vajraFALL 2016 bell spreading the dharma keeping sangha connected

The Path of Practice:

Some ‘Divinity Shaping Our Ends’ by Dh. Maitreyabandhu page 06

The Dance of the Dharma by Dh. Lilasiddhi page 10 Also in this issue: Sangha Connections, page 19 Aryaloka Stupa: Your Support Needed, page 25 vajrabell VAJRA BELL KULA CO-EDITOR: Mary Schaefer [email protected] CO-EDITOR: David Watt [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Susan DiPietro [email protected] COPY EDITOR: Dh. Vihanasari [email protected] ARTS EDITOR: Deb Howard [email protected] WRITER: Bettye Pruitt [email protected] DESIGNER: Callista Cassady [email protected]

SANGHA NOTES CONTRIBUTORS

Gary Baker, New York Sangha Aryaloka Buddhist Retreat Center [email protected] 14 Heartwood Circle Paramita Banerjee, Vancouver Buddhist Centre [email protected] Newmarket, NH 03857 603-659-5456 Peter Ingraham, Aryaloka Buddhist Center [email protected] Sabrina Metivier, Nagaloka Buddhist Center [email protected] · www.aryaloka.org [email protected] Mary Salome, San Francisco Buddhist Center [email protected] Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/Aryaloka Samatara, Rocky Mountain Buddhist Center [email protected] Mike Mappes, Khante Outreach ...or on the Aryaloka Facebook Group: [email protected] facebook.com/groups/AryalokaSangha BOARD OF DIRECTORS Connect at The Buddhist Centre Online: TheBuddhistCentre.com/Aryaloka Dh. Dayalocana (Interim Chair) Barry Timmerman (Secretary) Elizabeth Hellard (Treasurer) Dh. Amala Dh. Rijupatha Jean Corson ARYALOKA STAFF Tom Gaillard Daniel Kenney Dh. Shrijnana, Executive Director Alisha Roberts Vanessa Ruiz, Office Manager Dh. Bodhana, Kitchen Manager SPIRITUAL VITALITY COUNCIL Dh. Lilasiddhi, Cleaning Coordinator Dh. Amala (Chair) Dh. Rijupatha, Web Master and Publicity Designer Dh. Vidhuma (Vice Chair) Dh. Shantikirika, Buddhaworks Manager Dh. Arjava Dh. Dayalocana Dh. Khemavassika Dh. Shrijnana Dh. Surakshita

© 2016 Aryaloka Buddhist Center page 2 aryaloka.org table of contents fall 2016

04 Arts at Aryaloka

06 19 05 Path of Practice Introduction

06 Some ‘Divinity Shaping Our Ends’ by Dh. Maitreyabandhu

10 The Dance of the Dharma by Dh. Lilasiddhi

14 Sangha Notes, by Sangha Note Contributors

19 Sangha Connections: Interveiw with Dh. Padmatara by Bettye Pruitt

21 Buddhaworks

22 From the Editors

24 Spiritual Vitality Council Board Notes Poetry Corner

10 25 Aryaloka Stupa: Your Support Needed by Barry Timmerman

14 26 Upcoming Events, Classes and Retreats

28 Generosity Reflections on Generosity in Action by Tom Gaillard

COVER IMAGE: Peter Hershey 25 unsplash.com/@peterhershey

aryaloka.org page 3 arts at aryaloka The Stitchfold Path: ‘Coloring the Buddha’ Quilt Show

The next exhibit in the art gallery show continues through November meditation develops the patience at Aryaloka will be textile artwork 14 with an artist reception Saturday, and mindfulness she needs to do the created by Akashavanda. This show November 5, from 3 to 5 p.m. detailed sewing, and the practice of will feature a collection of quilts that Akashavanda made her first quilt dana inspires her to make and donate celebrate the Buddha, Dharma and seven years ago after her first grand- quilts to charity. She quilts for fun and Sangha through vibrant color and son was born. She had not sewn to explore new and interesting ways a bit of sparkle. Akashavanda loves anything since high school but was to express her faith and love of the playing with color and texture to immediately hooked on quilting. Her Dharma using fabric. translate traditional Buddhist images love of fabrics and color is appar- Viewing times are Monday through and symbols into a contemporary ent in her quilt creations. Buddhist Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. rendering. Beginning October 10, the practice informs her art. She says that — Deb Howard

Arts Study Group: Zen and Creativity

“The creative process, like a Recently, we looked at a more would like to participate, read the spiritual journey, is intuitive, practical lesson in the “Jeweled upcoming chapter and bring com- non-linear and experiential. It Mirror” chapter: how to develop a ments and questions for discussion. points us toward our essential creative feedback group where the Contact Kiranada: kiranada@ nature, which is a reflection of audience can express their feelings myfairpoint.net or Deb Howard: the boundless creativity of the for artwork – not ideas, criticism or [email protected] for specifics universe.” opinions – and learn how to hear about the chapter schedule and — Daido John Loori what is said and stay with the direct meeting times. We meet through experience. early winter, finishing our last chap- The Art Study Group continues Group participants who are not ter “Indra’s Net” on December 13. to meet every Friday morning in visual artists find it refreshing that — Dh. Kiranada Exeter, NH, looking into the illusive Loori’s words resonate with those connections between Dharma, art who have movement, poetry and and meditation. meditation practices as well. Loori’s Daido Loori’s remarkable book words shed light on various ele- The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your ments that anchor our creative side Artistic Life has given us numerous in the world. His work “dissolves the opportunities for lively discussion. barriers between art and spiritual- Some highlights include the “Seeing ity and opens up the possibility of with the Whole Body and Mind” meeting life with spontaneity, grace chapter where we looked at the and stillness.” merging of subject/object, seer/ Future chapters consider those seen, of self and the other, “the “Barriers” as well as “Zen Aesthet- essential experience of enlighten- ics,” “Expressing the Inexpressible” ment.” and “The Dancing Brush.” If you

page 4 aryaloka.org The Triratna Path of Practice A Comprehensive Approach to Spiritual Development

Integration Spiritual Receptivity Developing Peace: No More Effort: getting to know oneself, bring- spontaneous compassionate action ing all one’s energies together Just sitting meditation behind spiritual purpose Samatha, mindfulness meditations

Spiritual Rebirth Positive Emotion Experiencing Developing Happiness: Freedom: positive connection with of heart and mind: oneself and others; skillful a new way of being or postive emotion Sadhana and Metta and Brahma Viharas Buddhanusati meditations meditations

Spiritual Death Developing Understanding and Wisdom: direct knowing, transformation through insight, letting go Insight practices

The Triratna Path of Practice is a comprehensive view of the whole of the spiritual life from a Buddhist perspective and represents the crystallization of a lifetime of teachings by Urgyen Sangharakshita. The Path of Practice describes the crucial elements that, taken together, compose a life of happiness, purpose, freedom, equanimity and inner peace.

The Vajra Bell continues its exploration of the Path of Practice. Dh. Maitreyabandhu is the author of three books on Buddhism, including The Journey and the Guide: A Practical Course in Enlightenment, regarded by many as a lively and accessible approach to the Path of Practice. He graciously accepted our invitation to contribute on this topic, and gave us permission to publish a piece he wrote for The London Buddhist, a publication of the London Buddhist Centre. Dh. Lilasiddhi takes a closer look at Spiritual Receptivity, Rebirth and Spontaneous Compassionate Response. — Editors aryaloka.org page 5 Some ‘Divinity Shaping our Ends’

By Dh. Maitreyabandhu

The interest, the pastime, was to learn if there had been any divinity shaping my ends and I had been building better than I knew.

— Robert Frost in a preface to a selection of his poems, 1942

Other people’s confidence can astound me. They often seem to know who they are and what their life consists of. They know what they want and why they want it. They can come up with ready-made opinions about war and global warming. Of course, to meet me, I’m much the same. Poet Robert Frost But if I’m honest with myself, I can’t decide. As life changes – as moods, locations and other people change – I of Reason” resonates with me. In poet, George Herbert, for instance – change, too. My estimation of myself the poem, when Job meets God in whose beautiful plainspoken verse fluctuates. My self-sense changes heaven, he says to his wife: anticipates Frost’s – is a conversation depending on who I’m with. Despite Here’s where I lay aside with God. A Herbert poem is a well- nearly 30 years of Buddhist practice My varying opinion of myself swept room in which he meets I still don’t really know who I am, And come to rest in an official verdict. Divinity (here in the guise of “Love”): what life is, or what I really think. Of This must be one of the attractions Love bade me welcome: yet my course I know myself in the everyday of God – a dream of perfect soul drew back, sense, but when I look more deeply, objectivity, in which someone can Guilty of dust and sin. the wires of motivation run off into finally tell us: “This is what you’re like. But quick-ey’d Love, observing me the dark. What I thought was truth This is your true worth. This is what grow slack turns out to be the skewed thinking your life has really been about.” From my first entrance in, of a bad mood. What I’d taken to Christianity tends to locate meaning Drew nearer to me, sweetly be aspiration was merely a passing outside the self in this way – all true questioning, bright idea. meaning comes from God. The If I lack’d any thing. So Robert Frost’s poem “A Masque poetry of the 17th century Welsh —”Love (III)” by George Herbert page 6 aryaloka.org For Frost the self is something our understanding never fully apprehends. The real self – whatever that is – is always on the other side of some sort of barrier, so that “we only ever experience it partially, indirectly.

