Rime Buddhist Center 700 West Pennway Kansas City, MO 64108 www.rimecenter.org 816-471-7073 Fall 2017 Increase your knowledge, Season Changes at the check out the class Rime Center schedule! Kum Nye – Tibetan Yoga Workshop with Santosh Philip Lama Rod Owens: September 22 - 24, 2017 Ven. Phakyab We are delighted to welcome Radical Dharma November 10 – 12, 2017 to Kansas City and the Rime Rinpoche: The Healing We are extremely delighted to Center Santosh Philip, September Power of the Mind welcome to Kansas City and the 22nd through 24th. Santosh will October 13 – 15, 2017 Rime Center Lama Rod Owen, be leading us in a system of Mark your calendars as we November 10th & 12th. Lama Rod Tibetan yoga called Kum Nye. welcome the return to Kansas will be teaching from his book Based on a traditional healing City and the Rime Center the Radical Dharma. Igniting a long- system, Kum Nye Yoga helps acclaimed Tibetan Buddhist overdue dialogue about how the to relieve stress, transform lama and healer, Ven. Phakyab legacy of racial injustice and white negative patterns and promote Rinpoche, October 13th & 15th. supremacy plays out in society at balance and health. Developed Ven. Phakyab Rinpoche will be large and Buddhist communities by Tibetan Lama Tarthang Tulku, teaching from his book Meditation in particular, this urgent call to this presentation of Kum Nye Saved My Life: A Tibetan Lama action outlines a new dharma practices is thoroughly modern and the Healing Power of the that takes into account the and adapted specifically to suit Mind. ways that racism and privilege modern needs. The practice In 2003, Ven. Phakyab Rinpoche prevent our collective awakening. of Kum Nye includes stillness, was admitted to the emergency Bridging the world of spirit and movement, postures, breathing clinic of the Program for Survivors activism, Radical Dharma urges exercises, self-massage and a of Torture at Manhattan’s Bellevue a compassionate response to little bit of visualization. These Hospital. After a dramatic escape the systemic, state-sanctioned practices address the three kinds from imprisonment in China, at violence and oppression that has of tension held in the body – 1) the hands of authorities bent Continued on Page 6 Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 These teachings are available to everyone regardless of ability to pay. We offer partial and full scholarships to those in need, so don’t let lack of finances prevent you from attending. Download and print out our scholarship form at: www.rimecenter.org. Scholarship forms are not accepted by e-mail. Please submit them either by mail or at the Center. Scholarship forms need to be submitted in advance of the event. We have “suggested” fees however, pay what you can afford. Everyone is welcome! It is our hope that some will pay more to cover the those who cannot afford the fee. We simply want everyone to come enjoy these wonderful teachings. meditations by Lama Matthew Rice (Lobpon Palden Gocha) Lama Matthew Rice (Lobpon Palden Gocha) serves as the spiritual director of the Rime Buddhist Center that he administers on a day-to-day basis. In addition he teaches classes on meditation and Buddhism. He also serves as the Buddhist Director for the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. Lama Matt is very involved in homeless outreach. He works closely with other Rime members to ensure that the Homeless Outreach program runs smoothly and that it receives the needed supplies for those in need living on the streets. Facing the Challenge of Suffering and Injustice Thanks to the news and social carts, a hundred-thousand maid- appear. media we are more connected ens adorned with jewels and ear- The Buddha gave us many meth- and informed than ever before. rings aren’t worth one-sixteenth ods for confronting suffering and We are witnesses to constant of one step forward. Go forward, injustice. In a recent article by suffering and injustice in our householder! Go forward, house- Krishnan Venkatesh in Tricycle communities and our nation as a holder! Going forward is better for Magazine titled, “The Buddha whole whether it is the increase in you, not back! Talks to a Brahmin Supremacist”, the confidence of racists who feel The darkness then vanished for the Buddha uses a method of emboldened to openly spew their Anathapindika and the light ap- asking questions that unravel the vitriolic speech in public spaces; peared. The fear, terror, & horripi- deep-rooted prejudice of a Brah- the increase of xenophobia and lation he had felt subsided.” min. It is also inspiring to see oth- islamophobia that feeds on peo- In those moments when the light ers like authors Jasmine Syedul- ple’s fears and turns neighbors is but a mere flicker, there in the lah, Lama Rod Owens, and Angel against each other; or the fear darkness, recall what the Bud- Kyodo Williams who in their book, and hatred that target those who dha teaches us to do. To take one Radical Dharma, discuss meth- love