November 2006 Issue No: 16

Voice Of Wisdom Monthly Newsletter of The Triple Gem Of The North MANKATO COMMUNITY OFFERS ROBE IN KATHINA CELEBRATION Weekly Meditation

Members from Triple Gem of the North held a robe ceremony to Monday Evening their teacher, Bhante Sathi, at the Kathina Celebration on October 30th in 7.00 PM to 8.30 PM Mankato. The event concluded the Wassana retreat observed by monks in Unitarian Universality Fellow- the tradition. ship 937 Charles Ave. Bhante began the evening by leading members in the formal ceremony of Mankato, MN 56001 initiation, which included: “taking ” in the Buddha, Dhamma, and ; and the Fivefold Disciplines. The disciplines affirm the Buddhist Call Tricia 507-524 -3245 commitment to not: seek pleasure in hurting or harming living beings, to take other’s property, unless freely given, avoid sexual misconduct or im- Tuesday Evening proper speech, and never take intoxicants that spoil one’s mind. 7.00 PM to 8.00 PM Bhante also shared the history of robe offering, where the Sangha gives the Gustavus Adolphus College robe to the monk in appreciation for the monk’s teachings. Traditionally the In Linner Lounge robe is to go to the monk with the greatest need. This teaches the other Call Asitha 641 420 7708 monks to observe their own desire in wanting the robe. The monk who got the robe then had to learn the lesson on not becoming attached to the robe. Friday Evening As eight candles were lit on the alter by Buddha’s statue, which represented First Unitarian Society the light of His teachings within the darkness of ignorance, fellow members Mike Powell and Dean Muesing presented the robe to Bhante. 7.00 PM to 8.30 PM 900 Mount Curve Ave Before the chant Bhante reminded the group that the body is only as healthy Minneapolis, MN 55403 as the mind and assured the group that chanting by itself could promote healing. Call Ray@ 612-760-3996 According to this reporter,

who was also one of the atten- Saturday Morning dees: “This ceremony gave me 10.00 AM to 12.00 PM occasion to reflect on how blessed I am to receive the Chanhassen Library teachings of Buddha through 7711 Kerber Drive Bhante. I always return home Chanhassen, MN feeling somewhat lighter, and Call Ralph@ 952-934-9727 grateful for the Mankato sangha and the connections I All are Welcome am realizing there.”