Herbert’s “yes” to divinity, to between his mother’s faith and his the same time he gently satirises the presence of God, has been father’s skepticism. the self as essentially self-centered replaced in many parts of the So Frost wants to have it both ways. and therefore devoid of meaning. world by our “no.” The result is an There’s something teasing about his Which only leaves us with that increasing polarity between religious poetry: an unwillingness to come nebulous something. In this poem, as fundamentalism on one hand and out and make a definite statement, elsewhere, Frost refuses to drift into an increasingly strident, dogmatic a dislike of certainties – religious and metaphysics – into speculating about secularism on the other. In modern secular. He once wrote in a letter, God or no-God. He knows that when liberal democracies many people “I had had a lover’s quarrel with the we do that, we lose our grip on direct believe there is no meaning, or else world.” He meant a quarrel between experience and get tangled up in that the only meaning is to be found affirmation and denial. His poem “For reified abstractions. in me – in my family, my money, my Once, Then, Something,” for instance, When I first started reading Frost I career. In a world without meaning is about someone looking into a well wasn’t especially impressed. Homely the obvious thing to do is to have as and seeing only his own reflection – narratives about repairing fences or much fun as possible before the lights “Looking out of a wreath of fern and swinging from birch trees didn’t seem go out. cloud puffs.” especially poetic or even meaningful. Frost was born in 1874, and so grew The poem is about how, when we But as I read, the poems seemed up at a time of increasing religious look at life, what we see is our own to mean all sorts of things – even doubt. The old theistic certainties egotism reflected back at us. In the contradictory things – at the same were dying, and God was leaving the poem, this reflection is “godlike,” time, like figures in a dream. On one world. Frost’s mother, Belle, was a i.e. inherently inflated and self- level Frost’s poems are apple-pie devout Scottish immigrant. His father dramatizing, a church ceiling from stories of rural New Hampshire; on William – a hard-drinking, volatile which a bearded creator gazes down another they are about everything. disciplinarian – was a skeptic. William through swirls of musical angels and They manage to be both specific and Frost died of tuberculosis when sun-struck cloud. But then, one day universal – “like some valley cheese, Robert was 11, leaving his wife and he seems to see “beyond the picture,/ local, but prized everywhere,” as W.H. children almost destitute. After the Through the picture, a something Auden put it. funeral was paid for, Belle had just white, uncertain,/something more of Frost’s poems are about living in the eight dollars left in the bank. depths…” world, about doing stuff. He was not In later years Frost described But then it’s gone. The poem ends: a religious poet, and yet he wouldn’t his religious journey as starting What was that whiteness? repudiate religion. He wouldn’t say with Presbyterianism, then moving Truth? A pebble of quartz? For ‘“no” outright to the idea of divinity, on via Unitarianism to following once, then, something. even while he couldn’t quite say “yes.” Swedenborg, and finally to nothing. The poem refuses to commit. Was He knew that in writing a poem you And yet a good friend in Frost’s last it “Truth” he saw, or nothing but “A can discover meanings you didn’t decades said that the poet “liked pebble of quartz?” All Frost can affirm know you were capable of. He knows to play down his religious sense of is his experience that for once there you can find a meaning that, as he things.” His poetry, throughout his was something. He can’t believe in career, maintained a difficult balance the certainties of God and yet at - Divinity, continued on page 8

aryaloka.org page 7 - Divinity, continued from page 7 in Robert Frost: A Life. There’s even a wrote in the preface I’ve quoted at be divined for Herbert. It is uncanny, wonderful poem called “West-Running the top of this article, “it might seem occult, mysteriously hidden inside all Brook,” that metaphorically explores absurd to have had in advance, but it our actions including our thoughts. just that. would be all right to accept from fate It is not the man or woman who sits The sense that the source of after the fact.” down to write. meaning is neither impersonal and When I interviewed the poet Glyn For Herbert, then, the source of supernatural (God) or intimate and Maxwell for a poetryEast event at the truth, beauty and goodness is from psychological (me) but that somehow London Buddhist Centre he told me above: God. For Frost, meaning is transcends those distinctions, seems his poems were more religious than discovered below or beyond the highly evocative and intuitively right. he was. The same could be said about poets’ everyday sense of themselves. The notion that my motivations lie Frost. Both these metaphors are on to outside or beyond or below my One notebook entry of Frost’s something, but neither should be everyday consciousness chimes with reads, “There is such a thing as taken literally. One of the reasons my experience. sincerity. It is hard to define but it is that Frost won’t deny the religious Of course I’m aware that for probably nothing but your highest sense must be because the meaning Buddhism there’s no such thing liveliness escaping from a succession he discovered in writing a poem as a really existing self or soul. But of dead selves.” This gets to the heart seemed inherent – a meaning he had my experience is that there is such of Frost’s poetry: “highest liveliness” is uncovered, not a meaning he had a thing as inherent meaning. This only achieved by the sloughing off a constructed. meaning feels both intimate and “succession of dead selves.” Frost’s poetry struggles again and personal, and, at the same time, For Frost the self is something again with the question: do we or do universal, as if there is a kind of our understanding never fully we not live in a meaningful universe? consciousness in which the personal apprehends. The real self – whatever Many of his greatest poems portray and the universal are no longer at that is – is always on the other side of the human being as a meaning- making machine in the midst of a odds.

Largely what I experience in my life is a “succession of dead selves:” the things I think I know, the stories I tell myself, the postures I adopt.

“ meaningless universe: Being a Buddhist seems to me to be some sort of barrier, so that we only a way of getting closer to the meaning ever experience it partially, indirectly. He thought he kept the universe my life is trying to live out, its deeper The “highest liveliness.” which for alone; pattern. This meaning has nothing Herbert would have been God, is For all the voice in answer he much to do with my likes and dislikes, for Frost buried deep within oneself, could wake my ideas about who I am. And yet I inaccessible, but refracted, hinted at Was but the mocking echo of see hints of it everywhere especially in a million details of life. his own when I’m on retreat and my senses Frost felt that in writing poetry the From some tree – hidden cliff are less city-fatigued and screen- poet is given access to “the real, the across the lake. blind. At those moments I can see, deepest and sincerest bias of his —”The Most of It” by Robert Frost in some half-conscious way, that I’ve will: the divinity shaping his ends,” But this is not the whole story. Frost been groping toward some “divinity as wrote Mark Richardson in Frost’s believed that “religion and science, shaping my ends,” as if I had been Poetics of Control. It is in this sense including scientific theories such as building better than I knew. that a poet “builds better than he Darwin’s evolution, were two different For much of our lives we are knows.” This sincerest self has to be metaphorical ways of perceiving the groping our way quite blindly, divined, just as the will of God had to same reality,” according to Jay Parini

page 8 aryaloka.org following hunches that may be intrinsic to what I’m calling our deeper pattern, or merely adventitious. Initially I trained as a nurse in Coventry. I thought I wanted to help people. But I left nursing to go to art school. On my first day of life drawing, I remember feeling that, finally, my life was on track. Later, when I arrived at the London Buddhist Centre on my bicycle, the sense of divinity was stronger than ever. Before the teacher finished introducing the meditation, I knew I was a Buddhist and always had been. The Robert Frost Farm is located in Derry, NH, and was home to Years later I started writing poetry. the poet Robert Frost and his family from 1900-1911. Looking back, it’s as though the Photo by Susan DiPietro meaning my life is wanting to live out – a meaning “it might seem absurd meaningful that wants, indeed needs, authentic, sincere self; a self which to have had in advance” – might be to be said. Frost wrote, “The person is not, paradoxically, myself – a self something to do with beauty and the who gets close to poetry, he is going that is always on the other side of desire to help people. But as in poetry to know more about the word belief a divide, below or beyond the habit so in life: it’s never helpful to be too than anybody else knows, even in of being me. That deeper self has conscious about the deeper mythic religion nowadays.” He talks about a to be discovered, winnowed from pattern of one’s life. As Frost put it, “A “literary-belief,” for instance, where a succession of dead selves. And poet doesn’t want to know too much, the writer has to trust in the “thing-to- sometimes when I write a poem or not while he’s writing anyway. The come, which is more felt than known.’’ meditate or talk to a friend or simply knowing can come later.” (Parini in (Parini in Robert Frost: A Life) look at a row of trees I seem to find Robert Frost: A Life). Meaning begins with a hunch, a a – what? – a “sincerest self” (as Frost This sense that our life is trying kind of gut instinct; it needs to be would have it), “some divinity shaping to express some deeper meaning – translated into words and concepts, my ends?” Neither is quite right. I can expressed even in apparently trivial into something you can say. But only say it is something. But when I matters – a meaning we can only something is always lost in translation. try to appropriate that something, it’s half-grasp and even then only after Perhaps the best translation of our already gone. the event, is not something I can wordless sense of meaning is poetry, prove or even point at. It’s a sense. because poetry (at its rare best) Maitreyabandhu lives and works And of course we often get this sense points beyond words. Largely what I at the London Buddhist Centre and mixed up with other more everyday experience in my life is a “succession has been ordained into the Triratna hunches, hints and urges – romantic of dead selves:” the things I think I Buddhist Order for 26 years. He has day-dreaming, fame fantasies, fate. It’s know, the stories I tell myself, the written three books on Buddhism not that. For most of us, the work is to postures I adopt. And when it comes (Windhorse Publications) including distinguish, intuitively, between “some to writing poetry, it’s hard to know if the best-selling Life with Full divinity shaping our ends” and the I’m Frankenstein trying to animate a Attention: A Practical Course in imposter, the poseur, the succession dead self or if I’m in touch with – I’m Mindfulness. His debut collection of of dead selves. tempted to say channelling – some poetry, The Crumb Road (Bloodaxe To grasp what Frost is getting divinity. Books) is a Poetry Book Society at when he talks of “some divinity What has all this got to do with Recommendation. His new collection shaping our ends” requires a kind of confidence, mine or other people’s? Yarn was published in 2015. faith. One has to take it suggestively. Well, Frost gives me faith that mostly Even the writing of poetry requires what I experience is a succession Editor’s note: This article was faith. You have to have faith that of dead selves that can’t be trusted, published in the Autumn 2016 the sentence-sound that’s just aren’t worthy of confidence – dead edition of The London Buddhist, the come into your head or the sight selves that mislead: over-used publication of the London Buddhist of people standing on a platform narratives, sob stories, practised Centre and is reprinted here with contains something mysterious and opinions. He gives me faith that their permission. sometimes I can discover a more

