Entrepreneurship, Reframed

An interesting conversation about how spiritually-oriented organizations can adopt modern business techniques, not to achieve monetary goals, but to achieve their own, spiritually-driven vision.

From the conversation:

"I get the sense that there are vast audiences, new audiences interested in wisdom, backed up by science, practical, everyday stuff. But the key is, the aesthetic is very key, is it has to be packaged in a way that makes sense to them. The way I talk about this is if the kids just been playing with a PlayStation game that had $100 million invested in it. And then they watched a couple of ads from Coke. And then they watched an HBO show or Avatar. And then you come with your wisdom media. And it’s cheesy and bad production values and poorly written and poorly conceived and stuck in a color 1960s purple patchouli aesthetic. Then you just lose them. The cost of entry is the brand, the marketing, the media, the shininess. That’s the cost of entry."

http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/01/bg-203-entrepreneur-as-bodhisattva/

There is a transcript and an audio file.

Enjoy!

Brian

Donate for Urban Dharma’s 4-foot Amitabha Buddha

Urban Dharma is in the process of acquiring a statue of Amitabha for our main shrine from Taiwan.  This exciting acquisition has only been possible due to the generosity of a rare & ancient antiques collector who wanted to support our center.  He has kindly donated this exquisitely crafted statue from his personal collection; now it’s up to us to get it over here.

We are looking for people to pledge in terms of shares of $20 each to come up with the expected shipping cost of around $2000.  You can pledge one or several shares through a credit card, our paypal account, or by check.  This is a wonderful opportunity for Urban Dharma members and for the folks in the greater Asheville area.  By pledging, you can actively become a part of realizing this one-of-a-kind sacred space in Asheville, and this distinctive piece of Buddhist art will occupy our center and be its face.   

Four feet tall and made from white jade, this exquisitely crafted image of a standing Amitabha was picked to perfectly suit the shrine needs at Urban Dharma.  His right hand is raised with thumb and middle finger joined, and his left hand rests below his chest; his posture is commanding yet peaceful, regal yet inviting.  Once completed, the shrine space will accommodate not only this Amitabha statue from Taiwan but also four other statues: Manjusri (Wisdom), Avalokitesvara (Compassion), Tara (an aspect of over-coming obstacles), and Jambhala (an aspect of spiritual wealth).  We will also have a stupa and a set of sutras enshrined, so all the Body, Speech, and Mind will be depicted.  Finally, we will have two thangkas depicting the spiritual lineages of most of our core practices.     


Stay tuned for methods of payment.

If sending a check, please send to:
Urban Dharma; PO Box 1027; Asheville, NC 28802-1027; USA
Make the check out to “Urban Dharma.”  (If paying by check, also send an e-mail to info@udharmanc.com to notify us of your pledge.)

Lessons From Taiwan

Modernity and Lessons from Ancient Cultures

I remember Joe said the Taiwnese had a bit of a love of the cultish aesthetic, wearing all the same colored vests; a fairly horrible color of yellow. I was reminded a bit of the fundamentalists churches I went to as a kid, dragged by the mother of one of my friends. Even the Catholic churches would sometimes have the same feel. Lots of older people, gathered around, with a lot of investment in bringing you into their club. They smiled a bit too much, they were a bit overly friendly, but they didn't seem to have much to offer beyond their hope that you would be joining them. It was with this mind that Joe, Fiona, and little baby William went to the Buddha's Light International Temple. What I saw that day did not make me want to be more like the members of the temple in the ways that were off-putting, but did really show me something that sometimes is forgotten as we adopt a more rational and scientific approach to Buddhism.

Then the lady, a well-dressed nun, arrived and took the podium. Of course, due to my laziness and involvement in other things, my Chinese is much worse than the average two-year old here; so I didn't understand much. But the lady, the nun, was dignified, peaceful; and it was clear that the content of her talk was not, in any way, fundamentalist. As Joe translated, she spoke of what people could do to help the environment, the benefits of vegetarianism, and told some simple stories of how people helping each other can impact the world. Nothing was preachy, she never told people they were bad because they ate meat or used an air-conditioner; she merely suggested that there were ways that they could reduce these things and that that would have positive impact. The cheesy, badly acted video, that I saw out of the corner of my eye when we arrived there, was actually quite good. Certainly it was cheesy and badly acted, but Turning Points, as it was called, was really about how small, seemingly insignificant actions of kindness had had a profound impact on one person's life, and the lengths that he went to thank them. Actually, the message was quite meaningful.

I remember, most particularly, something that the nun said in her talk, she told a story of a child who came home to tell her mother she had made number two in a competition, and the mother responded, “What about number one?” The child worked very hard, and the won the next competition. She told her mother of her success, and the mother responded, “What about your good works?”

Joe's response was, “What a tiger mother!” At the time, I agreed, it sounded to me like the over-pressuring mothers I deal with quite often. Actually, though, as I reflect, she succinctly pointed out the thing that is most problematic about Taiwanese society; it's not that they work hard or study hard, that's actually really good. What it is, is that they miss the point; working hard is good, so long as the motivation is to help others. When it is only for one's own gain, it merely will serve that limited purpose; when hard work is harnessed correctly, toward the benefit of others, then it is really powerful. I thought this was a very skillful way to point this out to the audience in a way they could understand, and for me, it expressed the meaning of how devoted we must be in serving those around us.

It was one thing, though, that left the most profound impact upon me. Upon the words of another very excellent nun, Yifa, the woman who had taken us to the talk and around that day was quite convinced I was to become a monk. In truth, my response was nothing but that it is a possibility; but due to my lack of Chinese, I have no idea what was translated. Still, for whatever reason, she was quite convinced it was the case.

