Thinking of Ghost Day in Taiwan

Yesterday was the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar Calender which is the main offering day in Ghost Month. This month is said to be when the gates of heaven and hell open and the dead walk freely about. The food is said to be given largely for those who do not have ancestors who regularly make offerings, I guess probably to keep them at bay. Still, I could not help but think of all the lower realms and the states of existence which are certainly unfortunate. Although, these offerings made to ghosts as a defensive measure, I think it reminds us of the help we have gotten in our own lives during unfortunate times.

These ghosts, aren't necessarily limited to spirits we cannot see; really, when we think, there are many in this world, who we can see, that live in very impoverished states. We are quite lucky to live in a time when we have leisure and free time, food, friends, and housing. So many people are born in places where even food and shelter are not taken for granted. I think recently of the famine in Somalia. Animals too, living outside, when it rains, where do they go? They are stuck under trees, bridges, or whatever shelter they can find.

I reminded of a street dog I saw last night when I was leaving the pool hall, thin to the bones, with many red and white rashes across his black fur back. He was being helped by a local veterinarian, well after hours, who had gone inside to get some medicine or food, I guess, and had tied him and muzzled him outside in the mean time.

In many ways we can see the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, our teachers, family, friends, and even our enemies in this way. We are often much like the stray dog, in unfortunate circumstances with little to eat or very desperate for some sort of satisfaction for some other hunger. And, like this veterinarian, they come, even if it is late at night, as was the case here, bring us to a safe place, restrain us to keep us near and from biting our wounds, and then apply medicine and give food, and send us on our way.

It is only due to the kindness of others that we have this precious life and the circumstances of knowing right and wrong. Of course, it is our own karma that we have this life; in this sense it is our own. On the other hand, without those along the way to help us, it would be very hard to make use of our good opportunity; we can say the two exist dependent upon each other. Due to our fortunate karma, although at times we are like the dogs or the ghosts, without anyone apparent to help us, a bodhisattva appears in an unexpected form; they guide us, feed us, and send us on our way.

Dharma and Community

Not much to say, just something to pass along from Chapter 7 of Food for the Heart, the collected teachings of Ajahn Chah, the great master of the Thai Forest tradition. While the talk is directed at the monastics in his monastery in Thailand, it applies to all Dharma communities.

He begins by referring to the importance of the duties in the monastery.

"These duties hold us together as a single group, enabling us to live in harmony and concord. They also give us respect for one another, which in turn benefits the community.

In all communities, from the time of the Buddha to the present, no matter what form they may take, if the residents have no mutual respect, they cannot succeed. Whether the communities are secular or monastic, if they lack mutual respect they will have no solidarity. Negligence will set in and the practice will eventually degenerate.

Our community of Dhamma practitioners has lived here for about twenty-five years now. It is steadily growing, but it could deteriorate. We must understand this point. But if we are all heedful, have mutual respect, and continue to maintain the standards of practice, I feel that our harmony will be firm. Out practice as a group will support the growth of Buddhism for a long time to come."


Urban Dharma NC is a new Buddhist community. To succeed, it will need a lot of work. A lot of duties to be fulfilled, a lot of tasks to be completed. However, this isn't drudgery! It is dharma work, and is at the very root of building this community, and of building trust and respect between the members of this community. On one level, without the nitty-gritty tasks being completed, nothing will come to fruition. But on another level, without those shared duties, that shared time, those shared efforts, that shared Dharma practice; the necessary trust and respect won't develop, and then even if the physical aspects manifest in the most glorious of ways, a stable community will not be built.

Of course, nothing is permanent! But, we have the choice right now, and every moment going forward. We can maintain our practice, grow in our practice, as individuals and as a community, and generate trust and respect with each other. We can decide to create the best conditions we can, to lay the firmest foundation. Then, Urban Dharma can truly support the growth of Buddhism (in Asheville, in America!) for a long time to come.