aryaloka.org page 9 The Dance of the Dharma

Spiritual Receptivity, Rebirth and Spontaneous Compassionate Response

page 10 aryaloka.org By Dh. Lilasiddhi attached to a view about politics, not just for their usefulness to us. medicine or food choices, we feel We must listen and look deeply, The last two stages personally attacked when someone creatively. We take in the whole of the Triratna Path of offers a different opinion. We then person, not just the last irritating thing Practice are identified as feel driven to defend our opinions we think they said. We recall their “Spiritual Rebirth,” also and sense of self. This is suffering. circumstances, needs, fears, pain, joys known as “Experiencing But if, at such times, we recall and generosities. We are receptive to Freedom,” and “Spiritual Receptivity,” teachings of non-self – spiritual beauty, pain and impermanence in all also known as “No More Effort.” These death – we remember there is really beings, experiences and things – all stages are the fruits of the earlier no self to defend, no right or wrong with a wide-open mind and heart. We three stages: (1) “Integration” or view. They are all just words and imagine the potential of Buddhahood “Developing Peace;” (2) “Developing concepts. Breathing this in, we free in everyone we meet. Positive Emotion” or “Happiness;” and ourselves from the claws of a fixed Receptivity requires loosening our (3) “Spiritual Death” or “Developing self-view and return to fearlessness sense of self, acknowledging that Understanding and Wisdom.” and equanimity. We are reborn in this there is no fixed me. We are just a These five stages, each with its moment and the next; each moment loose community of skandas, unfixed, recommended meditation forms, offering a new possibility for freedom interacting among ourselves and usually are described in a linear and joy. with the internal and external worlds, sequence that we can see over the To use the Buddha’s teachings without input from our conscious arc of a dedicated spiritual career. We in this dance of spiritual evolution, mind. Our swirling thoughts, come to a Buddhist center, attend we must first be receptive to the emotions, reactions and behaviors classes and increase our focus on the teachings. We must study the shoot off in all directions, interacting Dharma – integration. As we develop Dharma, reflect on and discuss with the same stuff from others who spiritual friendships, we cultivate the teachings with others. If we do are neither separate from nor other a more open heart and happiness this regularly and consistently, the than ourselves. – positive emotion. Eventually, we lessons and practices are more easily Open and receptive, we can admit experience the deeper teachings of accessible in the midst of suffering. that, really, “I don’t know anything for the Dharma such as non-fixed self – Recalling the Buddha, Dharma and sure. I don’t have anything forever. spiritual death. This inevitably yields Sangha frequently during the day And I sure don’t understand the the sweet fruits of the practice – a keeps the teachings on ready alert workings of the universe.” Receptive freer, more open, relaxed self view, to be called upon when needed. We to these truths passed to us by that includes care and concern for all simply need to be open to their loving Padmasambhava, we feel relief. There other beings – spiritual rebirth. promise to transform our mental is freedom in this humility. We are The path flowers into spontaneous states, soften our hearts and enable free from the relentless busyness compassionate action – spiritual us to live without fear. When we feel of doing, fixing and achieving. Why receptivity. At this stage, we are free in the Dharma, non-selective not then opt for positivity, for the enlightened and awake to the compassion is our spontaneous play. freedom the Buddha promises, and reality of life. There is no more Receptivity, rebirth into positivity for the practices he says will lead us effort. Rather, there is only pure, and compassionate response to the to freedom? immediate, compassionate response needs of all beings are the dance of Whether or not we always believe to the needs of beings as inspired the Dharma. that enlightenment is possible, that by the archetypes of the Buddhas, non-self (anatta) is true, or that Bodhisattvas and Enlightened Beings. Spiritual receptivity – what is it and there is a supra-personal force To them such response is all-play-all- how do we develop it? (Dharma Niyama) guiding our spiritual day for the benefit of all beings. Spiritual receptivity begins with evolution, doesn’t matter. We take However in the rough and tumble mindfulness of our body, speech the teachings on as skillful means. We Spiritual Receptivity, Rebirth and of everyday life, things are not so and mind, being aware of the suspend disbelief as we do when we linear. The stages overlap and interact messages we receive from these read a novel or watch a movie. We Spontaneous Compassionate Response as, two steps forward and one sources throughout the day. We let the teachings wash over us, warm step back, we evolve toward peace need to recognize negative and our hearts and relieve our fears. We of mind, freedom from suffering, positive feelings (vedana); the wafts act as if there is a built-in tendency to universal compassion, wisdom and of envy, irritation, joy, goodwill enlightenment, as if there is a force joy. When we are irritated or angry, if and contentment that propel our such as the Dharma Niyama drawing we mindfully recall the teachings of thoughts, emotions and behaviors. us toward the perfect union of patience and compassion, we reenter We must be receptive to all things wisdom and love. We assume that the the realm of positive emotion. When and people for their own sake, - Dharma continued on page 12

aryaloka.org page 11 - Dharma continued from page 11 Buddha was right. We surrender to his mysterious promise that is beyond the reach of our reason. We adopt a faithful attitude. Faith is useful. Belief, in the sense of affirming unprovable doctrine, is unnecessary. Ratnaghosa, a Triratna order member, in a talk on creative listening, describes the development of faith this way: Our faith in the Dharma is... initially an intuition, there is a response in us, something resonates with our experience. It feels true. Later, after some practice, we know that it works from our own experience. And

We are all struggling with the human condition, interacting, influencing and conditioning each other, all for the sake of good, if we choose. If not, not.

reap the rewards! stories. We recognize them as mere reasoning from this, we can deduce “ concepts, views and words, restricted that even more is possible. Just sitting meditation by the limits of human reason, What have we got to lose? The meditation practice associated incapable of explaining the whole Eventually the Dharma proves itself with spiritual receptivity is “just truth. They no longer hold us, and we to all who practice diligently with sitting.” After each sit of structured are free from attachment. There is an open heart and mind. As we practice, be it Mindfulness of only the experience of awareness. receive the teachings into our hearts, Breathing, the Brahma Viharas, the boundaries of self loosen. We Buddhanusati (contemplation of the Spiritual rebirth into freedom and recognize we are not separate from Buddha) or Sadhana (visualization), compassion all others. We are all struggling with we just sit to absorb the effects of the We can be reborn every day, the human condition, interacting, practice. In this form of receptivity, we every moment, if we have received influencing and conditioning each yield to the effects of the meditation, the teachings and developed faith other, all for the sake of good, if we inviting and allowing them to and confidence in their efficacy. We choose. If not, not. transform us. keep them near to heart and mind We fear less. We drop our defensive We simply attend to whatever throughout our day. We call on need to protect this separate self, arises. Pleasant or painful, we don’t them to relieve our suffering and the who never really was, who has been turn away. We open to it all – anxiety, suffering of others. When contact anxiously competing so long for ill will, joy, contentment, fear, anger. It occurs and vedana arises, if we let status, recognition, achievement and can be scary, terrifying or even boring. it, habitual reactivity will take over love. We instead fall in love with the We turn toward the feeling with kindly and push us to unskillful reactions. Dharma. We entrust ourselves to its acceptance. We feel experiences in However, in that merciful gap promises. We say and grow into, “I our bodies. Eventually (I am told!), the between stimulus and our response, entrust myself to the Buddha, the mind no longer identifies with the we can choose compassion, recall Dharma and the Sangha.” May we content of thoughts, emotions and impermanence, or remember there

page 12 aryaloka.org With repetition, the neural path to skillful responses gets wider, stronger and more accessible every time we use it. Exercise it, and spiritual rebirth is always at hand.

