My Story Part IV: Journeying to the West

...It was settled, I was going to California, albeit not with flowers in my hair. Being a son of NYC, born and raised, I had a somewhat mystical vision of this land far beyond the West of the Hudson. Its California baby, the golden state! Starting my graduate studies at UC Berzerkeley was only part of the excitement.

In many ways, California is the root of the Buddha Dharma in America. When the Dharma came West, it landed in Cali. The oldest Buddhist temple in the US, in the Jodo Shinshu tradition (Japanese Pure Land) was built in San Francisco where it still stands today. And of course, no discussion of Zen in America would be complete without mentioning the San Francisco Zen Center, founded by Shunryu Suzuki, author of the classic "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind".

When my friend and future housemate picked me up from the airport and put the car radio on, what else could be blastin' but Dre and 2pac's classic jam "California Love"? How's that for an auspicious sign?

The first order of business in exploring my new environs was to find a place to practice. The Bay Area certainly has no dearth of temples and Dharma centers so the question was which one to choose. My main criterion was that the place be a "real" temple i.e. with resident monastics, daily liturgies, & ceremonies, etc. I don't have anything against the "meditation crowd" who focus almost exclusively on the practice of vipassana or zazen but I just find something very grounding about temples (in the traditional sense) and holy places in general.

Ever the strategist, I had looked up a number of places not too far from where I staying. The first place I visited was the Berkeley Zen Center, which also happens to be right next to a Thai temple on the same street. While it was a cosy little zendo, it was farther than I would have preferred. Next on my list was one that made me the most curious: the Berkeley Buddhist Monatsery. Aside from being a branch of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, it was also noteworthy because of its head monk, the Ven. Heng Sure. Back in NY, I had heard stories about this "really funny Californian monk", of "Three Steps One Bow" fame, but there were another of other things that made the place attractive. It was within walking distance from my place and, more importantly, it was in the Chinese Ch'an tradition; a tradition I was very familiar with.

Every Saturday night, Ven. Heng Sure lectures on the Avatamsaka Sutra, a text I was familar with and still profoundly influences the way I approach my practice (the parts that I can understand anyway!). The monastery itself is a fascinating place. It used to be a Zionist church and as far as I know, is the only temple that I know of which has stained glass windows of bodhisattvas.

I showed up to the lecture and all of the standard fare seemed to be intact: A Dharma request/incense offering, preliminary chanting, and the lecture itself. The lecture itself was awesome, very informative and in a distinctly American style that managed to retain the essence of the text. Great. With the lecture concluded, it was time for dedication of merit.

"OK its time for us to dedicate merit. Put your palms together, make a wish, make a vow, and send it out there" Ven. Heng Sure said. Immediately after this, he pulled out a guitar. Let me repeat this: he pulled out a guitar and started playing. You'll have to excuse my shock since I wasn't accustomed to folk singing monks but there he was, leading us in a lovely dedication, set to the tune of Loreena McKinnett's "Dark Night of the Soul". At a conference held at the Berkeley Monastery, Ven. Heng Sure said during the introductory talk, "if you're not used to seeing a monk with a guitar, be very, very afraid".

Encountering the Buddha's Dharma has certainly been a profound and life changing experience, but then again, I suppose that's the whole point. So what's next? Not quite sure but the story will continue.

On that note, I'll end "My Story" series in a traditional manner: dedicating the merit. Whatever goodness has come out of sharing these experiences, may all beings delight in it. Or if you prefer, I'll let Ven. Heng Sure (with the guitar) close things out.

Making Time...For Break Time!

An interesting article from BBC UK Magazine about the importance of taking breaks, (real ones away from the workplace!) during the day and giving yourself some time to think. Tips are offered on how we can attempt to break out of the mindless workaholism that plagues modern society...I should know because I'm one! I love the quote from Da Vinci in the article:

"Leonardo Da Vinci had a bed in his studio and when patrons accused him of wasting time, he said 'If I don't do this, you don't get the work."

...Well my break time is over and its time to get back to work hehe.