— Reported By Alixa Doom — Page 2 There are No Buddhist Traditions While on a recent flight to New York, I had a conversation with the man sitting next to me. He asked me where I’m from and details about my life. He told me that he was also Buddhist and told me about his recent trip to Tibet. When I started explaining Theravada Buddhism to him he interjected, “Sorry. If it is not , I am not interested.” Later that week, while back in Minnesota, I received a phone call from a man who had moved to the area. “Where can I find the nearest temple?” he asked. When I answered, he replied, “Sorry, that temple is not in my tradition.” Why do people separate themselves in different traditions? Buddha never taught this. In his time, monks were ordained from various traditions and castes, but were treated as equals. In an- cient India, when caste systems were important social structures, the Buddha forbid monks from creating a hierarchy despite enormous social pressure, including the Buddha’s father, King Suddhodana. “Even as the four main rivers of India unite to share the same ocean, those who follow my path become equal,” the enlightened one said. “Everyone should be able to understand the teachings, regardless of background.” The different Buddhist traditions are Theravada, , , and . Each nation that embraced a tradition did so around their individual culture and so developed their own unique way to express their appreciation for the triple gem. If we think of each tradition as a drinking cup then we can begin to understand. Each tradition decorates their cup with different jewels but they all dip into the same well. If some- one will only drink water from a certain cup then they will eventually die of thirst. They do not understand that it does- n’t matter what you drink out of when you drink from the same source. Dhamma is the water and the four traditions are the cup. We need a container to hold the water as we need culture to hold a Buddhist way of life. Although the elder Buddhist traditions had no or prayers when Buddhism spread from India to Tibet, it was quickly adopted in the Himalayan Mountains as a “carry over” from previ- ous ancient traditions. In the rest of China, the Chinese talk of Buddha’s “thousand characteris- tics” replaced the belief in one thousand Chinese gods. Despite different cultural practices, enlightenment was still achievable because the Buddhist path enabled them to look beyond their culture and apply their teachings into their daily lives. Whether through mantras or Buddha’s thousand characteristics, the devout developed their minds and experienced inner peace. May all of you who read this find your inner peace and happiness in the Triple Gem. The Bud- dha once said to his Sangha: “I am the doctor who prescribes the right medicine. The wise drink the medicine, while the foolish read the label.” — Bhante Sathi — Page 3 Eight Lifelines to the : A slap back to reality Recently my life has gotten very busy. My responsibilities as a husband and a son have increased. I’ve had to travel far to attend several professional confer- ences, had several major writing assignments to complete, and I went through several weeks of interviews for a new job (which, thankfully, I got.) It’s been a fun and exciting time. Yet as I’ve enjoyed the busier pace and the small successes in my professional life, my spiritual practice – my formal meditation – has slowed to almost noth- ing. My 30-minute morning meditation has disappeared. My daily hour-long dharma readings, has also dwindled to almost nothing. How can I regroup and return to my daily meditation practice? Traditional Buddhist doctrine says that four thoughts help to turn the mind to- ward the dharma: discovering the preciousness of human birth, the realization of , how cause and effect gives rise to all conditioned things, and the inevitability of human suffering. I practice these points, sometimes several times a day, to give me a sharp slap back to reality (another name for the dharma), but especially to provide some balance when my mood gets either too gloomy or giddy. But during this recent hectic period I’ve found four other lifelines to the dharma. The first lifeline is my breath. Even in the middle of a stressful day, my mind turns to the breath and I become mindful of it. I’ll stop and watch it for a min- ute or less. By the third breath a magical moment occurs where my whole body relaxes into a familiar peaceful state. A few moments of awareness can create a relaxed state that ripples on for hours before I need another “recharge.” My second lifeline is an interest in Right Speech. When I pick this topic I find that every minute of daily life can become a chance to contemplate the dharma. For example, after meditating on this, virtually every sentence I utter, or hear from others, will beg the question, “Is that Right Speech or Wrong Speech? Why? Why not?” It keeps me rooted in the dharma. Third, a string bracelet tied on my wrist several months ago by Bhante Sathi, is fraying almost to pieces. Every time I look at the bracelet, I think about the ris- ing and passing away of all conditioned things. It’s a terrific dharma reminder. Lastly, a huge lifeline has been my sangha. I look forward to that precious 90 minutes a week when, even though my life has become more hectic, I will sit quietly with others. During that time, all of us commit to “going downstream”, not fighting the strong current of desires and aversions that drive so much worldly activity, but following downstream. These four personal dharma reminders, in addition to the four formal ones men- tioned above, have been a real lifesaver for me. I’m grateful for them – I “take refuge” in them. They’ll keep me headed in the right direction until I can spend more time on my meditation cushion. - Doug McGill - Page 4 16th Issue interpret it’s meaning. However, if we separate the meaning from the object then the portrait is reduced to a two dimensional series of colors and shapes. The sense experience is stripped away when the mind’s thoughts are disengaged. Thoughts, emotions, and other activities of the mind operate in a similar way. When someone says something hurtful to us our ear picks up Last September, a Mankato group member the sound, the brain reads the sound waves, the asked the following question: mind interprets it, which then triggers adrena- Q: What is the Buddhist view of reality—in 25 line into the bloodstream. We become angry as words or less! the body reacts, spiking our blood pressure and A: (laughter) What is your view of reality? other harmful reactions. However, by breaking (More laughter.) It is important to internalize this process down, we quickly realize that our the question. What we experience in life is illu- mind translates the sounds we hear into sion. A dream seems real when we are caught thoughts. If we separate our interpretation up in it till we wake up and are thrust back in from the body’s reaction then we understand reality. This is the summation of the Buddhist that as the portrait is nothing more than shapes point of view. and colors, and anger is nothing more than adrenaline and other chemical reactions, then Our perception of reality is based on the inter- thoughts are just thoughts. pretation of our five bodily senses; sight, smell, taste, hear, and touch. For example, when we The goal of Buddhism is to wake up from our look at a portrait in a museum, a work of art, dream, to see things as they truly are. This is the definition of enlightenment. we see the entire work in it’s context and then

