In less than 10 days...

Retreat Camp 2008 is less than 10 days away... and there is still alot of stuff that is yet to be prepared...

Still, I, as the organizer, am happy to hear that most of the committee members would be joining. Furthermore, some of the super-seniors that I have approached has agree to come and help me during the Retreat Camp.

My hope for this Retreat Camp would be to strengthen the bonds of the committee members as well as giving them a chance to experience something different while learning from the experience of the seniors...

Bro Wei Han

When earthquake survivors got a taste of the Buddha's ways

by Saibal Dasgupta,TNN, Jun 20, 2008

BEIJING, China -- Wang Youqun, a devout 60-year old woman, had a glimpse of the Buddha's ways when she emerged out after spending 196 helpless hours in a confinement of rubble caused by the earthquake in China's southwest province of Sichuan.

She was praying to Buddha when a falling beam hit her leaving her unconscious. The first to discover her was a barking puppy which woke Wang out of unconsciousness by licking her face.

The puppy's barking drew the attention of the personnel of Chengdu Air Force who were looking for people trapped in debris caused by the May 12 earthquake.

The tragedy has proved to be the mother of miracles. Wang's case is one of the dozens of miracle stories emerging in Sichuan as survivors struggle to shake off the trauma of the earthquake. They also include stories of those who gave their lives to save others.

Rains hampered rescue work making it difficult to save lives in some of the affected areas. But it also helped Wang and hundreds of others to escape dehydration during their hours struck in broken parts of buildings.

When tragedy came, the only food available to another woman, Cui Changhui was a piece of Pear. She struck it out an unbelievable 216 hours eating earthworm, weed and drinking her own urine. She lived those nine days in the crushed building of her workplace, which had been deserted by other workers when the quake struck.

Chi was spotted by an overflying helicopter before relief worker identified the exact location of her debris-prison and saved her.

Coma overcame Lai Pingyuan, a miner, after being dashed around by the tremors. It took 1,200-ml of blood infusion to save the miner, who had spent eight long days in coma and with injuries.

An operation was also carried out to remove blood clotting in his head. When Lai came back, it took him quite some time to reorient himself to the fact that he was alive and begin to speak.

Roof collapsed over the heads of Tang Xiong, a medical doctor, and his wife in their own home. They were trapped in separate parts of the living room with rubble in between. His wife's constant encouragement kept up the spirits for Tang, local reports say.

It took the rescuers many hours to pull out Tang even after his wife had been rescued because relief workers did not have sufficient equipment to reach him within the depth of the debris.

A miracle of different sorts surfaced in the form of a school principal, Ye Zhiping, who has been credited with saving 10,000 students. Ye has been persuading the local government to reconstruct the dilapidated building in which the school was housed.

The reconstruction did take place. Ye had also been training his students to handle emergencies. These twin efforts by Ye is seen as important reasons why as many as 10,000 students of his school went unhurt when quake struck.

Religion cannot be separated from politics

by Ashin Mettacara, OpEdNews, June 13, 2008

Yangon, Myanmar -- Allow me to discuss with the reader the subject of the Buddha and His views on politics. Being a Buddhist monk, I will try to illuminate you on the right way of life and the best kind of political involvement, according to the Buddha's teaching. These teachings are not only for Buddhists, but also for all non-Buddhists. It is for everyone.

What does being “Buddhist” mean? The best answer is that those who are practicing and living in accordance with the Buddha's teachings are called Buddhists, because practice is much appreciated by the Buddha. Then, what are the teachings of the Buddha? The rudimentary and shortest answer is that we must always endeavor to do good and practice kindness, rather than doing evil and harm to others.

Obviously, no one could ever conclude that the current rulers of Myanmar are Buddhists. They have attached themselves in name only, to affiliate with Buddhism in order to rule the country. They "try" to become Buddhists without knowing any teachings of the Buddha. These generals are surviving truly on ignorance and blind faith, for true Buddhists must first be a self-learner and must continually practice to achieve the highest liberation (nirvana).

Politics and political matters in Buddhism are considered worldly concerns, yes. But the Buddha did not ignore such worldly concerns, because as a Prince estranged and removed from his prior worldly concerns, He was still living in society. Alms food comes from vast numbers of people constituting society. So should we not work to elevate society to evolve into a higher form, to be more effective and more just?

The monks were also told by the Buddha to work for the good of many, for the benefit of all beings and for the betterment of society. The intent behind the founding of the community of monks (Sangha in Pali, Pali being the original language of the Buddha) was entirely to benefit the people.

In the life of Buddha, we find that the Buddha often discussed politics with the rulers of realms in his time, such as King Mala, King Kosala , King Licchavi and King Ajatasattu . The Buddha always preached to the Kings, that they must rule their kingdoms with dasarajadhamma.