My Story Part III: Epic Treks and Quiet Sitting

...Taking Refuge and receiving the Precepts was a major event in so many ways. Not only did I have the feeling of being a "cool kid" but I also felt an even closer affinity with my Dharma Friends than before. In Ch'an it is said that when one resolves to practice the Dharma, one is taking up the 'family business', i.e. the family of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

The period after taking refuge was also when I got my first real exposure to retreat practice. The first retreat I went on was conducted by Fo Guang Shan (佛光山) at the Deer Park Monastery in Upstate New York. A very pretty place and the "beginner's retreat" theme was a good first experience. I also attended a few retreats at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center in Pine Bush. My first retreat there was the "College Zen Retreat" conducted by Ven. Guo Yuan. This was before the ritzy dorms were built and the arrangement was for the girls to sleep in the guest house and the guys to sleep in the Buddha Hall. Waking up in a Buddha Hall is not an experience I'll soon forget.

The summer of 2003 was a fun time in my Dharma exploration. On weekends I'd usually be at the Ch'an Meditation Center and furthering my practice of Ch'an by reading a lot of books, especially by Shifu Sheng Yen. "The Hoofprint of the Ox" remains for me the best treatment of the serious study and practice of Ch'an/Zen out there.

Because I couldn't find a summer job, I took up a volunteer position at food pantry run by Saint Raymond's church up in the Bronx, where I was living at the time. The position was part time though, which left me with lots of time for Dharma study. It was at this time that I learned about a Sri Lankan temple in Queens called the New York Buddhist Vihara. I was really excited because it would be my first "real world exposure" to Theravada Buddhism (which I still practice).

Going to and from the Vihara was an epic journey, 2 trains and a bus with an average travel time each way of 2 hours. It was in the same spirit as the great Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, except I didn't encounter warring tribes, or tigers, or inhospitable deserts. No, I had only to contend with the perpetual weirdness of after midnight subway rides.

The head monk of the Vihara, Ven. Kurunegoda Piyatissa, while quite old, was still sharp and the program was a good mix of meditation and Dhamma discussion on verses from the Dhammapada. Occaisionally, there would be guest teachers. The first guest teacher I would meet was someone whose writings were very familiar to me. I showed up Wednesday night as usual and normally, the group was around 15-20 people. On this night however, it seemed the entire Theravada Buddhist population of NYC was at the Vihara. What the hell was going on? I could barely move about and finally I asked an old Sri Lankan fellow what all the fuss was about.

"Wener-able Bhikkhu Bodhi ees giwing Dhamma tuk dees ewening" he said. I was completely star struck. "Wait, Bhikkhu Bodhi...the Pali translator?!", I asked in disbelief. Uncle-ji's response: "Vy yes! Dere ees unlee vun Bhikkhu Bodhi uh!"

Only one Bhikkhu Bodhi indeed. After the talk I introduced myself in my "official capacity" as president of the Stony Brook Buddhism Study and Practice Group and extended an invitation to come out and give a talk. Previously, we had invited him but he was unable to make it on account of his health. Although quite some time would pass before he came out, his first lecture was super-smash mega hit and was the beginning of a number of talks he would give. Meeting Bhikkhu Bodhi was the beginning of an invaluable friendship and I can feel nothing but great gratitude at being able to call him teacher.

Another "big star" I had the great fortune to meet was Ven. Henepola Gunaratana (conveniently referred to as Bhante G), the author of the classic, Mindfulness in Plain English. His meditation instruction was, as you might imagine, jam packed and yet during the sitting, the only sounds to be heard where the cars passing by outside. "All we must know is that when we breathe in, we breathe in and when we breathe out, we breathe out. When we know this, truly know this, we will be free".

No mention of Buddhist teachers could be complete without mentioning the most famous one of the all: His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I saw him when he gave a free talk at Central Park in the Fall of 2003 and it was a really awesome experience. Just like a rock concert...except without the loud noise, drugs, wild sex acts, alcohol, arrests, etc. Its always interesting to see the kinds of people that turn out for an event like this. The speech he gave touched on a number of points, the most memorable of which is the idea that war is not only outdated in the interconnected, global age but is also just legalized violence. Powerful words from a great man.

During my "Dharma travels" I was fortunate enough to meet with many teachers, all of whom shaped my practice in various ways. I'd like to take this opportunity to put my palms together for them and express my sincerest thanks. These teachers are:

Ven. Madeline Ko-I Bastis, Ven. Guo Yuan, Ven. Chang Wu, Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Lama Nicholas Vreeland, Geshe Lobsang Jamspal, Ven. Kurunegoda Piyatissa, Ven. Kottawe Nanda, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Shifu Sheng-Yen, Shifu Jen-Chun and the nuns at the Temple of Enlightenment who were more than happy to fill up my up duffel bags with Dharma books. To all of you, I bow.

