PBS: The Buddha, new film and great blog

PBS has a beautiful website developed for the new film, The Buddha, A Film by David Grubin, which is scheduled to air April 7. The Discussion link takes you to a blog filled with entries from many gifted and knowledgeable Buddhist teachers with articles on all kinds of related topics including attachment, meditation, loving-kindness, empathy & compassion, family life, relationships, and grief. You can also play Mahjong on the website, as well as access Educational Resources .

Prayer/Meditation, Dalai Lama

May the poor find wealth,
Those weak with sorrow find joy.
May the forlorn find new hope,
Constant happiness and prosperity.

May the frightened cease to be afraid,
And those bound be free.
May the weak find power,
And may their hearts join in friendship.

Taken from, 'An Open Heart' (2001)

Happy New Year, Welcome 2010!!!

A Practice for Dealing with Emotions

"The practice is called the Nonmanifestation of Negative Emotions. I do this practice one full day a week, starting first thing in the morning and continuing until I go to sleep. The practice involves making a conscious effort not to manifest any negative emotions for the entire day, through either external behavior or internal ruminations. This does not mean, however, that anger and other negative emotions will not arise, because they surely will. What it does mean is that as soon as we become aware of them, we make the conscious effort to refrain from indulging the thoughts that fuel those particular emotions."
— Ezra Bayda in Zen Heart: Simple Advice for Living with Mindfulness and Compassion

WHEEL OF TIME SAND MANDALA, CSU, Chico

WHEEL OF TIME SAND MANDALA

By Venerable Losang Samten

At the Chico State University BMU

Jan 28th- March 1st ^{(Tues-Sun 10am-5pm)}

Also:

TIBETAN CULTURAL FESTIVAL

at the

Chico Family Masonic Center

February 16 & 17

A rare, historic and sacred event will be at the University of California in Chico. Come to the Bell Memorial Union and experience this one month long process of creating the ancient Kalachakra Sand Painting referred to as "The Wheel of Time". The Dalai Lama has given permission to Losang Samten to create this mandala in Chico. Losang is highly skilled in this meditational art from Tibet's monasteries which is intended to bring peace and healing to all its viewers, as well as to the environment. The path of its colors has symbolic meaning in every detail and is said to trace the progression toward the state of Awakening and Inner Peace.

Losang is scheduled to be at the BMU Tuesdays-Sundays from 10-5 working on the mandala. He enjoys and encourages questions as well as dialogue, and is a wonderful storyteller. While taking breaks he shares these tales. Every story will lead the listener into the heart of Tibet's deep teachings on wisdom and compassion.

All are welcome! In addition there will be evening teachings and programs on and off campus, as well as teachings for various on campus classes. Daily notices will be posted near the mandala for these details.

The opening ceremony will be on January 28th and the closing will be on March 1st. Don't miss this. The sand of this exquisite painting will be collected, some distributed to those present and the rest poured into the nearby creek. The message is that all things are impermanent, highlighting the idea of not getting "too attached". You will feel the peace of a tradition carried on by a living master of this art.

Some Special Dates

Feb 6 - Tea Ceremony - Spiritual Enrichment Center, 2565 California Park Drive, Chico. 7-9 pm Suggested donation $10.00

Feb 12 - International Forum - Holt Rm 5:00-5:50pm, open to public.

Feb 13 - Sacred Tibetan Dance - Spiritual Enrichment Center, 2565 California Park Drive 7-9 pm Suggested donation $10.00.

Feb 16-17 - Tibetan Cultural Festival, Masonic Family Center, 1110 East W. East Avenue, Chico 9 am - 7 pm.

Feb 19 - Religious Studies lecture - 4-5:15 pm Humanities Center open to public.

Feb 22 - Tea Ceremony - Church or Religious Studies Paradise, 789 Billie Rd
6:30 pm Suggested donation $10.00.

Feb 24 - 1 Day Buddhist Retreat - Masonic Family Center, 1110 W. East Avenue, Chico 10 am -4 pm.

email Shanta at shanta.friend@sbcglobal.net

www.losangsamten.com

Tara, a Christmas Star of Peace

I so enjoyed this Christmas message in a recent Dharma Tapestry newsletter from Richard Rudis, I am offering it here for your enjoyment. Richard is the man who performs Gong Baths and teaches vibrational healing through the use of traditional Himalayan instruments such as singing bowls and tingshas. His concerts and trainings are very popular in California, Colorado and the Chicago area.

Tara, a Christmas Star of Peace
Knowing something of Christian and Buddhist traditions it occurred to me that the Buddhist Bodhisattva ‘Arya Tara’, (‘Bringer of Life’, the ‘Compassionate Mother’, the ‘Embodiment of Wisdom’), is the perfect model for the Christian Christmas Star. In Sanskrit her name means ‘Shining’ and in Hindi ‘Star’.

Her two principle emanations; White Tara and Green Tara portray the long associated qualities surrounding the birth of Christ; peace embodied, transcendent wisdom, compassion, love, protection and healing. As the light of that special star guided and illuminated the profound birth so the ‘Star Tara’ empowers enlightened activity arising from pure compassion and wisdom. Just as the Magi were guided by the Shining Star of the East so too were numerous Tibetan refugees, fleeing the horrors of occupied Tibet, guided by Tara over the Himalayan mountains to freedom and safety.

Tradition tells us that Tara will assume any form to help those in need. Indeed there appears to be a manifestation of her found in virtually every culture known on Earth. Five thousand years ago in what is now Finland there was a group known as the ‘Tar’ or the ‘Women of Wisdom’. The Celts called their great goddess ‘Tara’; she who is bathed with spiritual energy. The latin word for earth, ‘Terra’, echoes her presence. She is ‘Kuan Yin’ in China, ‘Tarahumara’ in South America, ‘Star Woman’ to the native Cheyenne and ‘IshTar’ in ancient Egypt. She is an archetype of our own inner wisdom, our inner knowing, that guides and protects us as we navigate the samsaric depths and storms of life. Her teachings reminds us of our shared oneness in spirit and creation. Her shining in this world is embodied in her vow; “I shall work for the welfare of all beings, until such time as all humanity has found its fullness."