The dasarajadamma in Pali is based on ten precepts, in order for the king to best rule the country. They are: (1) be liberal and avoid selfishness, (2) maintain a high moral character, (3) be prepared to sacrifice one's own pleasure for the well-being of the subjects, (4) be honest and maintain absolute integrity, (5) be kind and gentle, (6) lead a simple life for the subjects to emulate, (7) be free from hatred of any kind, (8) exercise non-violence, (9) practice patience, and (10) respect public opinion to promote peace and harmony. Any government who wishes to peacefully rule any nation can effectively apply these 10 precepts even today; they haven’t yet and never will “go out of date.”

The Buddha preached non-violence and peace as a universal message. He did not approve of violence nor the destruction of life. He declared that there is no such thing as a 'just' war. From his own words, He taught: “The victor breeds hatred; the defeated lives in misery. He who renounces both victory and defeat is happy and peaceful.”

Not only did the Buddha teach non-violence and peace: He was perhaps the first and only religious teacher who went to the battlefield personally to prevent the outbreak of a war, when He diffused tension between the Sakyas and the Koliyas who were about to wage war over the waters of Rohini River. He also dissuaded King Ajatasattu from attacking the Kingdom of the Vajjis.

He showed how countries could become corrupt, degenerate and unhappy when the head of the government becomes corrupt and unjust. He spoke against corruption and how all governments’ actions must be based on humanitarian principles.

The Buddha once said, 'When the ruler of a country is just and good, the ministers become just and good; when the ministers are just and good, the higher officials become just and good; when the higher officials are just and good, the rank and file become just and good; when the rank and file become just and good, the people become just and good.'

Clearly, religion and politics are something analogous to paper money having two sides. The front can be regarded as religion and the other side can be regarded as politics. They cannot be separated from each other. Otherwise the value of money is nothing.

Similarly, Buddhist monks and other religious leaders also should not be separated from politics. I don’t mean to imply that they should rule the country, but just to present and to advance their Buddhist precepts throughout the workings of a government in order to prevent so many wars and conquests, persecutions, such egregious atrocities, rebellions, and the destruction of works of art and culture.

Perhaps Thailand and Sri Lanka can be looked at and considered an example of a successful but not perfect Buddhist Nation. Myanmar has a long way to go in this regard, and the Burmese Generals, if they were smart and wanted to survive as a government, would work at a rapprochement with the Buddhist leaders, who have always had the support and good will of the vast majority of Burmese people, rather than crushing them, infiltrating them, jailing them, beating them, killing them, and otherwise persecuting the Buddhist Monks of Myanmar.

Who am I?

By Rev. Hyunoh Kim, Somerville Journal, Jun 7, 2008

Somerville, MA (USA) -- When defining ourselves, we first think of our names. But when prodded, it’s hard to come up with a complete answer. “I’m me,” we think. But why do “I” change with birth, age, sickness and death? Maybe “I” define myself by my job or reputation or spouse – or even by my search for happiness. But what are any of these compared to life and death?

This is one question Shakyamuni Buddha thought about while he sat for 49 days under a Bodhi tree meditating on the truth of existence. He wanted to answer the question: "Who am I?"

Eventually, he realized there is no "I" at all. In life, we ask ourselves a lot of questions. But sometimes we forget to question the questioner. This is the purpose of Buddhism: To find the nature of consciousness. The meaning of reality.

Meaning starts with perception. And perception starts with a concept of "I." I have. I like. I want. I did. The "I" does so many things, but what is it?

Upon Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment, he realized that everything comes and goes. This arises. That fades. This exists. That disappears. The coming of this affects the going of that. They're related. In truth, everything is related.

All things are interdependent. But we pretend to live for the individual – for personal benefit. We're so small compared to everything else, but we tell ourselves we’re the most important. We're attached to “me” because we forget what Shakyamuni Buddha learned under that Bodhi tree – that all things, including ourselves, disappear over time.

We’ve learned to focus on the differences between one another instead of the commonalities. Our beliefs in independence describe how “I” am separate from “you.”

The symbol of Won-Buddhism is a circle. It represents a shared sense of “me” by all beings. Two thousand years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha called this “freedom from attachment.” One hundred years ago, Sot'aesan called it “beneficence.” Forty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. called it “an inescapable web of mutuality.” They are all talking about the same thing – your “you” affects my “me.”

Our weakest moments come when we think we’re islands – when we think our decisions affect only what we see around us. This limits and confines us. But we can change it any time we choose. We can expand our vision. We can embrace the simple fact that we share a planet with billions of fellow beings.

We need our sense of “I” to do the basics of daily life – going to work, buying a book, eating lunch. But in a larger sense, the longer we lean on it like a crutch, the longer it will take before we can walk freely.

