June 30, 2008
Five Star Buddhism
I will be writing several entries this week on the topic of last weekend's Gathering of Friends Buddhist retreat in Port Hueneme, California. The weekend was very much enjoyed by all, and everyone took away new insights into their Buddhist practice.
Right now, I am waiting to get some photos to post, so that you-all can get a look at what went down at this fabulous event, and see all the "players" in their element.
The weekend itself, I must say, was quite luxurious. If the Gathering of Friends Buddhist Retreat were listed on Trip Advisor, there is no doubt that it would earn five stars!
There were about 15 of us, including Bill and Jean Anker, and Ryuei Michael McCormick, who acted as retreat facilitator. Bill and Jean have a wonderful new, large and spacious second home near the beach in Port Hueneme, California, just north of the Los Angeles area. They also have a beautiful large butsudan in the house, which is in a special room on the ground floor of the house. This special room served as a practice center and lecture hall for the length of the retreat.
We started off Friday night with evening gongyo and a Shodaigyo meditation.
http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/Shodaigyo.html
This is a meditation where the chanting of Nam(u) Myoho Renge Kyo is sort of "framed" by two sessions of silent meditation. I really enjoy this approach to chanting, and use it in my private practice.
After we finished the Friday evening services, we all went to bed. My room-mate was a wonderful gal who led our Kundalini yoga on the beach session on Saturday. I drove back to LA with her on Sunday, and feel like I made a new friend.
The weather in Port Hueneme was fabulous - warm and sunny, but not too hot.
....and let's not forget the fabulous, fabulous food which we were able to eat at this wonderful event. No poor Buddhists with their begging bowls here, no sir-ee. Our dinner on Saturday evening was a delicious buffet of oregano baked chicken, multi-colored pesto fettuccini, an abundant green garden salad, and sides of tabouleh, hummus, sushi, Thai pasta salad, and a dessert of fresh strawberry shortcake. Honest to God, if the Four Seasons luxury hotel chain were to hold a Buddhist retreat, it might be something like this one.
So, anyway, my next entry will be dealing with the actual content of the retreat (dharma talks, discussions, etc.). I just had to rave about the digs and the food. It was a wonderful weekend in every way - I needed that.
More tomorrow....
Byrd in LA
June 27, 2008
I Can't Wait!
This weekend is the big event I've been waiting for! The first-ever Gathering of Friends Nichiren Buddhist practice retreat in beautiful Port Hueneme, California, on the beach north of Los Angeles!
The retreat kicks off tonight with gongyo and chanting daimoku. Some of us are staying at our hosts' vacation home, and others are staying in nearby motels. Tomorrow (Saturday) morning, we will kick off at 9:00 am with gongyo and a dharma talk by Ryuei Michael McCormick. Then, we will have a day full of various activities, including a beach barbecue, more chanting and walking meditation, and the practice of "shakyo".
For those of you unfamiliar with this traditional Nichiren Buddhist practice, shakyo involves tracing the calligraphic characters of "Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo". I have done this practice before, as part of a Bodhi Day retreat at the Los Angeles Nichiren Shu temple. It's an interesting practice for me, bacause I have to concentrate so dang hard on getting those characters right that I don't have the energy to pay attention to my"monkey mind". So, copying the daimoku is actually a very effective form of meditation. And the Lotus Sutra itself does tell us to practice by "reading, reciting, copying, and keeping". Up until now, my "copying" practice has been pretty much limited to making copies at Kinkos, so I'm looking forward to doing some copying the old fashioned way...by hand!
Then, tomorrow night, we will watch a movie ("Little Buddha") together and stay over for another night.
On Sunday, we will have morning gongyo, another dharma talk, some more daimoku, and a lovely brunch. I am in charge of slicing up the fruit for everyone, so I'm bringing along some of my own knives for the job.
I'm taking the train up there from Los Angeles after work tonight, and I am so very excited! I will definitely blog about the experience next week - stay tuned! I might even have some photos!
Enjoy your weekend (I hear "Wall-E" is good). I know I'm going to enjoy my weekend a lot!
Be earnest, be adventurous, be cool.
Byrd in LA
June 25, 2008
Why Do You Say "God Bless You" If You're a Buddhist?
A colleague of mine asked me this question the other day. And he's right, it is sort of confusing.
Strangely, over the past year or so, I have developed this tendency to say "God bless you" a lot. I think I may have picked it up from Mavis, my Mentor-in-Life, who blesses people all the time. Everybody she sees. I thought it was a good practice (I still think it's a good practice), and so I picked it up. The difference, of course, is that Mavis blesses everybody silently, and I tend to do it out loud.