“is no fixed self to protect or defend. Spontaneous compassionate We recall a teaching, open our hearts activity and minds, and are receptive to its Our daily experiences of spiritual influence. receptivity and spiritual rebirth have We then can be reborn out of a cumulative and purifying effect. The craving, aversion or ignorance. These more we recall the teachings, open opportunities for rebirth arise all the our hearts and minds and respond time. That’s why we must develop with compassion to whatever arises, mindfulness of mental states. The the less room we have for greed, ill more we are mindful of contact and will and delusion and their unskillful the development of vedana – the products. more we reach for the teachings In the formal linear presentation of the Dharma, receive its positive of the Triratna Path of Practice, our influence and exercise skillful Dharmic evolution proceeds through responses – the stronger that neural the four stages of integration, positive circuit becomes. As neurobiologists emotion, spiritual death and spiritual often say, “Neurons that fire together, rebirth. Our spiritual evolution wire together.” With repetition, the then flowers in the fifth stage of neural path to skillful responses gets spiritual receptivity and spontaneous wider, stronger and more accessible compassionate response to all that is, every time we use it. Exercise it, and in worlds seen and unseen. spiritual rebirth is always at hand. Spiritual receptivity becomes a Maitrayabandhu in his book, spontaneous response with no Lilasiddhi began her Buddhist The Journey and the Guide, defines intervention of will or effort. Over the studies in 2004 and was ordained rebirth as the moment when wisdom arc of a dedicated spiritual career, into the Triratna Buddhist Order becomes compassion. When we these stages are evident. But here, in in Spain in 2012. She teaches become aware of the conditions day to day samsara, with our noses introductory Buddhism and mitra in any experience, when we see pressed between the calendar and classes, leads workshops and wisely without the filters of greed, to-do list, we navigate this journey in co-leads Noble Silence retreats ill will or delusion, when we reach our own messy way with humiliating at Ayraloka Buddhist Center. Her for the inspiration of the Dharma, backslides and experiences of personal practice emphasizes compassion spontaneously arises. energizing inspiration. study and meditation. Her Our hearts and minds shed the hard No matter. Conditioned co- Buddhist name – Lilasiddhi – tortoise shell of self. We reach out to production, the core teaching of the means “spiritual and mundane others, knowing there are no others. Buddha, teaches us that every effort accomplishment through play.” Our hearts get lighter. There is joy. to move toward the Dharma, to She relishes the idea that relief We are reborn and get a glimpse of a respond to the world with love, has from suffering, joy, freedom and purer land. a positive result. All we have to do happiness are all available on the is keep on keeping on, and we shall Buddhist path. arrive, refreshed and awakened.

aryaloka.org page 13 sangha notes Keeping Sangha Connected collection of poetry illuminating her practice and history. Tom Gaillard and ARYALOKA SANGHA (NEWMARKET, NH) journey into Buddhism. Vidhuma Barry Timmerman led a study of the gave a reprise of his popular lecture, Four Foundations of Mindfulness to Retreats “Mindfulness and Health.” enhance the application of mindful- The theme for Aryaloka’s summer ness off the cushion. Arjava led “No retreats was stillness. Retreatants Sangha Picnic Self, No Problem,” a series of discus- joined Amala for five days for various More than 30 Sangha members sions aimed at letting go of ego and meditations and introspection in July. (and several dogs) braved a sunny boosting our compassion. Bodhana, Karunasara and Lilasid- August afternoon and gathered for — Peter Ingraham dhi led the 10-day “Intensive Noble the annual Sangha Picnic on the Silence” retreat, and Lilasiddhi and back lawn of Aryaloka. As always Sunada led a three-day “Introduction there were copious amounts of food, to Noble Silence.” In both retreats, including some vegetarian burgers, participants dived into literal and the recipe for which Elizabeth Hellard spiritual silence. Khemavassika led worked on for weeks. Those in “Silence and Stillness,” a one-day re- attendance walked barefoot in the treat for people building a meditation grass or lolled on the hillside talking practice. about the Dharma and the Red Sox. As often happens, many of our well- Special Events fed Sangha members took home Kavyadrishti had a busy summer! leftovers. She led a series of “Summer Evenings on the Porch with a Poem” Friends’ Night where participants shared and During the Friends’ Night late sum- meditated upon Buddhist poetry. mer series, Elizabeth Hellard led our Aryaloka hosted a book launch for introductory sessions on Buddhist Kavyadrishti’s Becoming a Buddhist, a ethics, meditation, wisdom, devotional

Lilasiddhi, Ralph Phipps, Wally Stevens and Paul Dupre relax on the back lawn of Aryaloka after a delicious PORTSMOUTH BUDDHIST CENTER meal during the Sangha Picnic. (PORTSMOUTH, NH)

A new sign welcomes friends and Sangha members at the Portsmouth Buddhist Center. The Portsmouth Buddhist Center welcoming two more women mitras in is on a mission to become a more the fall. visible, impactful member of our local Our Sunday morning community community and of Triratna on the gatherings this summer brought quite New Hampshire seacoast. A big step a few new faces into the center, espe- in that direction is a new sign over cially with the series on ethics, medi- our center door on Pleasant Street tation and wisdom led by Rijupatha. In in Portsmouth, NH. It is based on a late August and September, Viriyagita logo design by Rijupatha and made led a Sunday series on the Three Jew- possible by the generosity of Suzanne els with support from Bettye Pruitt. Woodland. We thank both of them for We also have had a couple of their contributions. successful and fun Meditation & We had a mitra ceremony in July Art events hosted by Narottama celebrating the commitment of and friends at the Button Factory in Camilla (Patience) Lendefield, our Portsmouth. One of these workshops, newest mitra. We look forward to co-hosted by Patience, took place page 14 aryaloka.org sangha notes NAGALOKA SANGHA CONCORD & BERLIN SANGHAS (PORTLAND, ME) (CONCORD, BERLIN, NH)

Dharmasuri, the Nagaloka Center Attendance continues to be strong Chair, took the summer off from her at both the Concord State Prison center responsibilities for a month- for Men weekly Saturday meditation long trip to the UK for Triratna, a visit group and Thursday study group. A with our dear friend Maitrimani and a four-week meditation course held this solitary retreat. A big thank-you goes summer was well attended by new- to Janet Miles, Tom Handel and Matt comers interested in learning about Holden for coming forward to keep meditation. The more experienced our regular scheduled meditation and meditators offered support and Dharma bite sessions going. We also suggestions on how to meditate in a appreciate visitors like Khemavassika, noisy, stressful environment, and how Narottama and others who periodi- to set up a meditation space given the cally help support our small center. limited personal space available. Dharmasuri attended the Interna- The men have taken on projects to tional Council meeting at Adhistha- support others interested in learning na – representing the movement about Buddhism. They have created (centers) for North America – and the a brochure that gives an overview of Mixed and Women’s Order Conven- Amala (right) and Dharmasuri (center) Buddhist philosophy. They have gen- tions. had a chance to visit with Maitrimani erated a list of suggested books that Continuing on with what she started during their recent travels to the United they have found helpful, and created in July, Dharmasuri begins a new Kingdom. Photo by Dharmasuri a list of resources for obtaining books session on the mitra's Foundation and taking correspondence medita- Year in September. Narottama and tion courses. Khemavassika will lead a mitra study help fund a visiting order member for The Sangha at the Berlin, NH, State session on the third Saturday of every our Sangha. We are seeking an order Prison for Men meets monthly with month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.. Mitras member in residence for a period of Satyada and other volunteers from from New Hampshire are welcome to three to four months during this com- the Khanti Outreach Kula. A summer attend. ing winter. Please contact Dharmasuri retreat offered men the opportunity Nagaloka has been honored with a at [email protected] for more to spend an entire day together to financial award from the Growth Fund details. meditate and study the Dharma. It offered by Triratna Development to — Dh. Dharmasuri included a walking meditation in the courtyard. In reflections afterward, men commented on the change in footing on uneven ground, smells of over Labor Day weekend, with the tion as an acupuncturist and herbalist wet grass in the shade and feelings of theme of “Mythology and Human- in September. Sadhu, Viriyalila! She is coolness and warmth as they moved kind.” The artwork produced included leading a six-week Sunday morning from shade to sun, all of which helped both individual pieces and a group series through October on mind and participants stay mindful and present creation. Keep an eye on our blog and mental events. If you’re based in the in the moment. Participants studied Facebook page for future workshops. Seacoast, you will not want to miss and discussed the five spiritual facul- In September, we celebrated the this. ties: faith, effort, mindfulness, concen- return to our program of two favorite Thanks to Laura Horwood-Benton tration and wisdom. teachers. Suddhayu led our Thursday our entire fall/winter program is beau- If you are interested in visiting one evening beginners’ meditation course, tifully designed and is now available of the facilities or attending a retreat, “Mindfulness and the Buddha.” Start- as a PDF online at TheBuddhistCen- please contact Satyada or Khema- ing in October, he will lead a begin- tre.com/Portsmouth. vassika at Aryaloka. They have been ners’ Buddhism course: “Medicine for — Bettye Pruitt long-time Khanti Outreach volunteers the Heart and Mind.” and can give you more information on We also welcome back Viriyalila who becoming a volunteer or attending a completed her training and certifica- retreat as a one-time guest visitor. — Susan DiPietro

aryaloka.org page 15 sangha notes

TRIRATNA VANCOUVER SAN FRANCISCO SANGHA (VANCOUVER, BC) (SAN FRANCISCO, CA)

