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EIAB MAGAZINE Contributions from the EIAB and the international Sangha · August 2019 Contents 2 The Path of the Bodhisattva 41 An MBSR Teacher at the EIAB 85 We can take a leaf out of their book 6 Bells 43 The Ten Commandments – when it comes to living generosity newly formulated 86 How the Honey gets to the EIAB 7 Opening Our Hearts by Taking Root In Ourselves 44 Inner Clarity, Inner Peace 88 Amidst the noble sangha: Interviewing Sr. Song Nghiem 16 “From discrimination to 46 Retreat “time limited ordination, inclusiveness” being a novice at EIAB” 90 Love in Action 19 Honoring Our Ancestors 49 No More War 91 Time-limited Novice Program 23 Construction Management and 50 ‘The only thing we really need is 107 In Memoriam Thầy Pháp Lượng Planning for the 2nd + 3rd Stages of your transformation’ the Renovation of the EIAB 54 Impermanence or the Art of Letting 25 Working Meditation on the Go Construction Project for the Ashoka 56 Slow Hiking and Time in Nature (I) Building 58 Slow Hiking and Time in Nature (II) 27 Every Moment is a Temple European Institute of 60 The Path of Meditation 29 Interview with the Dharma Teacher Applied Buddhism gGmbH 73 Singing at the EIAB Annabelle Zinser from Berlin Schaumburgweg 3 | 51545 Waldbröl 75 It’s a Game + 49 (0)2291 9071373 32 Mindfulness in Schools 77 The weight of the air [email protected] | [email protected] 34 Look Deeply! www.eiab.eu 79 The Dharma of youth – Examples 36 20 Years Intersein-Zentrum from the Wake Up generation Editorial: EIAB. Layout and Graphic: (Interbeing-Centre) Dieter Spitzer. Thanks to all who supported 84 Thank you To all those who so us in editing, translation and photos, especially 38 Gross Family Happiness, generously donate their time and Klaus Schick. 39 Trainings in Diversity and Inclusion money Cover: Klaus Schick 2 | The Path of the Bodhisattva The Path of the Bodhisattva By Thầy Pháp Ấn To follow the path of a bodhisattva, to Nghiem organized a local sangha in speak in different languages about dif- practice bringing conscious awareness Germany for many years and helped to ferent kinds of models. So, there is this into the world for oneself and for others, bring many people into the Dharma. model called the “bodhisattva path”, is to be a spiritual warrior. But what She organized trips to Plum Village, that is, of being a spiritual warrior. exactly does that mean? 1 spending her own money to rent the bus if people were unable to pay. That To be a bodhisattva is to train so that “Bodhi” comes from Sanskrit and means is what we mean when we call someone our mind becomes immense and vast; “understanding, enlightened, awak- a bodhisattva. spacious. We walk on a very wide road, ened”. “Sattva” means “to be” or “exis- an immense path, because of this vast tence”. But it is not an existence of There have been many different trans- mind. Chinese people create temples merely floating along a river, like a lations and interpretations of the term that are so big, vast. In the early 2000s, plant. It is an existence in which there “bodhisattva” over the past 150 or so I went with Thầy to China and we vis- is effort, there is a struggle, there is years by modern Buddhist scholars. ited many temples. They are huge. It fighting. “Fighting”, here, means to But, from an historical perspective, it is takes a long time to walk from the gate fight for goodness, for a higher ideal, very clear that a bodhisattva is a spiri- all the way to the stupa, which is usu- something that is noble.2 tual warrior. This is different from tra- ally about a kilometer from the ditions where people are satisfied just to entrance. Sr. Song Nghiem at our European have and enjoy peace; to abide in this Institute of Applied Buddhism is this peace and do nothing else. To be a Why did the Chinese create such huge type of person. When I had reservations bodhisattva is to train so that our mind temples? It is because they have this more than a decade ago about Thầy’s becomes immense and vast, spacious. ideal of the bodhisattva. Everything is plan to establish this Institute in We walk on a very wide road, an im- created with vastness. But no matter Germany Sr. Song Nghiem and other mense path, because of this vast mind. how vast, it still cannot reflect the brothers and sisters were keen to push vastness, the greatness of the bodhisat- ahead and put the plan into action. She During the time of the Buddha, as well tva path. That was also the idea behind is a spiritual warrior who continually as after the Buddha passed away, there the world’s