My junior and especially senior years of college were quite intense with long hours in the lab, hard, studying and juggling my personal feelings. I realized that I had really reached a point in my life where I needed to be around palm trees. That's right, I was California dreamin' all the way and my decision to apply to almost all West Coast programs for grad school would mark the beginning of a new phase in my practice...

Bridge the Divide

We do so many things to separate ourselves from each other but sometimes we have the chance to bridge the great divide. In Greenwich, England, the arbitrarily defined Center of Time and Space itself, I was able to do just this. Talk about minding the gap...

Buddhist Terms Your Guru Never Taught You

The hilarious classic list, for your laughing pleasure:

***

Buddhist Terms Your Guru Never Taught You
By Gary L. Ray

I’ve compiled this list of modern Buddhist terms over the last several
years through a combination of listening to how American Buddhists
talk and coming up with my own terms describing how they behave. I
also credit Douglas Coupland for the idea of compiling the list.
ZEN SICKNESS: Also known as Madhyamika Sickness. The belief that
everything is empty, nothing matters, and that the world is illusory.
This sickness is usually cured by a Zen master with a big stick who
asks: "Does emptiness feel pain?"

ZAFU SNAFU: Occurs while travelling or on vacation when you forget to
bring your meditation cushion (Author’s most common travelling
problem).

HUNGRY GHOSTS: Used by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh to
describe individuals who inhabit Dharma centers but are unable to
absorb the teachings.

BUDDHIST BAMBIFICATION or BUDDHISM LITE: When Buddhist teachers
present the Dharma in bit size, easily digestible pieces, usually so
the hungry ghosts can easily consume them and non Buddhists can
appreciate the teachings. Lately, many new Buddhist books seem to be
bambified, such as those by Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama.

JEWBU: A Buddhist of Jewish descent, who usually wishes to form a
synthesis or a reconciliation between their new found Buddhist
spirituality and the tradition in which they were also raised. See the
book: The Jew in the Lotus.

ROUND RABIN: The going back and forth, either mentally or physically,
between one’s Buddhist practice and Judaic roots.

BUFI: Similar to a Jewbu. Someone with interests in both Islamic
Sufism and Buddhism. Used by London’s Lama Chime Rinpoche. Credit goes
to Virginia Oppenheimer for mentioning this on the Internet.

DHARMA BRATS: The children brought to Dharma centers by their
practitioner parents. Some of the brats are now second or third
generation Western Buddhists. See the excellent article entitled
"Dharma Brats" in the November 1995 issue of the Shambhala Sun.

HINAWEENIE: A Mahayana practitioner who refers to Theravadin
Buddhists with the pejorative term Hinayana. Hinayana is a technical
term used in Mahayana Buddhism to describe someone, usually within the
tradition, who has a lesser motivation along the path. Someone who
practices only for the benefit of themselves would be considered to
have Hinayana motivation.

ETHNOSANGHA OVERSIGHT: The exclusion of ethnic Buddhist groups
(nonwhites in this case) when referring to Western Buddhism.

BOOK BUDDHISTS: People who call themselves Buddhists but who have only
experienced the Dharma through books.

OM MANI PAT MY HEAD or DALAI LEMMINGS: Used to refer to new Tibetan
Buddhists practitioners who "go native," adopting a Tibetan name and
running around telling everyone how holy their guru is and reciting Om
Mani Padme Hum at the drop of a mala.

THERAFIRMA BUDDHISTS: Intellectual Buddhists, usually
psychotherapists, who believe in Buddhism strictly as a psychological
process and reject any hints of extraordinary aspects of the
tradition. They seem drawn to the Theravada and Tibetan Buddhist
traditions.

ME-ISM: From Douglas Coupland’s book Generation X: "A search by an
individual, in the absence of training in religious tenets, to
formulate a personally tailored religion by himself. Most frequently a
mishmash of reincarnation, personal dialogue with a nebulously defined
god figure, naturalism, and karmic eye-for-eye attitudes."

DHARMA BIT: Used when translating Buddhist texts to describe
philosophy that underlies a particular term.