Obedience The master Bankei's talks were attended not only by Zen students but by persons of all ranks and sects. He never quoted not indulged in scholastic dissertations. Instead, his words were spoken directly from his heart to the hearts of his listeners. His large audience angered a priest of the sect because the adherents had left to hear about Zen. The self-centered Nichiren priest came to the temple, determined to have a debate with Bankei. "Hey, Zen teacher!" he called out. "Wait a minute. Whoever respects you will obey what you say, but a man like myself does not respect you. Can you make me obey you?" "Come up beside me and I will show you," said Bankei. Proudly the priest pushed his way through the crowd to the teacher. Bankei smiled. "Come over to my left side." The priest obeyed. "No," said Bankei, "we may talk better if you are on the right side. Step over here." The priest proudly stepped over to the right. "You see," observed Bankei, "you are obeying me and I think you are a very gentle person. Now sit down and listen." Page 5 Into the Mouths of Babes My younger son, Alex, is three years old. Like most children his age, his favorite part of dinner is the dessert. In fact, he likes to skip most of his main course so he can get to the “good stuff.” After the usual negotiating from Mom and Dad (Alex, first your spaghetti, then you can have a cookie) he eventu- ally gets his reward. That’s when it gets interesting. He will take his cookie, look it over front and back, smell it, and run his tongue on the surface. Then the process of eating begins, slowly. He takes a small bite and looks out the window as a smile curls slowly across his face as if a private joke has crossed his mind. This routine of smell- ing, small bites, and savoring continues through the remainder of dinner- time. As the kitchen is being cleaned, he still has 75% of his cookie in hand; wandering around the house, sitting on the sofa, poking the cushion with his foot, staring at the ceiling, then more savoring. At this point, dinner is long over, his older brother has tried to muscle in on the bounty, and the cookie is no- where near finished. He has lots of time to eat. There is no rush. When he eats his cookie that is all he is doing. He is not eating today’s anxious moments, or how he’s going to meet his deadlines. The moment is spent eating his treat and nothing else. Small children who are raised in a loving and caring household are at peace with themselves. They can enjoy the present moment without any of the “mental afflictions” which many, myself included, am guilty of. The lesson I picked up at the dinner table is simple; when eating, just eat; when washing the dishes, just wash; and when working, just work. Too often, when I am performing a task with my hands, my mind is multi tasking. It is thinking about what happened yesterday, an hour ago, or tomorrow. Rarely is my mind in tandem with my hands and rarely am I eating dessert and noth- ing else. The wisdom from all this is—I am improving my concentration and allowing my mind to find space within itself. This enables me to maintain proper perspective and not be caught up in the daily “soap opera head games,” most of which never comes true. Two hours after the end of dinner I was tucking Alex in his bed. My hand reached under his pil- low and touched the last cookie morsel. Ok, we save it for tomorrow. No rush. — Richard Price — Page 6 A Drop From the Golden Voice 16th Issue The Ungrateful Sons

Once there was a wealthy old man who, when his four sons got married, gave each of them a generous portion of his wealth as a wedding present.

When the old man’s wife died his sons affectionately looked after him, but did so with a devious ulterior motive: they wanted to possess the rest of his fortune. Eventually, they succeeded, leaving their aging father destitute.

Unable to manage by himself, the father went to stay at his eldest sons home. A few days later, his nagging daughter- in-law who did not want to be “burdened” by her father-in -law’s presence drove him out. To add insult to injury, his ungrateful son raised no objection. The poor old man re- ceived the same treatment at each of his other three son’s homes.

Helpless and miserable, owning nothing but a staff and a bowl, the father went to seek solace and advice from the Buddha. The Buddha told him how to teach his greedy and ungrateful sons a les- son by saying the following words in a crowd of people: “ My greedy sons are deceitful and un- kind. They call me father but do not understand the meaning of the word. Now that I have given them all my wealth, they have let their wives drive me out of their homes and treat me like a beg- gar. Alas, I can depend on this old and crooked staff more than on my own four sons!

As advised by the Buddha, the old man went about announcing the cause of his retched condi- tion. One day he came upon a crowd where his ungrateful sons were also present. Upon finish- ing his plaintive announcement, the listening group was filled with pity then rage once they real- ized that the old man’s sons were among them. The sons fled for their lives.

When they were out of danger, they sat down and discussed their poor father’s situation. They ashamedly admitted that they had been ungrateful to their good and generous father. Filled with remorse, they went to him and asked for forgiveness. They promised to look after him, respect and honor him, and instructed their wives to do the same.