differently or identify them- step and then another and then ods of responding to injustice selves differently. For those who another. “Go forward, household- with a fearlessness and compas- choose to adhere to the Bodhisat- er. Go forward!” sion. That is why I am delighted tva path, what are we to do? How do we confront suffering that Lama Rod will be visiting I personally struggle with this and injustice? Do we rise up and the Rime Center the weekend of question every time I hear about attack those who are responsible November 10 – 12th. the suffering and injustice that for the suffering? Martin Luther Finally, there is the question is happening in our nation. King, Jr said, “Darkness cannot of where to start when there is Sometimes if feels as though drive out darkness; only light can overwhelming suffering? How can an avalanche of hopelessness do that. Hate cannot drive out we as just one person truly help is threatening to overwhelm me hate; only love can do that.” We sentient beings? Lama Chuck with its darkness. It is in those can look to our own tradition and once shared a story about a boy moments I turn to the words of the methods taught in Lojong. who was throwing starfish in the the Buddha. In the Sudatta Su- An example is in Gyalse Tokme sea. An old man, early one morn- tra it says, “When Anathapindika Zangpo’s the Thirty Seven Prac- ing, was walking along the shore the householder had left the city, tices of the Bodhisattvas, after a big storm had passed and the light vanished and darkness The practice of all the bodhisat- found the vast beach littered with appeared. Fear, terror, and hor- tvas is to subdue the mind, starfish as far as the eye could ripilation arose, and because of With the forces of loving kindness see, stretching in both directions. that he wanted to turn back. Then and compassion. Off in the distance, the old man Sivaka the yakkha-spirit, invisible, For unless the real adversary— noticed a small boy approaching. proclaimed: my own anger—is defeated, As the boy walked, he paused A hundred elephants, a hundred Outer enemies, though I may every so often bending down to horses, a hundred mule-drawn conquer them, will continue to pick up an object and throw it into 2 The Rime Jewel Newsletter — © 2017 Rime Buddhist Center Fall 2017 Radical Dharma Cont. Radical Dharma Cont. Help Update Our Mailing List If you would like to sign up for the weekly persisted against black people Considered one of the leaders of e-mail updates, no longer wish to receive since the slave era. With national the next generation of Dharma mailings from the Rime Center or you have attention focused on the recent teachers, Lama Rod Owens moved, contact us at: [email protected] or 816-471-7073. killings of unarmed black citizens has a blend of formal Buddhist Join a Committee and the response of the Black- training and life experience that Joining a Rime Committee is an excellent centered liberation groups such gives him a unique ability to way to contribute to the sangha and to be- come more involved with the Rime Center. If as Black Lives Matter, Radical understand, relate and engage you are interested in becoming involved and Dharma demonstrates how social with those around him in a way serving on a committee, please contact the transformation and personal, that’s spacious and sincere. His following chairs about coming to a meeting: spiritual liberation must be gentle, laid-back demeanor and Gift Shop Committee articulated and inextricably linked. Continued on Page 7 Stephanie Shirazi [email protected] In the book Radical Dharma Lama Finance Committee Vickie Cumberland vickie.cumberland@ Rod as well as his co-authors rimecenter.org Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams and Membership Committee Jasmine Syedullah represent a Sergio Moreno [email protected] Dharma School Committee new voice in American Buddhism. Leslie Aguirre [email protected] Offering their own histories and Library Committee experiences as illustrations of William Hunter [email protected] Prison Outreach the types of challenges facing Andrea VanBecelaere prison.outreach@ dharma practitioners and teachers rimecenter.org who are different from those of Community Outreach Vickie Cumberland vickie.cumberland@ the past five decades, they ask rimecenter.org how teachings that transcend Program Committee color, class, and caste are Lha Bab Düchen, the Chairs: Matt Rice spiritualdirector@rimecen- hindered by discrimination and ter.org ‘Festival of the Descent Volunteer Coordinator the dynamics of power, shame, Lora Lee Reese [email protected] and ignorance. Their illuminating from Heaven’ Newsletter Team November 10, 2017 Nicole Esquibel, Matt Rice argument goes beyond a demand Rime Board Members for the equality and inclusion of Lha Bab Düchen occurs on the Gabriele Otto, executive director and board 22nd day of the ninth Tibetan chair diverse populations to advancing Teri Brody, secretary a new dharma that deconstructs month.