Buddhism and Sexual Ethics

This is a really good talk by Jose Cabezon on Buddhist Ethics as it relates to sexual conduct. Really good analysis; he comes up with a pretty good argument for rethinking the traditional, more restrictive interpretation on the conduct for lay people, to a less restrictive, and as he argues, actually, more traditional interpretation.

Basically, the more current formulation has restrictions on homosexuality, masturbation, and many forms of heterosexual conduct, as well. He argues that this comes in around the third century with Asanga and Nargajuna, and that, actually, analyzing the Pali and Sanskrit Sutras, that there is no mention of anything beyond basic adultery. Even that definition allows a fairly high degree of flexibility. He continues on, giving more reasons on the reinterpretation, and the audience asks a few good questions at the end.

Anyway, I personally have been thinking about a proper position on this issue for laypeople, and frankly, haven't really found anything I felt fit. He provides and excellent and well researched answer. Very nice.

This is so good!

This video by Dzongsar Kheyntse Rinpoche is so good. Really one of the best descriptions of the student-teacher relationship in Tibetan Buddhism I have heard.

Patience, Again

Tonight, some Dharma flitted across my mind while I was holding William and looking at the soup that Fiona had made me, and knowing that it was growing cold. I felt a certain pang, and aware enough of some level of attachment going on, I remembered the meaning of the lines, from the Patience chapter of The Way of the Bodhisattva, "We must at once cast off / Our mind's attachments / Tender to the fiery flames of hate." William had struggled on his bed and needed to be held, and Fiona had just gotten out of the bathroom and was blow-drying her hair on the couch, so I was pacing back and forth just to calm him down and perhaps put him in the mood for sleeping. So I had the opportunity to think: "so attachment leads to hatred? Really--is that really true?" I couldn't really remember where or how Shantideva particularly links them, so, since I didn't particularly feel like I was angry because the soup was getting cold, I guess I forgot about the whole thing altogether.

Finally Fiona finished blow-drying her hair and got out the box where it lives to put it away. Then she put the hair dryer back on her lap to collect the cord, shirking it back into the original peanut-shaped bunch that the cord has had since its manufacturing. Not once but, since she first did it incorrectly, twice she collected the cord to put a rubber-band about it so that it might fit neatly, and snugly into its original packaging. And there it was: anger. Anger--due to simple inconvenience, of having expectations denied (Fiona would hold William so I could finish my long-delayed dinner). Every capacity of reason tells me that my anger is foolish, unfounded, exactly: insane. So why did it arise? And it did arise, clearly and pointedly, in a way that vague frustration never does. Perhaps if I hadn't "caught" myself, my crazy brain, I certainly wouldn't have continued being angry. In the next second anyway, Fiona took the baby. But that's sort of the scary part: how many times have we been angry and forgotten about it? Most likely, some echo of discontent would linger, giving rise to more chances of anger and/or harsh words in an otherwise peaceful moment, with the consequence of not having any idea, upon the fortune of reflection, why such anger was there. It goes a long way back.

Where does this lead me back to? At that time, I also remembered another part of the chapter:

Some do evil things because of ignorance
Some respond with anger being ignorant.
Which of them is faultless in such acts?
To whom shall error be ascribed?

Although Fiona couldn't be said, in any way, to have been doing evil, I felt pretty close to that second line. Ignorance is strong; attachment and anger are always at elbow's length. As warriors, our imperative is to arm ourselves with the Dharma and, to mix a metaphor, take refuge in it. And yet if you allow me that strained metaphor you might find something dynamic and true about it as well: by seeking refuge and immersing ourselves in the Dharma, the Dharma becomes a powerful weapon.

Environmentalism and Bodhichitta

I recently read a booklet that had been handed to our group (consisting of Fiona, baby William, Hun Lye, Ryan Morra, Ryan Boyle, and myself) while we were in Taipei visiting the Foguang Shan Vihara, which is the Taipei center for Taiwan's biggest and probably most influential Buddhist group, which specially brands itself as "humanistic Buddhism." The founder, Ven. Master Hsing Yun, gave a keynote address concerning environmental protection, and the booklet was a translation of that speech, with the title "Environmental and Spiritual Preservation," which caught my attention not only because I had had a long and thoughtful discussion with Ryan Morra about our shifting opinions about the matter since Warren Wilson, which ended, at least for me, rather open-endedly, but also because such concerns for Urban Dharma, in Asheville, will be a key issue that we should address with some sort of thought and "plan of action."