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Ordained in the Won Buddhist faith in South Korea in 1993, Rev. Kim came to the United States in 1996 to teach Buddhist philosophy and practice. She established a Won Buddhist temple in Somerville in 2003. For more information, go to www.wonbuddhismofboston.org.

The Dalai Lama’s practical guide to happiness

The Times, May 30, 2008

London, UK -- “I had to come. This is the nearest thing to meeting a Buddha that’s going to happen in my lifetime,” said Morag, 45, a science teacher from Glasgow. For ten-year-old Gialbu Sherpa from Ashford, Kent, “the Dalai Lama is like a god”.

For Lobsang Chodron, 80, a frail but feisty Finnish nun ordained into the Tibetan tradition, the pilgrimage to hear him speak always holds its own magic. “We should learn from a teacher, not from a book. You can trust his spiritual integrity absolutely,” she said. Among the 28,000 people of many faiths who bought tickets to hear the Dalai Lama speak at Nottingham Arena over the May Bank Holiday, many doubtless see qualities in the Nobel laureate that have made him one of the world’s few global spiritual teachers.

Admiration for him abounds at such events. But behind the superlatives expressed by his followers is a quiet reverence for his approach to the struggle for survival. His qualities have been tested in the fire. He has been in exile for nearly 50 years and his people face what he has reluctantly called the “cultural genocide” of Tibet.

In the past two months Tibetan resistance has been met with the kind of crackdown reminiscent of the Chinese occupation that forced the Dalia Lama to flee in 1959. Some Tibetans, including monks, seek to defend themselves by force if necessary, but the Dalai Lama remains immovable in his commitment to non-violent protest.

When he speaks of cultivating the twin pillars of Buddhist life — compassion and wisdom — he is clearly a man of humanity. Tibetans believe him to be the reincarnation of the enlightened being Avalokiteshvara. For Westerners, his “policy of kindness” offers hope in a seemingly intractable conflict. Rather than meet violence with violence, he teaches forgiveness.

He moved with laughter and clarity through the audience’s questions, from inter-faith harmony to an Oprah Winfrey range of personal issues. His five days of teaching was essentially a practical guide to happiness.

The fact that so many Westerners study his Buddhist teachings seems unlikely. The Dalai Lama does not seek converts. Every day he emphasised the importance of continuing in one’s own faith. “It’s better to keep your own tradition, Catholic, Protestant — better, safer,” he said. He urged Tibetans to study and practise Buddhist teachings and praised the “great progress made by American Buddhists.

“These teachings are meaningful if they bring a more mature, more compassionate heart,” he said. The week culminated with initiation into his suggested method to achieve this: a meditation on the revered figure of Vajrasattva. Vajrasattva is one of the best-loved Bodhisattvas or enlightened beings in Buddhism, associated with health, long life and the after-death state. Crucially, Vajrasattva represents primordial purity of the mind and heart, the state, His Holiness emphasises, of our own true nature.

Paul Garden, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, was once a Catholic altar boy. “Catholicism taught me to project my faith outside,” he said. “But now I find it within. I feel clearer in my mind after the Vajrasattva practice, calmer in my view and with a better level of self-acceptance, so I can aspire to put others first.”

The meditation involves visualising oneself purified through the enlightened qualities of Vajrasattva. It involved three days of detailed study of Buddhist doctrines such as “emptiness” and “causality” drawn from the 14th-century Buddhist master Tsongkhapa. These teachings, exquisitely translated by Thupten Jinpa, are essential to tenderise the mind and heart so as to understand the nature of reality. For example, Tsongkhapa’s teaching of “dependent origination” reasons that all things result from a web of conditions rather than from the design of an omniscient creator god, willing the world to be as it is. Such teaching enables people to see that they are free to create more loving conditions.

With his wide-ranging command of Buddhist history, the Dalai Lama quoted the great teachers of India’s Nalanda monastery, the precursors of Tibetan Buddhism. Their investigations into the nature of the mind led them to challenge the human tendency towards the extremes of absolutism and nihilism. Tsongkhapa’s text, as interpreted by the Dalai Lama, emphasises the value of the “Middle Way”.

For several days Nottingham Arena’s audience was treated to the rigours of monastic discourse that promise a glimpse of a higher state of mind. In truth many found this intellectually challenging, and His Holiness often described his own efforts as just a step towards deeper understanding. “I am just a simple monk,” he said, with his characteristic laugh.

For Annie Cullen, a grandmother from Glastonbury, Somerset, the Dalai Lama’s presence was enough. “It means a lot because I am being initiated by the only enlightened teacher,” she said. “All he wants is more enlightenment so that we can live in peace.”