I bless the bus driver, I bless the bagger at the supermarket, I bless the fellow who sells me my bus pass, I bless the librarian, I bless the computer repair guy. I don't throw water at them or say it real loud, or call down the saints to witness or say "Thank you, Jesus!" or anything like that. No, I just tend to say "God bless you." Especially if someone is in some sort of fix or another - like they drop something, or get confused, or whatever.
So, if I'm a Buddhist, and I don't believe in God (at least not the God I learned about in Lutheran Sunday School), then why am I blessing everyone? Of course, the obvious answer is to fob it off on my Mentor in Life, but that's too easy. The fact is, I actually sort of enjoy the practice of blessing people, even if I don't say it out loud. It feels generous and friendly.
But how do I square this with the fact that I'm a Buddhist?
Maybe it's a Boddhisattva Never Disparage thing. But he (BND) didn't actively bless people. He just assured them that they, too, would attain Buddhahood.
I dunno - I have to come up with an excuse to give my colleague.
Bye for now, and God bless us, everyone.
Byrd in LA
June 24, 2008
The Enlightened Mind
I have been doing a lot of reading lately on the topic of how emotions affect the chemistry of the human brain, and, also, how meditation affects the chemistry of the human brain.
Last week, I picked up a copy of "My Stroke of Insight", a book by neurobiologist Jill Bolte Taylor:
Dr. Taylor has also been extremely popular on YouTube, lecturing on her experience as a stroke survivor, and the personal insights she gained into how her own brain functions (this clip is about 20 minute long, but it's worth the time):
It turns out that what we have been calling "enlightenment' actually can be physically located in the human brain - it's in the right hemisphere. Just make a turn at the medulla oblongata,, and voila! There you are!
As a Nichiren Buddhist, I have come to accept, as an article of faith, that Buddhahood (or enlightenment) is inherent in my life. We have that in common with most schools of Mahayana Buddhism. But I always thought of it as something sort of "smooshy", like an amorphous, glowing cloud of goodness -an unidentifiable creamy center which I could only access with a Nichiren Buddhist practice. It's the brightm shining, jewel in my life that I wash and polish every day.
Now, I am starting to think of enlightenment less as a metaphor, and more as a scientifically measurable, physical phenomenon. Here's another book on the topic which I have found interesting (me and my books!):
I have known for years that certain sorts of emotional states (anger, anxiety, etc.) were physically harmful. I had to learn that the heard way, with the help of my blood pressure. The good news, of course, is that we can actively cultivate the opposite states of mind, as well. And that's what, at some level, we're all trying to do.
I'd be interested to know about what states of mind you, dear readers, are consciously creating. How do you see these states of mind affecting your health? That's it for now, have a nice day, everyone.
Byrd in LA
June 21, 2008
On Honorary Degrees
From an interview this month with actor Martin Sheen in the AARP magazine:
“See, I’ve never gone to college. But I had this romantic fantasy about going to school. So I was offered an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland, Galway, in spring 2006. [At the] reception the president said, ‘What are you going to do now that The West Wing is out?’ I said, ‘Well, I have enough degrees. I need an education. Will you let me come?’ And he said, ‘If you’re serious, yes, you’d be as welcome as the flowers.’ And so that August I enrolled. I got an apartment, and I rented a car. And I registered under my real name. My student ID was in [the name of] Ramon Estevez.”
Now that's my kind of role model!
Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!
Stay cool, stay cool, stay cool
Byrd in LA
June 18, 2008
Just to Be Clear...
A friend wrote to me off-site about the Tiny Ninjas, and so I am clarifying. Yes, all the "performers" in the show were eeny-weeny plastic toys which were artfully moved around the briefcase-sized "stage" by "director" Dov Weinstein, who also did all the voices (and he's actually quite a good actor).
It is a challenge for the audience to see the show, of course. Initially, the show was done for audiences of no more than 10 people. The night I saw the show, there were almost 100! The obvious problems are dealt with the same way that the Rolling Stones or Madonna deal with the sight-liine problems in stadium seating venues. A video camera is set up and projects the show onto a number of screens set up especially for the purpose. Tha way, you can crane your neck and look at the show on the stage, or you can follow it in a magnified version onscreen.
Hope this makes sense.
Actually, it was a fabulous, fabulous evening of theatre. Very inventive, and enjoyable.