I won't try to summarize the points that Ven. Master Hsing Yun addressed, but I was struck by the simplicity of the Buddhist take on the matter (at least, a Buddhist take). And while we can talk about things that may or may not have any emotional pull or push with people, but which are, technically Buddhist, (such as end of the world scenarios of destruction by fire, flood, and wind, which he does address), one of the most important things I got from his lecture was the emphasis and importance of singular human action, even if it is just recycling your cardboard. I have always, I admit, felt disdainful about such solutions; but Buddhism always takes us back to our immediate reality and actions. Exactly, actually, back to the mind, where a certain amount of cleaning needs to take place first, or simultaneously, so that we might take delight in such simple action, and cherish the benefit to life, however small, that such action and intention gives.

It's hard to feel satisfied with such an answer when such vast structural, economic, and world problems seem to be racing our planet to destruction. And perhaps we shouldn't feel satisfied with just this answer alone. I don't know. However, Buddhism has the ability to calm our minds, give us satisfaction in a tangible and consistent world, where certain actions harbor certain results, and indeed, if we do take care of our actions, there is nothing more we can do.

Interview with Geshe Thupten Jinpa

Really excellent interview with Geshe Thupten Jinpa, the translator for His Holiness the Dali Lama for many years and both a Geshe and a PHD himself. Really nice, he has some excellent insights on the difference between and relationship between science and Buddhism, His Holiness, and being a father.

In the Room with Thupten Jinpa, the Dalai Lama's English Translator from On Being on Vimeo.

Tides of Dharma

It seems to me the qualities of group and individual practice are quite different, and as I've recently been, every month or so, going back and forth between daily practices that are conducted by myself and daily practices with another person, these different qualities have become more apparent, and they seem to complement each other. Group practice emphasizes a certain formality and its merits are a diligence and explicitness regarding the ritual performance, but it necessarily needs the merits of a solitary practice, absorption and concentration, to work as well. Likewise, a solitary practice that is too loose or foggy only benefits from time spent doing practice with others.

It makes me think of something I heard a while back, that some monks would take retreat the second half of the lunar month, when the moon is waning, and engage in the teachings and monastic rituals in the first half while the moon is waxing. To let the Dharma into one's life after all is an unpredictable (and perhaps inconstant?) affair and sometimes, despite everything we do, it isn't there at all. Like a tide receding, or pushing forward, the Dharma seems to come and go in cycles, filling us up with wisdom, insight and morality, and then emptying us later, and leaving us with a practice and shell that seem curious vestiges of some forgotten but quaint meaning.

Likewise, a practice and life develop by alternating time spent with others and time spent alone, going over the basic points of our practice again and again, until we cannot mistake the life-embodied Dharma's absolute certainty.

Smoke Offering for Urban Dharma

Every smoke offering connects me to every place I have ever done a smoke offering, and consequently to every place I have ever practiced the Dharma. And so it's like a community of places, which for their diversity and strength put me in mind of what I strive for being apart of Urban Dharma. I am now reminded of Cabin Hill Dr., in the next second reminded of Ladakh, and then to the woods in PA--all these places and more, whether already saturated with the Dharma or almost completely bare of it, were important places to perform the ritual of smoke offering. It provides a connectivity that I have felt blessed to have.

Now after a late night, thinking about the newest e-mails from Urban Dharma and unable to sleep, I stood on my balcony (more like a ledge) in the already brilliant morning sun to do this offering, in this little part of Taiwan. Burning stuff for invisible beings is certainly not a foreign concept here; you will see most businesses on auspicious days burning paper spirit money in buckets, so that the entire atmosphere is filled with the smell of burning. But my little smoke offering feels quite different--perhaps for the reason I mentioned. I'm all in Asheville, Ladakh, Felton, Chiayi at the same time--how could it be comparable?