Surely this is the Star of Christ, the Star of love, compassion, understanding, wisdom and the deepest meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All - Richard Rudis

http://buddhistartifacts.com/dharma_tapestry.php

Dharma Tapestry is a free monthly email newsletter that promotes understanding, tolerance, compassion, and awareness of eastern philosophy.

To subscribe, please send an email to: diane@lifeinprogress.net

Meet Life Face to Face: a treatise on Summer

“The way to dissolve our resistance to life is to meet it face to face. When we feel resentment because the room is too hot, we could meet the heat and feel its fieriness and its heaviness. When we feel resentment because the room is too cold, we could meet the cold and feel its iciness and its bite. When we want to complain about the rain, we could feel its wetness instead. When we worry because the wind is shaking our windows, we could meet the wind and hear its sound.

Cutting our expectations for a cure is a gift we can give ourselves. There is no cure for hot and cold. They will go on forever. After we have died, the ebb and the flow will still continue. Like the tides of the sea, like day and night: this is the nature of things. Being able to appreciate, being able to look closely, being able to open our mind: this is the core of ‘maitri’ (loving-kindness).” When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön, 1997, Shambhala Publications, Inc.

I have spent much of this year studying the philosophies of Tibetan Buddhism, especially the teachings of Pema Chodron, an irreverent yet wise American Buddhist nun who is the resident teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, the first Tibetan monastery in North America established for Westerners.

This quote seems so timely with the intense heat we have endured the last week or so, and my menopausal hot flashes only serve to intensify the heat, distilling it into something that is pure torture. Following the Buddhist line of thinking, I try to take these heated opportunities to watch my self. What comes up? Anger, frustration, intolerance, confusion, laziness….

Struggling against Nature is like struggling against our own death, fruitless. A pouring out of energy that could be better used. Buddhist thinking includes a couple of main points. Simplified: experience all of life as preparation for death, thereby removing death’s power; second, hold all Beings in unlimited immense compassionate kindness - especially oneself - or the closest you can get there in any particular moment.

So the heat of summer and the cold of winter become opportunities, teachers if you will, of our path. To accept what is, right now. Wishing things were different robs us of treasures in the moments of our lives. My husband takes delight on the Summer Solstice to say, “the days are getting shorter, Winter’s on its way!” and on Winter Solstice, “the days are getting longer, pretty soon it will be hot and dusty!”

The fact is, when I find myself dreaming of snow in Summer and hot baking sunshine in Winter, I have lost touch with enjoying those things, as they truly are, in the moment. I want to come to the end of summer knowing heat, and dryness, and cooling lake waters, hummingbirds and watermelon. And having accepted and taken it all into my Soul, then am I ready to fully assume the nature of Autumn and Winter, wind, rain, snow, darkness and bitter cold.

And having been present through our daily struggles, too hot or bitter cold, we learn to be more open and relaxed in tougher times, like illness, loss and death. Consider the weather kindergarten for those tougher times. And practice compassion in the summer heat, knowing that as you suffer, so do thousands, no, millions of others. Meeting “anger, frustration, intolerance…” with kindness and mercy.
Be Well, Janis
J. Davies, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Pema Chodron online study course - you can still sign up!

Practicing Spirituality with Pema Chodron
May 21 - June 29, 2007
This popular and very accessible Buddhist teacher is especially good on ways to deal with fear, insecurity, being stuck, and all those other unwanted, painful, and messy parts of ourselves. Her practical approach helps us cultivate a life of compassion and joy as we work to dissolve the barriers that separate us from others.

This is presented by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, the editors of Spirituality & Health. I understand at least 800 from around the world have joined this program so far. It is extremely affordable, at $19.95.

"Practicing Spirituality with Pema Chodron," a 40-day e-course, will begin on May 21 and continue through June 29, 2007. For each daily email, we will choose a brief quotation from Pema Chodron's writings and offer a practice suggestion based on the passage. Adding to the value and impact of this e-course, subscribers will be invited to join us in a private "Practice Circle" where they can dialogue with other participants about the teachings and their experiences with the practices. http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ecourses/

Buddhist Wisdom: Rejoice in Others' Successes

Whenever you hear that someone else has been successful, rejoice. Always practice rejoicing for others--whether your friend or your enemy. If you cannot practice rejoicing, no matter how long you live, you will not be happy.

-Lama Zopa Rinpoche, "Transforming Problems Into Happiness"

Copyright Wisdom Publications 2001. Reprinted from "Daily Wisdom: 365 Buddhist Inspirations," edited by Josh Bartok, with permission of Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm St., Somerville MA 02144 U.S.A, www.wisdompubs.org.

Buddhist Wisdom - obstacles

When everything is clean-clear in your own mind,
nobody can create obstacles for you.

-Lama Thubten Yeshe, "The Bliss of Inner Fire"

Copyright Wisdom Publications 2001. Reprinted from "Daily Wisdom: 365 Buddhist Inspirations," edited by Josh Bartok, with permission of Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm St., Somerville MA 02144 U.S.A, www.wisdompubs.org.

Buddhist Wisdom - don't cling to your own understanding

Don't cling to your own understanding. Even if you do understand something, you should ask yourself if there might be something you have not fully resolved, or if there may be some higher meaning yet.

-Dogen

From "The Pocket Zen Reader," edited by Thomas Cleary, 1999. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com.