Next,I will get back to Buddhism and write about lovingkindness. I have been reading a book by Sharon Salzberg on the topic, and I am enjoying it very much.
But for now....Tiny Ninjas Rule!
Byrd in LA
June 16, 2008
Bravo, Tiny Ninjas!!!
Few people know that I am a true-blue Shakespeare nut. I love the bard, and I love the theater. You can imagine my excitement, then, when the world-famous Tiny Ninja Theatre came to Los Angeles:
http://www.tinyninjatheater.com/company/
I have followed this exceptional company's work for years, and at one point seriously considered flying to Edinburgh to catch one of their performances. Last night, I was one of a small group of theater patrons who were privileged to see the company's iconic version of Shakespeare's "MacBeth":
http://www.tinyninjatheater.com/macbeth/
Mr. Smile brought a profound gravitas and dignity to the role of the tortured tyrant, while Mrs. Smile showed a firm grasp of the text, and performed the role of Lady MacBeth with a steely determination I haven't seen since Dame Judi Dench performed the role at the Royal Shakespeare Company over thirty years ago.
The biggest surprise of the evening, however, was Ninja, in the role of MacDuff. He brought an urgent physicality to the role, when, after discovering Duncan's dead body, he charged around the stage in a frenzy, shouting his horror at the tops of his tiny lungs.
This was truly an unforgettable evening of theatre. I look forward to this company's future performances, and recommend them highly to anyone who enjoys a great production of Shakespeare.
Be literate, be cool
Byrd in LA
June 13, 2008
A Far-Reaching Voice
Such persons possess the power of great faith, the power of aspiration, the power of good roots. You should know that such persons lodge in the same place as the Thus Come One, and the Thus Come One pats them on the head with his hand.
-- The Lotus Sutra, Chapter 10 - "The Teacher of the Law"
Like everyone else, I was stunned to hear the news of our dear Rev. Greg Dilley's death this week. None of us on Fraught With Peril would be blogging here if it were not for his willingness to "step up to the plate" a few years ago when the Buddha Jones site shut down and the bloggers there were left without a home.
Since then, we have had a very interesting and diverse group of voices online here. Buddhists who would never have met each other or talked to each other met and talked here, at "The Site That Greg Built".
Wow! What an accomplishment!
Being a somewhat clumsy middle-aged female, I can't speak to Greg's prowess as a ninja, but I'm sure it was much better than I will be able to manage in this lifetime. As a writer and a reader, however, I can speak to his impact on the Buddhist community onlne.
As a result of Greg's webmaster role here at Fraught With Peril, hundreds, if not thousands of readers' horizons have been broadened. We have heard from a budding Nichiren Buddhist/Unitarian Universalist Sangha in Texas, as well as from members of several different Nichiren denominations, including the Nichiren Shoshu, the Nichiren Shu, the Soka Gakkai, the Kempon Hokke Shu, and many independents. Free-thinkers learned that we were not alone. For many of us, that meant that we got the encouragement we needed to keep on practicing and working to build a truly American Buddhist Sangha.
Thanks to Greg Dilley, the true, far-reaching voice of Nichiren Buddhism in the West has started to be heard. That far-reaching voice is the voice of the people themselves, uncensored, unadulterated, unedited, unmanaged and free.
What an truly wonderful legacy for Greg to have left behind him. The words of the Sutra are true - Greg was a Teacher of the Law, and the Buddha is doubtlessly patting him on the head with his hand -- or in Greg's case, maybe patting him with a nunchuck.
Thanks for all you did, Greg. You were truly one of a kind.
Your friend and admirer in Los Angeles, Byrd Ehlmann
June 11, 2008
True Kitty Crime Story!!!
Those of you who follow my cat-related interests will want to know what's going on with the "willful piece of kittyflesh" Rebel. As you can see from the attached mugshot, Rebel is currently cooling his paws behind bars:
For those of you who are late in coming to this shocking true story:
About ten months ago, I was placed in the worrisome position of having to find homes for three kittens who had manifested outside my door, and who were at risk of being taken to the pound and being euthanized :
http://www.fraughtwithperil.com/blogs/byrd/archives/001630.html
and:
http://www.fraughtwithperil.com/blogs/byrd/archives/001635.html
A sainted soul named Scott came through for the kittens, and took all three of them just ahead of the animal control officers' arrival. Alas, however, Scott was allergic, and so the kittens were moved to two separate homes. Coco and Tribble (the friendlier ones) went to one home, and the jumpy black and grey tabby, Rebel, went to live with my neighbor Shashi's brother.
