...thus we have heard... (may be reproduced free forever) Buddhist Studies Reader Published by: Groundwork Education www.layinggroundwork.org Compiled & Edited by Jeff Wagner Second Edition, May 2018 This work is comprised of articles and excerpts from numerous sources. Groundwork and the editors do not own the material, claim copyright or rights to this material, unless written by one of the editors. This work is distributed as a compilation of educational materials for the sole use as non-commercial educational material for educators. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free to edit and share this work in non-commercial ways. Any published derivative works must credit the original creator and maintain this same Creative Commons license. Please notify us of any derivative works or edits. "53 Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the west, symbolic of the forces that guard the Buddhist Studies Reader wilderness, which is the Natural State of the Dharma and the true path of man on Earth: Published by Groundwork Education, compiled & edited by Jeff Wagner all true paths lead through mountains-- The Practice of Mindfulness by Thích Nhất Hạnh ..................................................1 With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the kali-yuga, fires caused by Like a Leaf, We Have Many Stems by Thích Nhất Hạnh ........................................4 the stupidity of those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is Mindfulness Must Be Engaged by Thích Nhất Hạnh ..............................................4 contained vast and free in the Blue Sky and Green Earth of One Mind; Interbeing by Thích Nhất Hạnh ............................................................................5 Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has food enough for everyone who loves her and trusts her; Looking Deeply by Thích Nhất Hạnh .....................................................................5 Turn Your Thinking Upside Down by Pema Chödrön ...........................................6 Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs, smashing the worms of capitalism and totalitarianism; Pema Chödrön shares practical, grounded advice: how to move forward on a spiritual path as an imperfect person living in a complex and difficult world. Indicating the task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses, canned foods, universities, and shoes, master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; Beginning Anew by Thích Nhất Hạnh ...................................................................9 and fearlessly chop down the rotten trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country At the heart of life at the Buddhist community of Plum Village is the weekly Beginning America and then burn the leftover trash. Anew: a practice of compassionate communication, building understanding, and expressing gratitude. Wrathful but calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or slander him... The Four Immeasurable Minds by Thích Nhất Hạnh ...........................................10 The Buddhist perspective on love: how to love deeply without attachment. HE WILL PUT THEM OUT. Thus his great Mantra: The Three Turnings of The Wheel of Dharma by Jay L. Garfield .........................14 Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana Sphataya hum traka ham mam A deep summary of the teachings of the Buddha as seen by the three main schools of Buddhism. "I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND BE THIS RAGING Why I Sit by Paul R. Fleischman, M.D. ...............................................................24 FURY BE DESTROYED" A powerful, eloquent, and personal take on the question “why would I meditate?” And he will protect those who love the woods and rivers, Gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children: What Exactly is Vipassana Meditation? by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana ...........31 The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing......................... 34 And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television, or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR'S WAR SPELL: During the war in Vietnam, Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh wanted to bridge the gap between monastic life and the life of average people. He designed these mindfulness DROWN THEIR BUTTS trainings to cut to the core of Buddhist teachings and bring them to a modern audience CRUSH THEIR BUTTS in a time of tremendous suffering. DROWN THEIR BUTTS CRUSH THEIR BUTTS Buddhism and the New Age by Vishvapani ..........................................................37 In the modern USA, spiritual seekers have tended to take deep, well-considered ideas And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out with his vajra-shovel. from Eastern philosophy and transform them into surface-level phrases, ideas, or practices lacking their original meaning. This article compares this new, hard-to-define Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice will accumulate merit as spirituality with Buddhist teachings. countless as the sands of Arizona and Nevada. Three Translations of The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra ...................45 Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick. Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature. Translations of the primary text on emptiness, interbeing, and the second turning of the wheel of dharma. Commonly recited aloud repeatedly to help the reader slowly decipher Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts. its meaning. Will always have ripened blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a pine tree to sit at. Empty Of What? by Thích Nhất Hạnh .................................................................48 AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT A commentary on The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra and emptiness. "52 Long Live Emptiness by Thích Nhất Hạnh ..........................................................49 Smokey The Bear Sutra by Gary Snyder A lighthearted poem relating Buddhist teachings to environmental issues. A commentary on The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra and emptiness. Smokey The Bear Sutra by Gary Snyder ..............................................................51 A lighthearted poem relating Buddhist teachings to environmental issues. Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings--even the grasses, to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning Enlightenment on the planet Earth. "In some future time, there will be a continent called America. It will have great centers of power called such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur, Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon. The human race in that era will get into troubles all over its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature." "The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth. My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger: and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it." And he showed himself in his true form of SMOKEY THE BEAR A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing that he is aroused and watchful. Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances; cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war; His left paw in the mudra of Comradely Display--indicating that all creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that of deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma; Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the countless men oppressed by a civilization that claims to save but often destroys; "51 "3 way of expression in order to really understand them. In the West, when we draw a circle, The Practice of Mindfulness by Thích Nhất Hạnh we consider it to be zero, nothingness. But in India, a circle means totality, wholeness. from Lion’s Roar Magazine, 2010 The meaning is the opposite. So "form is emptiness, emptiness is form" is like wave is water, water is wave. "Form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ Our true home is not in the past. Our true home is not in the future. Our true home from form. The same is true with feelings, perceptions, mental formations and is in the here and the now. Life is available only in the here and the now, and it is our true consciousness," because these five contain each other. Because one exists, everything home. exists. Mindfulness is the energy that helps us recognize the conditions of happiness that In the Vietnamese literature there are two lines of poetry made by a Zen Master of are already present in our lives. You don’t have to wait ten years to experience this the Ly Dynasty, happiness. It is present in every moment of your daily life. There are those of us who are Twelfth Century. He said: alive but don’t know it. But when you breathe in, and you are aware of your in-breath, you If it exists, then one speck of dust exists. touch the miracle of being alive. That is why mindfulness is a source of happiness and joy. If it doesn’t exist, then the whole cosmos doesn’t. Most people are forgetful; they are not really there a lot of the time. Their mind is caught in their worries, their fears, their anger, and their regrets, and they are not He means that the notions of existence and nonexistence are just created by our mindful of being there.