But last night I lay in doubt: was October too soon for me to help? How will I get my family to Asheville--and continue to support them? What if I can't do what is being called upon me to do? And so on. ("Veiling forces like mists that envelope mountain peaks and woodbine that overcomes treetops..." I kept hearing from different places and times.) How was I shocked that Urban Dharma was finally happening? Or had I become so comfortable with the idea of it all, being so far away?

In the end, it helped me to think about, again, how Urban Dharma was not something "out there." And it wouldn't be anything more or less than all of our individual parts put together. We have dreamed the final product so many times that it might be hard or confusing to imagine the first steps or to realize that there isn't some plan that someone has mapped out for us to follow. Only that we are being given an opportunity under this name that we all feel apart of, but don't know yet what it can really be. Well we are what it is, and if we do nothing then it will be nothing. I feel slightly embarrassed that I have to reveal my thought process in working out something so obvious.

But evolving from that thought process was something else I wanted to share--an idea, I guess. In this stage where everyone will be doing different parts to get Urban Dharma on its feet, its probably more important than ever to make a concerted effort to support the work that others are doing and to share the work that you are doing yourself--especially if you are needing help. It might feel like, as we're working on different parts, that we are singly responsible for Urban Dharma's success. But the more support we share to others, the more strength I think we'll have ourselves.

So in this attitude, I am tremendously proud and happy to hear of both Hun's good news from Malaysia with Shifu and Brian's work that has already begun--moving to Asheville, visiting TMC for teachings, and all the coordinating he will be doing as Urban Dharma's first full-time staff. From all my work with him, he is the one to do it. For me, today, I can only say I performed a smoke offering, but specifically for Urban Dharma's (that means OUR) coming together and seeing what we can make happen with this amazing opportunity.

Urban Sangha

I have not posted to this in a very long time because I have been traveling intensely over the last six months. However, I have been developing a lot of thoughts on Urban Dharma and the Dharma in general. Recently, I found myself in a place where I could actually begin - in ever so small a way - my own little practice each morning and evening. While working on a remote farm in Tuscany, surrounded by beauty and provided with ample time to sit with some of the Drikung Dharmakirti texts. Since leaving this bucolic setting, it has, not surprisingly, become infinitely harder. I am back to traveling in funky, vibrant hostels through big cities like Rome, and to super touristy beach locations. No, I don't say any of this to spark jealousy, but to emphasize the point that a center for people to come together and focus on the Dharma is exceedingly critical to maintaing a practice. I agreed with so much of Brian's recent post, and was I begin my own kind of practice, the necessity of a sangha has become ever clearer. It is nearly impossible to begin your day reminding yourself of the Four Thoughts At Turn the Mind after going out to a late night club with a bunch of new friends.
But - this is going to happen! It might happen a lot, especially in a place like Asheville, where there are so many fun things to do, amazing people to meet, and phenomenal food to consume. Knowing the kind of sentiment many people have in Asheville for "alternative" religions (read: alternative to Christianity most likely), people could easily walk into the doors of UD and expect to be enlightened then and there. But we all know that the process of changing your mind is laborious. Literally. It is work. And that is why having a community - a sangha - to reinforce, rejuvenate, and reMIND us about the Dharma is the focus.
So, as we move forward, it will be a great task to think about what exactly the sangha should look like - ought there be secular "courses" in Buddhism or the history of the Buddha. Can there be talking/reading groups in additional to the sittings. I think having tea and conversation evenings is another wonderful way to infuse the Dharma into everyday urban life. Again, as Brian mentioned, many people may think that the center will serve as some magical bubble of enlightenment. But the real work is the creation of an urban sangha where people can exchange ideas and encourage Dharma practices outside of the center. I know I could benefit from a sangha right now, but just as this virtual community provides at least some outlet, so too will UD be creating a larger sangha throughout the city.