But about a month ago, unexpectedly, disaster struck.....
Well, actually, it was a moving vehicle that struck -- struck our wild little Rebel, that is! The perpetrator was driving a white hatchback vehicle. Little Rebel's human chased after the perpetrator in order to get the reckless driver to own up to his damage, and pay something toward Rebel's care. Shockingly, though, the evil car had consular license plates!! How do you like that? We invite someone here to America to represent another country, and what do they do? Drive around hitting poor defenseless cats willy-nilly! As you can see, it was not the kitty who was the criminal here, it was some wicked, irresponsible diplomat! And yet, as is too often the case....an innocent cat ends up in jail....
Our brave little Rebel survived the impact, but was thrown to the side of the street, badly injured. His head was swollen, his jaw was broken, and he needed serious veterinary attention. Rebel has lost a number of his teeth, and is currently in a sort of kitty isolation in his human's garage.
I will be sending a get-well can of tuna later on this week.
More on this as the situation develops.
Drive carefully,
Byrd in LA
P.S. Rebel's human has asked me to clarify - the garage where Rebel is recuperating is air-conditioned. The kitty is not being roasted.
More news to come soon.
June 10, 2008
Let's Talk About Size
A friend of mine is in the process of building a Nichiren Buddhist sangha in cooperation with a local Unitarian Universalist church where she lives. This is something that has been done in other areas, as well, and Unitarian churches have also developed cooperative programs with Vipassana (insight meditation) groups, Zen meditation groups, as well as yoga practitioners and others. For those of you who are interested, one of the articles I read is here:
http://boundlesswayzen.org/meyerhoff.html
So, what sorts of issues bubble to the surface when people form religious communities and when those religious communities start to grow? Needless to say, one of the biggest issues (no pun) is the issue of size. Is less more, or is bigger better? I really don't know, and I'd be interested to hear what your opinions are.
The SGI's size and relative predictability in terms of meeting content have made it successful in many ways. It is nice to know that you can go to pretty much any country in the world and find a local community of people wo do the exact same liturgy that you do, speak the same Buddhist "language" that you do, and are organized along similar lines. The SGI's critics have had a field day with this, of course, characterizing SGI introductory meetings as "Buddhist infomercials", and comparing our community centers to Holiday Inns or McDonalds, with their comforting, global brand-recognition.
On the other hand, there is a lot to be said for knowing where to go and who to talk to, what to do and who to do it with. It eliminates a lot of stress, doesn't it?
The other size feature of the SGI is, of course, the local group or district. In a way, the SGI does combine the best of both worlds - you have the global qualities of a large organization, but also have the local community feel of a smaller group. That's a good thing, I think.
There are plenty of other size and local governance isues as well, though - for example, to what extent are members free to choose which local group they wish to practice with? To what extent are local groups free to determine their own styles of governance and their own rules for running things? Their own emphasis (for example, a study emphasis, or an interfaith emphasis)? How much is decided for us, and how much are we free to decide for ourselves? Should the general membership have a voice in choosing their leaders, or should it continue to be the "line above" that makes these decisions?
Some of this is, of course, discussed in the recent SGI-USA Personnel Manual. I keep waiting for it to be published on the SGI-USA webpage, but I don' t think it has been, yet.
I am curious to know how others here feel about the issue of size - do you like a smaller, locally governed group? Or do you prefer the larger, centrally governed structure? What do you think are the advantages of each?
Enquiring minds want to know,
Your pal in LA, Byrd
June 07, 2008
On Destructive Emotions
I have recently been re-reading a book called "Destructive Emotions - How Can We Overcome Them?", which is a scientific dialogue with the Dalai Lama:
This is a big issue for me, as anger has been a growth retardant for my life on many occasions. I can also see the ill effects of jealousy and greed in my life, but the worst for me has been anger. Seeing how these emotions affect my life is one thing, but actually getting in there and doing something about them is another altogether.
My practice of chanting nam(u)-Myoho-Renge-Kyo has sometimes been helpful to me in this struggle, and sometimes not. In particular, I recall the level of anger I had against someone whom I believed had wronged me about 20 years ago. My anger was extremely painful, and I needed a remedy. However, at that time, the SGI was in the initial throes of its "divorce" from our parent sect, Nichiren Shoshu, and was actively cultivating the emotion of anger among its membership in order to "win" in that conflict. I was suffering from anger poisoning, and my church kept feeding me more anger. Getting angry at the Temple was touted in the SGI back then as the fastest way to "get benefit", but oh, God, was it painful for me.