CIRCUMEMBOLISM: Walking meditation performed after meditation to
increase circulation and avoid nerve damage to the legs.

TELENIRVANA: A state attained by many of those who answer Dharma
center phones with soft, wispy voices that seem to indicate too many
hours of meditation.

SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM: Coined by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in his book
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism: "There are numerous sidetracks
which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we
can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when
instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual
techniques. This fundamental distortion may be referred to as
spiritual materialism."

GURO-OMETER: The parameters one uses to quickly access the quality of
a Buddhist teacher when first encountered, such as how they walk, the
way they speak, or my own personal favorite, how late they show up for
an event: the later they show up, the more insight they have.

ANTI-BODHISATTVA COMPLEX: Students upset because they don’t feel their
teachers are giving them enough of what they need or deserve. It could
be an issue of time or a particular teaching.

MASTER BAITING: Used to describe those lone male individuals who go to
Dharma centers to challenge a teacher, either to try to get them angry
or to test their insight with silly questions or koans. Also occurs in
martial arts centers.

TRAVELING ZENDO: One of the many Zen centers that meet, for financial
reasons, in a variety of low-cost or free locations, including pre-
schools, the back of coffee houses, book stores, massage parlors, New
Age space-for-rent buildings, and converted garages. Some of America’s
best Zen teachers teach in traveling zendos. It’s no longer Zen
without Zen Masters, it’s now Zen Masters without Zendos.

NOT FULLY BAKED: A term used by Buddhist teachers to describe other
Buddhist teachers whom they feel have not reached the spiritual level
necessary to teach.

MULTIMEDIA MIGRATION: Leaving one’s tradition for another, more
exciting tradition, with more colorful or varied forms of practice and
ritual. Examples include leaving the Zen tradition for Tibetan
traditions or leaving Soto Zen for Rinzai Zen.

My Story Part II: Zen?! At This Hour of the Night?!

...So I had finally settled it, I was going to become a Buddhist and now needed to delve into the basics but there was just one trip up...2500 years and many diverse cultures means modern day practitioners, particularly in the West, have inherited TONS of traditions, practices, methods, and texts. Where in the hell was I to start?

A high school friend of mine came from a Cambodian background and since he was really the only "Buddhist" I knew personally, I asked him some basic questions about the kind of Buddhism his family practiced. I learned that they practiced in the Theravada tradition and that's the oldest extant tradition around. After doing some more digging around I decided I'd start studying Theravada for two reasons. First, because its the oldest tradition, I felt it might be closer to the "original teachings" of the Buddha; a superficial appeal was also that it still seemed "very Indian". Second, the Mahayana traditions just felt really weird to me. I barely knew anything about the actual teachings but I wanted to stay away from it because it just seemed more (please forgive me for this) theistic. I guess I had this idea looking at the flashy Tibetan stuff and the popular East Asian traditions, in particular what I would later come to know as Pure Land. Looking back now, I realize just how hilarious a misconception it was but hey, cut me some slack. Back then I couldn't tell you the difference between the Gandavyuha and a gandharva.

Thus it began. The two major sites I frequented were Access to Insight and BuddhaNet. In particular, essays by Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda and Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, a teacher I would have the great fortune to know personally, were exactly what I was looking for. The Noble Truths, Dependent Origination, and especially the life story of the Buddha became very familiar, very quickly.

After a period of intense reading and humorous experiments with meditation, I felt it was time for me "put myself out there" and find some kalyana mitras - spiritual friends. I found out that Stony Brook had an active student Buddhist group and it seemed worth checking out. When I walked into the first meeting, I felt a kind of...familiarity. Logically, it seemed totally bizarre since I had just met these people but I felt a good vibe. Eventually, the group stalwarts would become close friends. Soon, I found myself being chosen as president of the Buddhism Study and Practice Group (BSPG), a sometimes hectic but always fun and insightful experience.

In the middle of all this, I also began to broaden my own approach to Dharma, specifically to look at non-Theravada stuff. I figured that Mahayana teachings have been around for at least 2000 years...something has got to be appealing about it, right? Early in my studies, I resolved that instead of being a "nightstand Buddhist" and reading books about Buddhism, I wanted to read the source material, i.e. the sutras themselves. With this approach I figured I'd look at what was considered the most popular of the Mahayana sutras and perhaps all Buddhist sutras in general: The Heart Sutra.