tallest Buddha statues at gives and organizes retreats throughout were many different perspectives, ideas Bamiyan, Afghanistan, which dated the world. and opinions about what it means to back to the sixth century AD.3 They have and to practice a spiritual life. were part of Mahayana Buddhism’s Thầy gave her the monastic name Does a spiritual life mean withdrawing northern spread from India. Vastness is “Song”, because she had taken a great to a remote part of the world – say, a the quality of a bodhisattva. We do not bodhisattva vow. “Song” means paral- forest or jungle – to live the rest of our think small; we do not remain in a hut. lel, two ways. Her practice is the bodhi- life there? Does it mean avoiding soci- Our hands, our feet are everywhere. sattva path of helping herself and others ety, finding a hut and just living the rest to transform their sorrow and suffering. of our life in isolation? Or does a spiri- We need courage to go into such vast- Before she became a nun, Sr. Song tual life mean we engage with society; ness. So, the practice of the bodhisattva help to construct and build society so is to transform the limitedness and that it can become better and more smallness of the little self by going into 1 EIAB wishes to express our deep gratitude to Ms. Sarah Monks for her loving editing work. beautiful? All of these different ideas the vastness of unlimited space, unlim- Our deep thanks, too, to all who helped with and opinions are reflected in the ited time. That is the psychological ef- translating and transcribing the talks of The Buddhist community. People see the fect of walking on the bodhisattva path. Path of the Bodhisattva Retreat in Thailand Buddha as a model for their ideal. But Everything is so big. 2018, on which this article is based. the Buddha was very quiet. Most of the 2 The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature, by Har Dayal, Motilal Banarsidass time, he just sat there without saying Publishers, Delhi :: Patna :: Vanarasi, First anything. He has kept silent for 2,500 3 The Bamiyan statues were dynamited and de- Published 1932, Reprint 1970, P9 years! Only his students speak. And we stroyed by the Taliban in 2001 The Path of the Bodhisattva | 3 Retreat ‘The Path of the Bodhisattva’ in Thailand, 2018 From right to left: Sr. Pho Nghiem, Sr. Song Nghiem, Thay Phap Kinh, Thay Phap An, Thay Phap Kham The Amitabha Buddha is called To walk on the bodhisattva path is to The practice of the vow to “Unlimited Light and Lifespan”. In a accept the fact that we are, in essence, liberate all living beings past life, Amitabha Buddha had been a already a Buddha even though we still is as numerous as the grains of bodhisattva. His vow was: “I will not have a lot of difficulty, anger, sadness sand filling the Milky Way 4 become a Buddha until all living beings and depression. That is the teaching of have been saved; have been rescued the Mahayana. The problem is that The gatha is about the vow of a bodhi- and brought to the other shore, to en- when you say you are a Buddha, you sattva, which is to realize that 10,000 lightenment.” We do not call him a have to live up to the Buddha quality dharmas manifest in one Dharma; that bodhisattva anymore. Now we call him you have! This quality demands vast- all is contained in one and one is con- a Buddha, Amitabha Buddha. What ness, spaciousness, un-limitedness tained in all. The practice of the bodhi- does that mean? It means that his vow within you. Your mind is not small; sattva is to make our mind vast and has been realized, which means we your mind is not petty. You train your- spacious. The practice is very simple. It have been saved! We, now, are a self to be immersed in this quality of is to learn to let go; to go back to our Buddha. Can you believe that? That is vastness and immensity of mind. self, learn to be with our self, feel our Mahayana teaching, Pure Land teach- self, let the energy sink down, take root ing. Do you have a mind big enough, One of our Dharma teachers, Thầy Pháp into our self. vast enough, immense enough to accept Kính, was given this gatha when he the fact you are a Buddha now? It is a received his Lamp Transmission last Just say someone makes a remark that very difficult fact to accept. And that is year: is not very nice. If we can take root in why there was a struggle between our self, feel our body as much as pos- Ten thousand dharmas return Buddhism’s Hinayana and Mahayana sible; train to have our mind as vast and and take refuge in one Dharma traditions.

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