Our Triratna Vancouver Sangha The San Francisco Buddhist Center Paramabodhi. Retreatants brought settled into our new home with an concluded Buddhist Action Month personal objects with them to the open house event in June. We said by distributing food to those in need. retreat, and worked with mindful- goodbye and thanked our generous Sangha members bought bread, pea- ness of the body, the breath and our landlords of our old center. We began nut butter, jelly, fruit, string cheese, chosen objects. This included drawing with blessings from our Indigenous and cookies, and then prepared over our objects and reflecting upon them neighbors from the Squamish nation, 100 lunches. A small group walked and their significance in our lives. and we had Sangha visitors from the the streets surrounding the Center One retreatant became familiar with Indian Buddhist Society. handing them out. Participants re- a tube of (expired) toothpaste during Our mitra numbers continue to ported being amazed at the number the course of the day. grow. Just prior to our open house, of homeless people they encoun- The Core Sangha retreat took place we had a ceremony welcoming four tered, homeless people whom they in September at “The Land” (our new mitras: Farrel Janell, Stephen normally don’t see. They came away property) in Lake County. There were Flach, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo and inspired to make the most of this fires in parts of California again this Dani Francis. precious opportunity. summer, but Lake County had been Our Center's activities have grown. The sangha also followed Buddhist unaffected so far. The retreat was Our weekly events include meditation Action Month with a series of Sangha called "Death and the Only Beauty sits and Dharma talks almost every Night offerings on meditation. The that Lasts." Siddhisambhava, who was day except Tuesdays and Saturdays. series complemented the four-month visiting from Wales, offered a rare Over the summer, we continued to training focusing on meditation that opportunity to explore this inevita- build unity with Triratna worldwide started this summer. The course ble and mysterious feature of our Sangha members. We had order included instruction, study, discussion lives and find ways to relate to it in members as guest speakers, including and reflection, and was divided into a healthy way. Sangha night events Nagapriya from Mexico and Padmad- four 4-week modules that will be re- and a day retreat were offered on the hara from England, giving inspiring peated throughout the year. Students same theme. Dharma talks. Our Buddhist friend can take them all in one go, or spread We offer a short guest post from Tuere Sala from Seattle spoke about them out. Hridayashri who attended the July 4th social justice, change and the Dhar- The week-long July retreat at Jikoji Young Sangha retreat in Lake County: ma. with Paramananda engaged retreat- “In early July our young Sangha We also have something to share ants on multiple levels. One attendee group held its first retreat up at from Jan Strockl, who is in training for described many opportunities to the SFBC property in Lake County. ordination. He toured several Triratna meditate and listen to Paramanan- It was a way of connecting differ- centers in the United Kingdom and da's unique way of teaching through ently by being together in a new Ireland, and put together a visual pre- poetry; take naps in the afternoon; setting and context. We enjoyed sentation to entice us to travel and swim in or sit by the pond; and enjoy meditating outside, going for walks, meet new Sangha friends. the beauty of Jikoji. and dipping our feet in the kiddie Our women Sangha members have Also this summer, the Center of- pool (it was pretty warm out). It was begun to meet, and we participated fered a day retreat featuring medita- wonderful to be able to deepen our in a Green Tara puja celebrating the tion and drawing called "Still Life, Still- connection as a group in that way.” Dharma with our music and voice ness, and the Archeology of Self" with — Mary Salome — Paramita Banerjee

Yes, you are all trying to develop, but you area also trying to develop together. page“ 16 aryaloka.org sangha notes

NEW YORK SANGHA BOSTON SANGHA (NEW YORK CITY, NY) (BOSTON, MA)

This summer, we had a wonderful The Boston Sangha is pleased to day has progressed I’ve been thinking six-week series of Sangha night teach- welcome another mitra! Lisa Lassner about what that means. ings on “The Beauty of Connected- joined our ever-widening circle this “Sanghas (and other spiritual ness and its Challenges” by Samayasri past spring. We are a small Sangha, communities), families and friendship and Vajramati. We explored Dharma and this was our first mitra ceremo- circles are formed partially so we teachings on interconnection and ny held in Boston. So many Sangha have people who can show up for us. separation, how we are inherently members, who otherwise might not This is incredibly important when you connected and how greater aware- have had the chance, were able to are going through something tough. ness of this can change our lives. We attend and participate. These people, your support network, looked at the feelings of content that Lisa shared some of her thoughts, give their attention to you in the form can arise from connectedness, and a wonderfully poignant reflection on of listening, in the form of aid, in the how the digital world can make us spiritual friendship, and the idea of form of touch and kindness. But only more connected than ever before as “showing up” for each other: showing up for the hard parts means well as give rise to feelings of being “This weekend I had my mitra cere- seeing only a small window of your disconnected. mony. It brought up a lot of discom- life. Also this summer, Savanna Luraschi fort. The reason is that I was getting “Weddings, graduations, birthday led a six-week Sangha night series ‘mitrafied’ by myself. This meant that parties – these sorts of events aren’t on “Fierce Compassion: Exploring the our meditation, short puja and the just social occasions. And in the best Seven-Point Mind Training.” Through ceremony were all for my sake and relationships we show up for these discussion and creative exercises, we that felt, well, very uncomfortable. activities not just out of duty, but be- reviewed the lojong teachings, mind “I’m the kind of person who is cause we genuinely want to ‘show up’ training practices and contemplations sometimes dramatic and seizes the for this person; to engage in whatever from 11th century Tibet. The 59 aph- spotlight. I am happy to perform, but part of their life they are willing to orisms of the training can be provoc- for some reason, being singled out share with us. That kind of connection ative, pithy, mysterious, and at times, is really hard for me. The ceremony is precious, and having those win- quite humorous. They are designed was done in the round, so people dows open to us is an honor. to directly challenge the deluded were looking at me while I was being “Although being the center of mind and crack open the defended talked about. It felt kind, but I also had attention was hard for me on Sun- heart. As always, Savanna brought her a feeling of aversion, of desperately day, I now understand why we have exceptional wisdom and creativity to wanting a crowd to hide in. these ceremonies and why the others the teachings. “Then the ceremony happened, and stayed for it.” We look forward to our annual afterward I got hugs and kind wishes. May we all find joy and comfort in Fire Island retreat with Kamalashila Most profound was people telling me Sangha like Lisa clearly has. Saddhu October 14-16 and to visits in Octo- it was an honor for them to attend. Lisa! ber from Nagabodhi and Kamalashila, Today that sunk in – that because I — Dh. Sunada both order members from the United did my ceremony with my Sangha, Kingdom. If you are in New York City instead of on retreat, I was able to on a Tuesday night, you are welcome let them show up for me. And as the to join us. — Gary Baker

Not only that, you are also helping one another to develop. ― Sangharakshita, What is The Sangha? The Nature of Spiritual Community

aryaloka.org page 17 sangha notes

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SANGHA (MISSOULA, MT)

It is such a blessing to live in a place that has such easily accessi- ble, nature-inspired things to do. Yellowstone and Glacier Parks are a fairly short drive away along with more backpack and hiking opportu- nities than one person could do in a lifetime. Many of our Sangha friends enjoy doing these activities together. We continue to hold mitra study classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, open Sangha night every Wednesday and a practice day once a month. We have added Monday morning med- itation with the possibility of adding more mornings a week. Seattle, Vancouver and Missoula Samatara (center) was ordained in held their annual Sun Lakes Retreat possible by many amazingly generous Spain on a three-month ordination September 22-25 in Central Washing- people who supported me in many retreat. With her are her private ton. The retreat was led by Amala with ways – spiritually, emotionally, logis- preceptor Padamatara (left) and the theme “Of and Beyond The Six tically and financially. I am forever her public preceptor, Parami. Great Elements.” grateful. Dhammarati, order member from This was the 10th year of the three- the UK, will make his annual visit in month ordinations that have been October. Karunakara was in the UK – held at Akashavana. I must say they spiritual experience and place. his first trip to Adhisthana – on order know how to support and care for For those in the ordination process, conventions and retreats for two you, in all ways, through the process. I highly recommend that you consid- months, and we look forward to him It is a remote center in the mountains er this longer retreat when the time sharing his experiences with us. of Spain that has the most incredible comes. There were 21 women living I returned home in July from my views for miles. The vultures and ibex together for three months in amazing ordination retreat at Akashavana, and other wildlife are constant com- harmony. This would have been near- the women’s retreat center in Spain. panions. It is a magical, mystical and ly impossible without the three order The opportunity to do this was made members on the support team living close by. It was a beautiful way to start my life in the Triratna Buddhist Order. — Dh. Samatara Her new name which means “radiance of equanimity”

Samatara often visited an old homestead as her “go to” spot for contemplation not too far from the retreat center where she was ordained in Spain. Photo by Samatara.

page 18 aryaloka.org sangha connections Conversations with Triratna Order Members Dh. Padmatara: ‘Participating in Padmatara lives in the San Francisco something bigger than me’ Buddhist Center with her dog Rilky.

by Bettye Pruitt

Padmatara spoke from the sitting room in her second-floor apartment in the San Francisco Buddhist Center (SFBC) with her dog Rilky nearby. Her dry, self-deprecating humor makes her down-to-earth reflections on life and practice all the more powerful. You can get a taste of her reflections and humor from her 2008 talk on Free Buddhist Audio: “Ethics and Speech: What am I Trying to Say?”