I googled it and clicked on the first link (can't remember which site it was). My first impression was something like this: 'Avalokiteshvara'? Um ok...hey, my its man Shariputra!...'no ignorance and no ending of ignorance', what?...'no wisdom and no attainment'...what the $h1t?...'svaha'?, don't Hindus say that? Thoroughly perplexing indeed and it would take essentially all of the classes I took for my religious studies minor and lots of studying, practicing, reflections, and experiences before it made any sense. Now I consider the Heart Sutra to be truly be the heart of wisdom.

Getting back to exploring the Mahayana, one of the places I used to go to was the Tibet Center NYC. Many of the people at the BSPG practiced Tibetan Buddhism and we had speakers, like Lama Nicholas Vreeland, come out to give talks occaisionally. I was quite curious about it all but soon found that it wasn't my "cup of Dharma". Case in point: one day I show up for a 'Medicine Buddha Puja'. Ok sounds like fun. I get there and one of the other students is telling me how to perform the meditation. "Ok, the first thing you do" he said, "is to imagine the brilliant blue body of Medicine Buddha - Bhaisajye Guru sitting in a giant lotus. There are rays of light emanating from his crown and each ray represents [something]. Now imagine the mantra of medicine Buddha - "Om namo bhagawate Bhaishjaye guru vaidurya prabha rajaya tathagataya arhate samyaksam buddhaya teyatha om bekhajye bekhajye maha bekhajye bekhajye rajaya samungate svaha" IN SANSKRIT, swirling around him repeatedly like a banner. The next thing you should do is visualize..." you get the idea. I have absolutely NOTHING against Tibetan Buddhist practice or elaborate visualization practices but they just don't match up well with my own temperment. I prefered something much more...direct, a preference that would come to fruition.

Late one Saturday night I was at home watching GI Joe on Cartoon Network and remembering long past days of my childhood. After Cobra Commander had come up with his big plan, the commercials came on and I decided to channel surf. After a few channels I saw something completely bizzare. An old Chinese monk sitting on the high seat (Dharma Teaching seat) talking about Chan meditation. The TV guide listing was "Chinese Spectacular Culture Bonanza" or something. I thought: whoa, who is this dude and why the hell is he on at like 2 am? Later I'd find out from my friends at Stony Brook that he's a Ch'an master named Sheng Yen and founder of the Dharma Drum Mountain/Chan Meditation Center. This experience piqued my interest in Ch'an/Zen.

A few months later on May 18th, 2003, I took refuge with Shifu Sheng Yen, receiving transmission of the Five Precepts and Three Refuges. I was given the Dharma name Chang Jing 總 純 - Always Pure. Here I was, a newly minted lay practitioner and although I was "officially" a Buddhist, my practice was just beginning to take shape...

Resonance of Dharma

A while back while reading Buddhadharma, I saw a tiny ad for something very interesting...a CD of Buddhist chants, sutras, and mantras...in Sanskrit! I'd previously come across "Sanskrit chants", specifically those of Malaysian singer Imee Ooi. While pretty and relaxing, her pronunciation (a VITAL aspect of the language) was way off :) That's nothing against her though since its kind of a tough language. What attracted me to the CD I saw in the ad was that it is sung in a traditional style by classical Indian singer Vidya Rao.

The CDs called Dharma Nada (धर्म नाद - Resonance of Dharma) are a two disk set and are a non commericial release to support the Deer Park Institute. Its a Tibetan Buddhist educational foundation based in India that aims to support Dharma education and practice as well as the study of classical Indian philosophies and languages. In exchange for a $25 donation per album (which includes shipping) they'll send you a copy from India.

I'm certainly NOT an impulse buyer but I just couldn't pass this up. I ordered the CD's and when they arrived, popped them into my computer. For the next hour and twenty minutes I was seriously transported into a realm far beyond anything I'd imagined...Resonance of Dharma indeed!

After dilly-dallying for far too long, I finally decided that it was time for me to try and learn a bit of Sanskrit. Its perhaps not the most "practical" language to learn these days but hey, to be able to understand things like the Heart Sutra and Kalidasa in the original is just plain awesome. Its REALLY hard and slow going but very fun and also an indirect way of improving my Hindi...sort of.