Some time later, the eldest son invited the Buddha to his house for a meal. Afterwards, the Bud- dha gave a sermon on the merits gained by tending to one’s parents welfare. He included in his sermon the story of Dhanapala, an elephant who cared so much for his parents that, when hunt- ers captured him, he stopped eating out of concern for his parent’s welfare.

During the rutting season, the elephant called Dhanapala is uncontrollable. Held in captiv- ity, he eats not a morsel, yearning to look after his parents in his native forest. (Verse 324)

— Edited by Richard Price — Page 7 Transmigration and Non-Release From Evil Deeds The king asked: "Venerable , is there The king asked: "Venerable Nagasena, is it so any being which transmigrates from one body that one does not transmigrate1 and one is re- to another?" born?"2 "Certainly not, your majesty." "Yes, your majesty, one does not transmigrate "If, venerable Nagasena, there is no-one who and one is reborn." transmigrates from one body to another, then "How, venerable Nagasena, is it that one does would not one be released from evil deeds?" not transmigrate and one is reborn? Give me an "Yes, your majesty. If one is not reborn, then analogy." one would be released from evil deeds. But in- "Just as, your majesty, if someone kindled one deed because one is reborn, your majesty, then lamp from another, is it indeed so, your majesty, one is not fully released from evil deeds." that the lamp would transmigrate from the "Give me an analogy." other lamp?" "Just as, your majesty, if some man were to steal "Certainly not, venerable sir." the mangos of another, would this be an of- "Indeed just so, your majesty, one does not fense worthy of punishment?" transmigrate and one is reborn." "Yes, venerable sir, it would be an offense wor- "Give me another analogy." thy of punishment." "Do you remember, your majesty, when you "But, your majesty, since these mangos that he were a boy learning some verse from a teacher?" stole were not the same mangos that the other had planted, why would it be punishable?" "Yes, venerable sir." "Venerable sir, they came into existence by "Your majesty, did this verse transmigrate from means of those mangos that were planted, the teacher?" therefore it would be punishable." "Certainly not, venerable sir." "Indeed just so, your majesty, it is by the deeds "Indeed just so, your majesty, one does not that one does in this mind-and-body, lovely or transmigrate and one is reborn." unlovely, that one is reborn in another mind- "You are clever, venerable Nagasena." and-body, therefore one would not be fully re- leased from evil deeds ."

"You are clever, venerable Nagasena."

A Parable Buddha told a parable in a : A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black started to gnaw away at the vine. The man saw a lucious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. Ahh, how sweet is tasted! TGN Board Of Directors Voice Of Wisdom Bhante Sathi Triple Gem Of The North Sister Ani Pema PO Box 323 Dr. Yael Rubin St Peter, MN 56082 Darcy Wagner Email: [email protected]. Phone: 612-216-4854 Greg Mikkelson Fax: 952-314-4863 Ray Kivlahan Web: www.triplegem.org Mike Powell To add you to our mailing list send your information via E-mail or feel free call us. Dr. Patricia Linehan Meditation For Beginners Thanksgiving Retreat

When — January 6th and 20th When: November 24-25 Time — 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm Where: Chu-Phattan Temple Where — Challis Room Roseville, MN At First Unitarian Society This residential retreat with Bhante Sathi will provide time and space to experience the Bud- 900 Mount Curve Ave dha’s methods for physical and mental well being Minneapolis, MN 55403 and spiritual growth. All Are Welcome There is no charge, but donations are appreciated to help cover expenses. Call 612 216 4854 Registration is required. Accommodation is available, but early registrations get priority. Insight Editors Call Ray at 612-216-4854 Bhante Sathi or email [email protected]. Richard Price Due date for Registration November 20th Mellissa Lorentz

Triple Gem of the North Is a 501 (C) 3 approved tax-deductible Non– profit organi- zation based in state of Minnesota. We operate in Minneapolis, St Paul, Chanhassen , St Peter and Mankato. Your tax-deductible contribution will assist in our endeavor to serve the community through weekly meditation classes, day long retreats and the assistance in building a permanent retreat center. Triple Gem is also heavily involved in various disaster relief efforts such as Tsunami relief in Sri Lanka, and Hurricane Katrina. This is done in the spirit of the teachings of the Buddha.