Connecting with Triratna I’d always known,” she said. “That lographic gift items – the ultimate use- Padmatara (Sheila Bagley) confess- first class I thought I’m going to get or- less item.” The company’s operations es she came around to the Triratna dained, and this is my whole life now. were a mess, and she had to work Buddhist center in Brighton, U.K., to It changed my life, realigned things for hard. Yet, she felt at home in San learn meditation as one more effort me.” Francisco. “It was probably the loneli- in a long line of efforts to stop smok- Having been mildly depressed in est I’d ever been, and I still loved the ing. She was in her early 30s. Born her 20s, she said, “it was the first time place.” AH Prismatic went bankrupt, in Sunderland in the northeast of I’d experienced not being depressed, but by then Sheila had met somebody England, she had come to Brighton or not having that as a background and wanted to stay in the US. She at age 18 to go to university. She was experience. It had a big, big effect needed a visa, so they married. shy and suffered culture shock in the on me. But I did nothing to change At about the same time, Sheila move to Brighton, especially from the my life. I was still going out drinking. found Triratna again through the difficulty people had in understanding I didn’t even give up smoking, as it San Francisco Buddhist Center in the her Sunderland accent. By then, she happened.” winter of 1997-98. Having lost her had changed how she talked and was For a few years she took courses job, she had more time on her hands looking to change some habits she and went on a couple of retreats, and started attending regularly. “I had brought from Sunderland: smok- but did not ask to become a mitra. became a mitra almost right away. I ing, drinking and partying. She laughed: “I didn’t even know who really wanted to have that structure A book on meditation recommend- Sangharakshita was! I was going to to help me. I realized, because of the ed she find a teacher and other peo- Sangha night on and off, but I didn’t long gap, that I really do need Sangha. ple to practice with. “I was reluctant,” tell anyone about it, not even my Otherwise I may think I’m practicing she said, “but then I went to a med- parents. I just had this idea it would but then I turn around and it’s been itation class and fell in love with the be an important part of my life in the weeks since I’ve even thought about whole thing.” She was “a bit dismis- future.” it. That was a big change for me to sive” of anything to do with religion, In 1993, Sheila moved to San say, ‘I am committed to this.’” but Buddhism felt like a good fit. Francisco with the company she was She asked for ordination in 2001. “A lot of people say this, but it was working for: AH Prismatic. “It stood for “When Suvarnaprabha was invited a lot like coming home to something Aging Hippie Prismatic. We sold ho- - Connections continued on page 20

aryaloka.org page 19 sangha connections

- Connections continued from page 19 well, I wouldn’t do anything different. me, which is kind of what we are do- I’d just be doing the same thing. So in ing, isn’t it? Or what we realize more to be ordained, it was the first time I a way it doesn’t matter whether the as we practice.” ever really understood what mudita order is there or not; I will be practic- Recently, Padmatara performed is. She was so happy, and I felt so ing somehow. That thought changed her first ordination as a new private happy for her. So I asked for ordina- things for me.” preceptor. “It took me right back to tion.” Sheila’s marriage ended about Letting go of the outcome a bit, she my own ordination and completely the same time, and she moved to the saw how the process had become “all reinspired me again,” she said. “I San Francisco Buddhist Center into about ordination. It had just seemed hadn’t realized that I needed that. an apartment she shared with Suvar- important that I get ordained: ‘I want I saw that talking about ordination naprabha for the next 12 years. it over with. I don’t intellectually, thinking about it and always want to be in that sort of thing don’t really mean this position.’ Then I that much. . . There’s something just let go of it. And more. It’s like that emotional then I got ordained understanding that Sangharakshita shortly after that.” talks about: it makes sense on a Padmatara went visceral level – a sort of outside of into her ordination time-and-space level – in a way that thinking it was “just when you’re just talking about it, can a personal commit- sound a bit precious, which I don’t ment,” based on “the like. But it was a precious experience.” fact that I was so sure that this was where Current practice: striving to not my life was and this strive was what I wanted “The work I’m doing now, if I could to do with my life.” sum it up,” Padmatara said, “would She liked the idea of be something like trying to include having a ceremony all of my experience and finding the to mark that commit- subtle ways in which I avoid including ment. parts of my experience. It’s very much “But then in the about the body and being aware of private ordination, it experience in and around the body – really was like time kind of unhooking from thinking and stood still. Dayanandi not relying so strongly on that small gave me the pre- part of us that thinks all the time. It’s cepts and gave me just having some trust in the rest of Padmatara took over as center my name. I did actually feel like I was our experience.” director in San Francisco in 2010. part of a long line making that com- It’s not that thinking isn’t useful, mitment, and not just our tradition she said. “We just don’t need to rely particularly. It felt timeless somehow. so heavily on our thinking, on our Experience of ordination So that was really lovely.” ability to work things out and plan and Padmatara received her private or- Her public ordination with three remember and get everything logically dination and her name (which means other women and three men took straight. We can actually rely on some Lotus Star) in 2005 at Vajrapani re- place at the San Francisco Buddhist other kind of awareness. When I am treat center near San Francisco. Center. “It was a huge event, a big able to do that, it’s just amazing.” “I remember thinking it didn’t make kerfuffle,” said Padmatara. When She called up a favorite image of any difference, in a way,” she said, Dayanandi announced her name “all “veils dropping.” She’ll have an experi- and explained, “In the last stages of sorts of people who had come from ence and think, “Oh, right. Then later the ordination process, my precep- all over were cheering. It was very I’ll realize that was just one level, and tor, Dayanandi, suddenly had some un-English. But it made me realize another veil drops away, and I’ll think doubts about me. That was painful that, yes, it was a great experience for ‘Oh, that’s what that means!’” and also quite helpful, because it me, but it wasn’t just about me. I was “The other thing I’m realizing,” she made me think what would I do if participating in something bigger than said, “is that things I thought were a those doubts are right? And I thought, page 20 aryaloka.org Buddha the aryaloka bookstoreworks Your support brightens Aryaloka’s future. Buddhaworks is located at the Aryaloka Buddhist Center

Buddhaworks, Aryaloka’s book You also will find a new selection cotton “Om” scarves in numerous store, has four new book titles: No of pottery by artist Sue Ebbeson colors, neck and wrist skull malas, Mud No Lotus by Thich Nhat Hahn, and other new pottery pieces not “Om Mani Padme Hum” cuff The Dalai Lama’s Cat by David offered before. Cards by artist bracelets, a Green Tara singing Michie, Living with Kindness by Eric Ebbeson are also featured. bowl and metal door mantras Sangharakshita and The Journey Buddhaworks is now selling cards that when placed over your door and The Guide by Maitreyabandu. by Deb Howard from her “Buddha” are said to bless and protect all We have received a large art collection. who pass underneath. donation of books for the used Other items include cotton ― Dh Shantikirika book section, so check them out! meditation shawls in several colors,

technique to get somewhere actually time, before Suvarnaprabha formed something that is important to me.” become just more of a description of her own business. They remained Now she has to push herself to get what’s happening. Somebody quoted roommates at the center until Su- out and meet people not connect- to me the other day that ‘Buddhism varnaprabha’s death from cancer in ed with Triratna. She takes her turn is not proscriptive, it’s descriptive.’ I 2013. teaching all of the center’s introducto- really like that. “We spent an awful lot of time ry classes, mitra study, Sangha nights “For example, I think I should be together,” Padmatara said. “She and retreats. She also takes part in with my experience, but when it starts was probably the main person who the retreats for women in the ordi- to happen, it feels like a natural state. encouraged me with my teaching. I nation process and serves on “lots of It’s not about adding on, trying to be would help her out on retreats and kulas.” a good person or a better person. It’s then learned to do them myself. I She treats the administrative work about finding out who I actually am had to do them when she was sick. as a practice. Should a disagreement through what is my experience, not So in various ways she pushed me or concern arise, she thinks, “What is what my experience should be. I’m to do probably more than I would this pointing to? What is my part in just starting to see more clearly that have done. She was very encourag- this?” it’s not about being a better person, ing and easy going. She was a friend “Some of what I’ve been working it’s about being closer to who we and roommate. We worked together, with recently,” she said, “is how to stay actually are. hung out, taught together. It (her motivated. I’ve relied on anxiety to “I think about Pema Chodron saying death) left a big hole. Around the cen- motivate me in the past, and I’m much she needs to be careful, because the ter every now and then we’ll say why less anxious now. I have to find ways minute she says, ‘We need to be kind is this not happening and then we’ll to get around that.” to ourselves,’ somebody will say, ‘Oh realize – oh, it’s because Suvarnapra- Also, as ever, the shy woman from I’m not kind enough to myself!’ That’s bha isn’t here. Just that big something Sunderland is still strengthening her how we tend to take things. It does missing that was her. She’s always communication skills. When I said take effort to not strive.” very present.” I would reference her talk on Free Being center director is a field of Buddhist Audio, she said, “Ha! I like to The practice of being a center practice in itself, Padmatara said. She think I’m getting better at that talk.” director had naturally wanted to work for the In 2010 Padmatara took over the center, volunteering quite a bit. When job as San Francisco Center director she was laid off from her school from Suvarnaprabha who then be- district job and started to work more came creative director. They worked fulltime, “it finally felt like I was able to closely together in those roles for a have everything I was doing be about

aryaloka.org page 21 from the editors Gaining concentration and focus puts my life in high definition mode

by Mary Schaefer – as the next natural development of I am learning the importance Co-editor, Vajra Bell my meditation. Living with Awareness of consistency and concentration was like reading Breath by Breath. I in my meditation and practice of I recently completed could only sample a couple pages at mindfulness. In some ways, though, reading Sangharakshita’s a time as there was so much to digest working on concentration can be a Living with Awareness and reflect upon. And, like withBreath focus on becoming proficient at a book for the mitra class by Breath, reading this book was itself technique.