Needless to say, I encourage EVERYONE to check out the Dharma Nada CD, which includes a pretty little booklet with transliterations and brief explanations of the sutras/mantras.

As the old saying goes:
भाषसु मुख्या मधुरा
दिव्या गीर्वाणभारती

"Sweet indeed is the divine
language of the gods".

Techno Dharma

In April, noted scholar Lewis Lancaster gave a talk at Berkeley entitled "Buddhism in a Global Age of Technology". The lecture is presented UCTV.

My Story Part I: A Pale Blue Dot, Mr. Sagan?

One of the things that I and many other people enjoy are "how did you get into Buddhism" stories. We all have our journeys, some epic and some subtle, and in this four part story, I offer "a backward glance o'er traveled roads".

As a kid growing up in Da Boogie Down Bronx, my earliest recollection of anything even remotely Buddhist related involves (not surprisingly) fat statues at Chinese take out joints and kung fu ass kicking monks. My first real exposure came in my freshman year of high school in the Global Studies class. Taught by Mr. Peter Tarr, we learned the basics of Asian history and culture, which of course included discussions of Buddhism. While I learned the basics (Four Noble Truths, etc.) the only thing that really stuck in my head was how cool words like 'bodhisattva' sounded.

On the home front, I come from an essentially non religious background; my mother being born a Hindu but later becoming Christian while my father (in spite of granddad's conviction) is an A&P Catholic...you'll only find him at Mass on Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday.

Although I was always an inward looking boy, my sense of inquisitiveness really started to boil up during my senior year in high school. There were many things going on at that time of my life: a serious romantic relationship, the college application process, and the sense of "big change" all around. One day in the bookstore, I noticed a paperback copy of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos". I had heard of him before and the cover claimed it to be the best selling science book in English. I figured I'd give it a go, especially since I've always loved astronomy and science in general. My expectation was that it was a general treatise of astronomy as a science. What quickly became apparent was that "Cosmos" was dealing with, well, everything. Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? Classic "big questions". The sense of wonderment and awe about the universe stayed with me. Going off to college at SUNY Stony Brook, living in a dorm, and experiencing college life (or lack thereof in the case of a chemistry major) only added to my sense of wonderment about everything. This all changed on a Tuesday morning in September of 2001. This was/is perhaps the defining event of my generation and like many, it lead me to do a lot of soul searching.

All of the fun speculation about Big Bangs, quantum entanglement, and my odds of gravitationally attracting cute girls stopped. What arose was a question that has been asked since time immemorial, "why do people suffer"? Although I was never a spiritual person, I did feel deep down that, this was something far beyond the realm of my general agnostic/humanist outlook.

One day, I was in the Barnes and Noble at Union Square, 14th Street and I wandered into the Buddhism/Eastern Philosophy section. I looked around and thought to myself, "well Buddha was a smart guy, let's see what he has to say about things". There are as many books on Buddhism nowadays as there are tires in the Hudson River but I wound up taking a skinny little book called "The Dhammapada". It seemed like a good choice; it was small, in verse form, and apparently a classic text. The translation I got was by Ross Carter and Mahinda Palihawadana. Opening this book was truly the first step my life-long voyage.

I was hooked and yet I was completely bewildered. So much of what the Buddha was saying seemed so familiar and sensical to me, it was as if I had always been following his teachings but didn't really know it. The next step was to find out as much as I possibly could...

Poem of the Week - One Body

All human beings are
the members of
one body -
every person is a glint,
shining from a single gem.

When the world causes pain for one member,
how could the other members
ever rest in peace?

If you lack grief
for another one's sorrow,
why call yourself
a human being?

- Muslih al-Din Sa'di

Introduction to Bodhi Leaves

Greetings to all! The teachings of the Buddha have traveled thousands of miles over thousands of years and now the Dharma finds itself in the wonderfully strange place known as "The West". Learning about and practicing the Teachings of the Awakened One in 21st Century America has many daunting unique challenges but very exciting potentials as well.

News stories, photos, videos, audio files, thoughts, reflections, poems, and random ideas will be abundant and hopefully, these humble offerings will help others navigate the vast, multifaceted Buddha Dharma.

Thanks for reading!

Sarvamangalam (सर्वमंगलम्) - May all be blessed!