may encounter. Nevertheless, the basic form accomplishes all aspects of spiritual purification and realization.

It is typical for committed practitioners of Buddhatantra to complete a commitment of 100,000 recitations of this long Vajrasattva mantra as a basic daily purification ( 21 x daily or 100x daily ) and as a preliminary to major empowerments and to complete many deity practice sessions ( usually 3x per session to mend mistakes ). Some people do basic Vajrasattva purification practice each full moon, others do extensive retreat entirely focused on this deity, such as for Red Vajrasattva.

Once the basic 100,000 long recitations have been completed, it is possible to go further and perform basic mandala activities ( enrichment, etc. ) or perhaps psychic heat practice or Great Perfection practice ( at some point ). Typically the advanced practices will not even begin to work without completing the long recitations first. I have completed 250,000 long Vajrasattva recitations and intend to do more. It is said that in Tibet good tantric practitioners of different schools quite commonly completed 200,000 long recitations, so this is a major practice for basically every serious tantric yogi.

An excellent text on Vajrasattva in New School Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana is
"The Tantric Path of Purification: The Yoga Method of Heruka Vajrasattva"
by Lama Thubten Yeshe, ISBN-10: 0861710207
This specific mantra authorization ( as well as the one given here ) is included in essentially all major New School Tantric empowerments, such as Kalacakra, Cakrasamvara, Hevajra, Vajrayogini, Yamantaka, Milarepa, Mahakala and so forth. However, the Heruka forms also vary between deity yoga lineages, and the Nyingma versions of Vajra Heruka vary as well.

This translation is partially based on that of the great Nyingma scholar / Dzogchen master Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, and also that of the great Dzogchen master Terton Sogyal Tulku Rinbochay. Khetsun Sangpo has provided an excellent commentary which brilliantly summarizes Vajrasattva practice and all the esoteric preliminary practices from the standpoint of the Old School ( Nyingma ) tradition: see
"Tantric Practice in Nying-ma"
by Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche, ISBN-10: 0937938149

Because Vajrasattva is so important in all schools and all levels of Buddhist tantra, it is quite helpful to have both these books.

The Sanskrit phonetic text following is broken out on a phrase by phrase basis without punctuation. The English interpretation follows between each phrase.

I have provided some clarification and elucidation, mostly within the parenthesized parts.

Translation follows:

> > > Begin Translation > > >

Om vajrasattva samayam anupalaya
Om Vajrasattva ( Diamond Being )! Protect the sacred commitment.

Vajrasattva tvenopatistha
Vajrasattva abide in me.

dridho me bhava
Make me firm.

sutosnyo me bhava
Grant me complete satisfaction.

suposnyo me bhava
Fulfill me ( increase the positive within me ).

anurakto me bhava
Make me compassionate ( or: be loving towards me ).

sarva siddhim me prayaccha
Grant me all siddhi ( powers and attainments, both relative and transcendent ).

sarva-karma su ca me chittam sriyam kuru
Manifest for me all ( noble ) actions. Make my mind wholly virtuous.

"hum"
"hum" ( the bijmantra, the essential vibratory wave-particle of Vajrasattva )

"ha ha ha ha"
"ha ha ha ha" ( the Four Joys, Four Immeasurables, Four Levels of Tantric Empowerment, the Four Dimensions of Sacred Being - Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya, Svabhavivakaya )

"ho"
"ho" ( exclamation of joy at accomplishing these sets of four )

bhagavan sarva-tathagata-vajra
Transcendent Lord who embodies ( or: who is together with ) all the Indestructible Realized Buddhas !

ma me munca
Do not abandon me.

vajri bhava maha-samaya-sattva
Make me indivisible, Great and All Encompassing Pledge Being ( great angel of angels ).

"ah"
"ah" ( release into vast primordial pure wisdom-dimension beyond all limitations and obscurations )

(optional : hum phat! )
(hum phat!) Hum here means manifest great diamond power! Phat! has the sense of strike / cut through all confusion, grasping and negativity! I.e. by prajnopaya, the Union of Wisdom and Skillful Means.

< < < End Translation < < <

Sarva mangalam! Siddhi rastu.

In partial fulfillment of my received responsibilities as vajrayana guru, this was set down one as casual chatter by the inner medical tantrika and dagger priest K T, who is of the Vajrasattva ( Sixth of the Fivefold ) family.

AHHH AHHH

Tistha vajra! Samaya ho!

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 2 replies

Support the Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Burma .. Two Actions You Can Take

2007-10-02T13:16:30Z

Buddhist Peace Fellowship Action Alert/News
Two Actions You Can Take to Support the Buddhist Monks and Nuns in Burma

For the last week, thousands of Burmese monks have marched against the repressive Burmese military regime in cities across that nation. They have recently been joined by Buddhist nuns and Burmese citizens. This is the largest public demonstration against the junta in nearly 20 years. Over the past couple of days, the situation is getting more tense as the Myanmar military junta has warned that it is prepared to crack down on the monks at the heart of the protest.

The situation in Burma requires our urgent attention. Your support for the monks and nuns will make a big difference to the people of Burma (Myanmar).

Here are two actions you can take now:

1) Our friends at the Buddhist Channel have initiated a global petition to garner support for the Holy Sangha. Please go to the petition online here http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,4945,0,0,1,0 and follow the instructions given. This page also includes address information for the Myanmar (Burmese) Embassy in a number of countries.

2) Light a candle and place it in your window every night this week, along with a sign in support of the nonviolent protest. Click here to visit our website where you can download a sign that reads "The World is Watching -- Free Burma!"
http://www.bpf.org/html/whats_now/2007/burma_peace.html

posted in Engaged Buddhism - 2 replies