Sangharakshita warns of having too narrow a perspective, as well as being too distracted ‘with a tendency to be over-expansive and over-flexible.’

“The Way of Mindfulness” taught by like meditating. With Paramachitta’s “Khemavassika. Studying this book is One passage in particular struck encouragement, I dived into the having a profound impact on not just me right between the eyes and gave Anapanasati Sutta and have been my meditation but on how I bring me a view into myself that was a studying and practicing that approach more of the Dharma off the cushion little uncomfortable. In this passage, for more than three years. I began and into my life. Sangharakshita warns of having too to see, as I went deeper into this I was reminded of the time I met narrow a perspective, as well as being practice, that I didn’t become with Paramachitta, an order member too distracted “with a tendency to be narrower and more confined. who has traveled the world for over-expansive and over-flexible.” He Instead, as I gain concentration and Triratna, at my first retreat for women writes: “The distracted mind tries to focus, my consciousness expands in the ordination process at the escape into one so broad that no one and my mindfulness increases. I’m Chintanami Retreat Centre in Mexico. mind could ever hope to encompass more present and alive, and in those We talked of my meditation practice. it thus avoiding responsibility and moments I feel like I’ve switched to a I told her I was struggling with the commitment.” high definition participation in life. mindfulness of breathing. It had My mind loves to be wild and This book opened the door to become a trying exercise to get creative and explore endless ideas. an even deeper, more refined the form right. She encouraged me That tendency has been a blessing exploration through the Satipatthana instead to just pay attention to and in that it feeds my creative, nonlinear Sutta. When I’m walking, be mindful observe my breath, my thinking, mind, but it also can hamper my I am walking. When I am eating, be my feelings and how they arise and work and life when I find I can’t pick mindful I am eating and so forth. It fall away. That suggestion blew my one or two things to focus on. It’s like helps me to stop (or at least briefly meditation practice wide open. I could trying to listen to three radio stations pause) the incessant chatter of my see that by becoming proficient at at the same time. I was startled to wildly creative and busy mind. Just technique, I was not going to gain think that by not picking an area be here now, really be here now with insight. I was free to go deeper. to go deeper into in my practice, I whatever I am doing. That simple. She suggested that I explore could be “avoiding responsibility and That hard. the Anapanasati Sutta and Larry commitment.” Rosenberg’s book – Breath by Breath

page 22 aryaloka.org from the editors Generosity – a way towards ending my suffering and that of others

by David Watt Yet, as I scanned the email – the This is a lot for me to live up to. Co-editor, Vajra Bell wording of which never changes Luckily for me, there is more to these from month to month – I realized teachings than heroic renunciation. Once a month I that only one person felt grateful According to Shantideva, dana is the receive a form email for this specific donation – me! I was first of theparamitas and it cannot be acknowledging a small somehow, with no real effort, part of neglected as one seeks to practice recurring gift I make to the conditions that gave rise to the the others. Dana is not an edict; it is a a group called Homeboy Industries. wonderful work of this organization. gateway to joy that can be practiced I consider the group’s founder, a The impersonal nature of the in great and small ways. The practice Jesuit priest named Greg Boyle, to be transaction didn’t matter to me. of generosity reminds me of the a living Bodhisattva for his work with As a spiritual practice, generosity purpose of my practice – to end my gang members in Los Angeles. In his has a long, uncomfortable history. In own suffering and that of others. My books and interviews, Father Boyle many traditions, adherents are urged practice doesn’t make a lot of sense evinces realistic compassion, joy, to donate to their church, temple or without it. optimism and humor in the face of mosque. While this custom has surely I know several people who gladly great difficulty. His ideals remind me been abused in some instances, give away one-third of their income of my own father, and indeed I make the act of giving to one’s spiritual or more and make lifestyle choices that donation in my Dad’s memory. community does have merit and can to make this possible. This practice The latest email arrived while we be a transcendent experience. Still, is not some abstemious attempt on were preparing this issue with two my habitual cynicism about religious their part to accumulate merit; rather, articles about generosity. It made institutions and my fear about having it brings them joy. I am inspired that me ponder how oddly we practice enough to meet my needs make this they have to some extent broken the it nowadays. While electronic an uncomfortable topic and inhibit my bonds of grasping and embraced transactions allow organizations to willingness to be generous. the impermanent nature of our operate efficiently, they are stripped The Buddhist traditions can possessions. As my own practice has of human interaction and ritual. seem even more demanding deepened, I am more able and willing No check is written. No envelope than the Christian tithe. In the to be generous toward the Sangha, is addressed. No stamp is affixed. Bodhicaryavatara, Shantideva my family and others with whom I No postal carrier delivers it. No one says, “See, I give up without regret share this life. At the end of the day, cashes a check. No thank you note my bodies, my pleasures, and my there is really nothing I can hold on to is written and signed. The entire good acquired in all three times, and there is sometimes joy in letting transaction is carried out with no to accomplish good for every go of what I do hold onto. human touch or direct expression of being” (from The Bodhicaryavatara, gratitude, only computers giving and translation by Crosby and Skilton, saying thank you to one another. Oxford World Classics, 2008).

Dana is not an edict; it is a gateway to joy that can be practiced in great and small ways.

“ aryaloka.org page 23 board notes spiritual vitality council

by Barry Timmerman by Dh. Khemavassika center. The program for the second The Aryaloka Board of Aryaloka’s Spiritual half of 2016 was reviewed Directors met in August. Vitality Council (SVC) with Shrijnana. We also did We reviewed finances has met monthly preliminary planning for and discussed proposed to discuss a wide order retreats in 2017. Our systems to communi- range of topics conversations continue about cate the financial picture of Aryaloka from identifying order members fostering a regional approach to board members more succinctly interested in teaching classes with other local Triratna sanghas and frequently. The pledge drive went at Aryaloka to how the SVC when feasible. well, exceeding the goal. A special communicates within our group Nagabodhi, the president of thanks to all who pledged for the first and out to the entire sangha. We Aryaloka, visited in September, time and to those who increased their reviewed the policy regarding and succession planning was on pledges. teaching different groups at the the agenda for discussion. The new Friends of Aryaloka pro- gram is about creating more connec- tions among Sangha members and with friends and helping people learn more about Aryaloka. The Friends of Aryaloka subcommittee continues to make improvements to the program, including making laminated name badges and developing a registration form. The Sangha Care initiative is moving along nicely. Rack cards and flyers will be printed, and the interviewing and selection of volunteers is under way. Volunteer training also will be provid- ed. We are refining the description of poetry corner Sangha Care duties, and plan to roll out this project in the next month or two. The board and the Spiritual Vitality A Poem That Came Quickly Council are planning a one-day re- by Kavyadrishti treat to further enhance our skillful- ness in working together. Stay tuned This summer has ended, for further details. as they do. All board minutes are available Did our hearts come as close to opening as the rose, for review on the lower level bulletin who loved so surely it let every petal go? board at Aryaloka. Do not hesitate Did we come close to seeing what waits beyond the fog, to speak with any board member or must we wait, again, to know? about ideas or concerns. As we move forward, there is much vitality and Now is the time to prepare, energy in our thriving center. It is a for by now we argue very little gift to have access to the Dharma and with falling yellow leaves. have such an emphasis on Sangha. And Winter may well again be a time for waiting. Perhaps in Spring a new surprise.

But now summer has ended, and there is more to come.

page 24 aryaloka.org Aryaloka’s Stupa: Your Support Needed to Complete the Project

by Barry Timmerman The stupa contains many sacred objects including relics of Dhardo The Aryaloka stupa Rimpoche, some of his ashes, was completed two mantras written by Triratna Buddhists years ago, and has from all over the world and other been enjoyed by many. symbolic offerings. The stupa’s We are now moving ornamental top was made for forward with plans to complete the Aryaloka in Lhasa, a city in the Tibetan landscaping of the grounds around region of China, along with the grille the stupa, and the Stupa Kula is that is mounted on the east face of raising money for this final phase the stupa that encloses a Buddha of the project. Cost estimates at rupa. this time are around $30,000 for There is a powerful, palpable everything. The fundraising starts energy of compassion that the now, and landscaping work should stupa radiates. Though it may seem begin in the spring. unscientific to some, I do not question Landscape architect Thomas Berger it. It is as real to me as my breath. worked with the kula to create a I invite you to experience it for viable aesthetic vision. The stupa will yourself and join me in paying tribute be embraced in a circular pathway to a person who Sangharakshita with granite benches for sitting and considered a living Bodhisattva and meditating. A graceful path will lead a lineage that connects us directly to from the domes to the grounds. the Buddha. The sloped area above will provide a Moving forward we have enlisted clear view of the stupa and the river the support of sangha members to beyond. A kiosk will provide visitors complete the practical aspects of the with information and attractive project. This includes everything from plantings will show off the stupa while excavators to arranging the purchase blending with the natural woodlands. of plants and coordinating volunteer Energy-efficient lighting will illuminate labor to carry out the necessary work. the steps and path for nighttime Your financial support is needed to meditations. complete this project. Aryaloka‘s stupa began as the Contact Barry Timmerman, dream of Bodhilocana, an order [email protected] or Tom Galliard, [email protected] for member with a strong connection more information about how you can to Dhardo Rimpoche, one of help. Sangharakshita’s main teachers in Kalimpong, India. Bodhilocana died before her vision was realized. However, other women order Drawing of Stupa members formed a Stupa Kula, raised by Eric Ebbesson the needed funds, engaged a Tibetan stone mason and carried out her dream. With contributions of money, time, materials and labor from many Sangha members, the stupa was completed by the fall of 2014.