Finally, I ended up with a law degree that I don't particularly want or use, just so that I could get past the destructive rage which had wormed its way into my soul. I did a lot of volunteer work with the targets of domestic violence, and saw again, first-hand, how hideously destructive uncontrolled anger can be, and the horrible effects it can have on children. So, this is a topic which interests me, and I hope to start a conversation about it among the folks here.
According to Buddhism, there three major "poisons", and any number of lesser ones. The "Big Three" are, of course:
1. Greed
2. Anger
3. Ignorance
The antidotes to these poisons are the "Immeasurables" which I discussed a month or so ago on this blog site: Compassion, Lovingkindness, Joy, and Equanimity. In a nutshell, by the cultivating the joyful and liberating qualities of compassion and lovingkindness, we can counteract the painful emotions of greed and anger, the way we can illuminate a dark room by turning on a light. For those of you who missed that entry, here, again, are the Immeasurables:
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/bs-s15.htm
Anyway, the book which I am re-reading is a dialogue between the Dalai Lama and a number of Western scientists. Apparently, meditation practices have actual, discernable effects on the brains of the meditators. I know this will come as no surprise to my good friend and fellow FWP blogger Charles Atkins, but I was very interested to read about it.
So, how do we learn to "master our minds" rather than letting our "minds master us"? For years, in the SGI, I was led to believe that this sort of wisdom comes naturally, as the result of many years of chanting. But in my experience, this has not been true - there's no "magic" to observation of the mind - not for me, at least. Like the man sings, "it don't come easy".
One of the scientists in this discussion, a meditation teacher himself, says:
"when you start to get used to recognizing thoughts as they arise, it is like rapidly spotting someone you know in a crowd. When a powerful thought of strong attraction or anger arises that you know is bound to lead to a proliferation of thoughts, now you recognize it: 'Oh, that thought is coming'. That helps a lot to avoid being overwhelmed by that thought."
Wow! I sure could have used that one twenty years ago!
Anyway, I offer it here for the enlightenment (!) of anyone who can use. it.
Have any of you here had to struggle with destructive emotions? If so, how did you apply your practice to the problem? I genuinely think this is animportant topic of conversation.
Be even-keeled and compassionate, all ---
Byrd in LA
June 06, 2008
Change Your Mind Day
Tomorrow, June 7, 2008, is Change Your Mind Day, 2008.
This annual event was started by Tricycle Magazine over a decade ago, and is a vehicle for bringing the benefits of Buddhist meditation and practice to the public:
Here is a link to a site which has "Change Your Mind Day" talks on Buddhist meditation from various teachers:
I particularly enjoyed the talk by Thich Naht Hanh on mindfulness as a "caregiver" for the energy of anger. That's an emotion I have struggled with a lot myself, and I got a lot out of what he had to say.
Have you ever been to a "Change Your Mind Day" activity? I'd love to hear about it.
Enquiring (and ever-changing) minds want to know.
Byrd in LA
June 03, 2008
Here I Am!
For those of you wondering where I am, I am back at a temp job, but I don't have computer access until later on this week. There's not a lot for me to do at this desk until I get the computer access, so I am being paid $21.50 an hour to read "The Self-Aware Universe" by Amit Goswami:
When I get tired of that, I read "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" by Sogyal Rinpoche:
Getting paid to read books that I want to read! That's my dream job!
Last Sunday, we had a fabulous Gathering of Friends at the Ankers' house in Granada Hills. Our theme was "Spring cleaning", and one of our group talked about how his life turned around when he was able to "let go of the past" while chanting. Things started to pick up for him from there, and his countrywestern band has landed a swell weekly gig. Various Gathering-ites will be going to hear his band play this Friday night. Michele Chavez and her husband reported on Michele's Jukai ceremony in San Francisco at the end of April. Everybody was happy and upbeat.
We're also busy planning our first-ever Gathering of Friends weekend Buddhist retreat for the last weekend in June at the Ankers' beach home in Port Hueneme, an hour or so north of Los Angeles. I think there will be a pretty big bunch of people - somewhere between ten and twenty. We will be chanting together, as well as doing some walking meditation, holding a barbecue on the beach, and (I hope, if I can get the raw materials together) making wrist juzu for our crafts project.
I will write more when I have some time online later on this week.
Be excellent to each other,
Byrd in LA