aryaloka.org page 25 upcoming events

OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER

Mon The Stitchfold Path: 12 Sat Sangha Day 10 Sat Path of Practice: 10 to to Sat ‘Coloring the Buddha’ Led by Festival Team Spontaneous Compas- 05 (Nov) Quilt Show sionate You! Artist: Dh. Akashavanda 13 Sun Deepening Practice Group Led by Dh. Lilasiddhi Led by Dh. Amala and Dh. Khemavassika 17 Sat Ancient Wisdom Study NOVEMBER Day: Images and Arche- Intensive Noble Silence 17 Thu types in the Life and Sat Path of Practice: A Morning to to Retreat Teachings of the Buddha 05 Sun Led by Dh. Bodhana and with the Buddhas 20 Led by Dh. Candradasa Led by Dh. Amala Dh. Karunasara 18 Sun Children’s Sangha Opening Reception: 25 Fri A Day of Simplicity and Led by Alisha Roberts Quilt Exhibit Potluck Lunch Featuring Dh. Akashavanda Led by Dh. Shrijnana Deepening Practice Group Led by Dh. Amala and Wed Sun Drawing Group 30 to Introduction to Meditation Dh. Khemavassika 06 to Led by Eric Ebbeson Wed Led by Dh. Bodhana (Dec) Winter Meditation Retreat 21 23 Fri to to Led by Dh. Suriyadamma Exploring Insight: 08 Tue Hourly Open Meditation 31 Sat and Dh. Sravaniya Led by Sangha Members Advanced Meditation Course Led by Dh. Amala

ongoing events

Friends’ Night at Aryaloka Open Meditation Practice Monday Morning Sessions Every Tuesday evening 7 – 8 a.m. and 8:30 – 10:00 a.m. 6:45 – 9:15 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday Sessions • Led by Dh. Amala and other 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. sangha members. • Open to all Are you looking for more opportu- • Suggested donation $10 per class nities to meditate with others or for • No registration necessary help maintaining a regular meditation practice? Join us on Monday, Tuesday Typically, our Tuesday night activities and Thursday mornings for open With these activities, you include: meditation sessions, followed by time are free to participate • 6:45 – Gathering, tea and an- for discussion. Everyone is welcome or to just sit and listen. nouncements to attend. Some guidance will be Nothing is compulsory. • 7:00 – Meditation and shrine provided for those new to meditation. If you have any questions, room activity The open meditation sessions will not please ask! • 7:45 – Study, discussion or a talk be held when retreats are in session. on the evening’s topic There is no fee for these sessions, but • 9:15 – End donations are appreciated. No registration required.

page 26 aryaloka.org upcoming classes and events

November 23 — December 31 November 30 — December 31 Saturday, December 17 Introduction to Meditation Exploring Insight: Ancient Wisdom Study Day: Wednesday mornings Advanced Meditation Course Images and Archetypes 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Wednesday evenings in the Life and Teachings Led by Dh. Bodhana 7 – 9 p.m. of the Buddha Led by Dh. Amala 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. This four-week course provides a Led by Dh. Candradasa thorough introduction to the funda- On this four-week course we’ll mentals of sitting meditation prac- explore insight meditation: how is it The Bodhi Tree, Lotus flowers, The tice. During the course, two dif- related to and different from calming ferent meditation practices will be Vajracheddika, Vajras. These images taught: the Mindfulness of Breath- and concentration approaches to from the Buddha’s life hold great ing and Meditation on Loving Kind- meditation? We will also explore the symbolic significance. Understanding ness. These are traditional Buddhist Three Lakshanas (“marks”) of imper- their meaning can help us awaken the meditation techniques dating back manence, non-self, and unsatisfacto- spiritual qualities they represent. Join to the time of the Buddha, although riness. Contemplation of the Three Dh. Candradasa for an exploration of one does not need to be a Buddhist Lakshanas loosens our fixed sense key images, symbols, and archetypes or have Buddhist beliefs to practice of reality and opens us up to a more in the life story of the Buddha, as them. fluid sense of ourselves and the world expressed in Ashvaghosas’s Bud- Attention will be given to the ben- around us. Prior experience with dhacarita and other early suttas. We’ll efits of meditation, meditation pos- Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta use meditation, discussion, poetry, ture, and working with difficulties in Bhavana practices is an important and ritual to deeply engage with these meditation. There will be ample op- basis for this class. images. Emphasis will be on the role portunity for questions and answers. of imagination in spiritual practice. This course is suitable for complete newcomers to meditation practice as well as those who have meditated previously but would like a refresher.

upcoming retreats

November 17 — 20 December 23 — 31 Intensive Noble Silence (option for mid-retreat arrival) Retreat Winter Meditation Retreat For more details, such as Led by Dh. Bodhana Led by Dh. Suriyadamma pricing, please visit Dh. Karunasara Dh. Sravaniya aryaloka.org/calendarevents/ This intensive retreat creates an As we enter the depths of winter we atmosphere conducive to extended will use the opportunity of this end of To register for a retreat, day meditation with the fewest external year retreat to do two things: We will event, or a class, please visit distractions. Retreat participants will simply enjoy days of shared stillness, aryaloka.org/programs/ have no responsibilities during their deep silence and meditation, and we registration time here so they can focus com- will quietly reap the benefits this will pletely on their meditation practice. inevitably bring. An emphasis on the collective aspect of practice using the five precepts is woven into the fabric of this retreat. aryaloka.org page 27 generosity Aryaloka’s Pledge Drive: Reflections on Generosity in Action

by Tom Gaillard I’m a mitra but due to my work my old ways of thinking and found schedule I can’t attend classes or new perspectives and meaning in my Aryaloka has even Tuesday nights. So, giving life. Money is a powerfully tangible just completed a my monthly pledge helps me feel thing, and by giving it away through successful annual connected. my pledge I can break my own pledge drive! It’s probably the only community attachment to money and connect Income from this I’ve ever felt really comfortable with, more fully with a cause that I care pledge drive is the bedrock for our and I’d like to see it grow and thrive. deeply about. staffing, programs and retreats. It’s If you belong to something, it ‘just Turning back to our pledge results, been incredibly satisfying to see so seems right’ to pledge. we have impressive numbers to many people step up to financially Talking with sangha members report. Eight new donors raised their support Aryaloka in its mission to made me consider my own reasons hands (and opened their wallets), so spread the Dharma. It is truly an for putting generosity into action. we now have 59 sangha members exercise of generosity in action. As a former Aryaloka treasurer and making monthly or annual pledges. One of the most gratifying long-time pledging member, I found Encouraged by a $5,000 matching things about being involved in the (almost to my surprise) that pledging grant, those already pledging dug a bit pledge drive is that I could come to has become a habit. A good habit, deeper and increased their pledges know the reasons people support perhaps, but even good habits can by nine percent over last year. It all Aryaloka. Perhaps these quotes will become, well, habitual. Habits can added up: total pledges were up a inspire you as much as they did me: come to be routine, even mundane, whopping 24 percent to a grand total I pledge because I consider and mundane things lose their of $55,726! Aryaloka my spiritual home. I energy. They lose their power to Please join me in thanking Elizabeth believe in our mission – to carry motivate and inspire. Our attention Hellard, Daniel Kenney, Jean Corson, the (Dharma) message to anyone may then shift elsewhere toward Alisha Roberts, Amala, Rijupatha, who walks in. I want everyone something more captivating. Barry Timmerman and Arjava for all who walks in to have the same Reflecting on what this form of their work to make this year’s pledge wonderful experience I did. generosity means to me, I found that drive so successful. The median I give out of love – love for the pledging strengthens my connection pledge is just about a dollar a day people of Aryaloka, love for the to the Dharma and, more specifically, or $35 per month, but we welcome Dharma, love for the center and its expression in the Aryaloka sangha. pledges of any amount. If you care all it provides. I’ve been able to deepen my practice about Aryaloka, and would like to join Even though I’m new to and better understand the Buddha’s us, please visit http://www.aryaloka. Aryaloka and still learning, it message by my involvement with org/get-involved/donate-or-pledge to makes me feel good to contribute those I’ve met through Aryaloka. By make your pledge today! to what sustains me. I feel I’m part studying with them, learning from of that power of spreading the them, working with them, even Dharma. disagreeing with them, I’ve challenged

spreading the dharma keeping sangha connected page 28 aryaloka.org vajrabell