At the time we were leaving, she had already shown us really great kindness, feeding us many times, and really trying to provide for our every need. She gave me, hidden amongst some other posters, another gift. A small bowl with a meditating monk, with two Chinese characters, which I thinks translates to,“the joy of meditation.” She said, before I left, that she was worried that maybe I would find a woman and give up my plan of being a monk. I laughed and said “Ohh no! Well, she better be really great. Only a really beautiful and great one!” I think she was somewhat satisfied that this would not be the case, and then she said, “I hope you will not forget me when you go off to India to become a monk.” I said, of course, “Ohh no! Of course not!” Again, she seemed satisfied, and we left.

I was struck that this was quite funny. To be honest, I have spent maybe two days with her, and the only conversations we have had were briefly translated to Chinese. I had thought that the kindness she had shown was due to our connection with others, namely Hun and Yifa, due to their connection with Dharma, and perhaps, some possibility of business. I think though, there was something else in this case, that was a factor: her great faith in Dharma. For her, merely the possibility that I would become a monk created a great possibility of merit and benefit, for herself and others. I felt very humble and a bit embarrassed when I thought of this. Although I am sincere, I am not a monk, nor have I fully made the decision to wear robes yet. I really thought of all those who had helped me, through this life and before; and hoped, like the man in the video, to really repay their kindness. I vowed to do my best to repay this.

In many ways, I think, this speaks to the level of faith of the Taiwanese and Asian Buddhists, in general. For them, the three jewels (the Buddha, the teachings and the community) are a very real entity which provides very real blessings. It is easy for us, as westerners with an academic and scientific bent, to sort of write this off; but I think that this is, perhaps, a really big mistake. It is the kindness and the sense of an ethical life that makes these sort of people really pleasant to be around. Of course, much like Joe and I's experience when we entered the temple, the religiousness of it can be a bit off-putting and perhaps it has some bad effects; but when we really look at the content of the faith, when properly directed, I think this faith is really powerful. This kind of faith provides a sense of humility and responsibility toward others; a sense of connection to our community that is really lacking in the west and in American Buddhism.

Of paramount importance in all the Asian Buddhism I have encountered is faith and connection to your community. This provides a sort of lubricant toward practice; it grounds one in compassion and motivates one to continue in their practice. Much like the story of the girl who does not reach her mother's goals, we are constantly pushed to be better and better so that we can really help others, especially those who've helped us. Of course, we need not become Buddhist or rigid, merely understand deeply and humbly our connection with others. When we really see ourselves in this way, we see ourselves as a small pieces in a a very large and beautiful puzzle. A certain sense of self-grasping dissolves, we can think more clearly, and we fit better in the puzzle that surrounds us.

The Buddhist Practitioner

Not sure where to start, really. Why do we orient ourselves as "Buddhist" anyway? Why not, as rational beings, we take things of practical value & use into our lives and leave it at that? It's a question that kept me a long time from simply saying, "I'm a Buddhist" without several qualifications. I guess, you know, Buddhism through the teaching of bodhichitta, has a pretty awesome mission statement, to "bestow on countless multitudes, the peerless joy of blissful Buddhahood, the ultimate fulfillment of their hopes" (my italics!). That's reason enough to say proudly and definitely, "I'm a Buddhist." But I think there's added benefit that to be a Buddhist means that you are somehow a Buddhist practitioner. Why is that important?

Influenced by Taiwan's own, recently deceased, Master Sheng Yen, after reading one of his books concerning environmental ethics (I think I previously had a post on it), I began carrying with me everywhere, a durable but small and attractive bag that I could use in place of the ubiquitous plastic bags that are used whenever I buy things, such as lunch. I also bought some travel chopsticks that I enjoy using so again, when I find myself eating out, which is often, I don't have to use the disposable bamboo chopsticks that are always provided.

If I thought about what I was really doing, I might not do it. I mean the ethics are clear, but to believe I'm helping much at all in the huge, structurally ingrained problem of waste, it's very easy to feel that such actions are 0.000000000001 of the solution, and not worth the effort. But that's exactly where having a practice comes in--and the amazing, endearing power of practice--that all actions get fed back into your own system of behaving. Even remembering to do such daily, ethical things, gives you a perfect way to remember that you do have a practice, which involves daily meditation, chanting, studying, and so on, and that extra chance to reflect on the Dharma in your life is precious. So in conclusion, taking up such ethical things in context to your Buddhist practice, makes both the action and your practice otherwise, richer & fuller.

I think what I have just explained defines a huge division between how I see myself now as a Buddhist practitioner and how I saw myself as before, when I simply wanted to try to improve myself. In one case, the latter, I don't know if I ever could have embraced such ethical habits, in what I feel has been such a positive and fun way. I hope others, new to the Dharma, see this when they come to Urban Dharma and look around---the value of a practice.

Pig Monsters and Wolves

I had an interesting experience a couple of weeks ago during retreat and I thought I’d share it with you all because I know most of you will really be able to relate.

About three or four years ago I was temporarily living in Phoenix, Arizona and was asked to come up to Garchen Institute to talk about a job opening they had. So I packed up my old Redbone Coonhound dog, Gretchen, and arranged to spend the night just offsite next to the Institute at Kathleen Dyer’s house.

First of all, let’s just say that my dog was not happy at all about being in the desert. Redbone Coonhounds are a southern dog used to forests and hunting fields, but here this old gal was in a desert, in a strange house, with failing eyesight and elderly body. (Just where does a hunting dog pee when there are no trees and no grass?) But being the faithful dog she was, she would rather have been with me than anywhere else.

Night time came and the lady of the house brought in her pig for the night. Not just an ordinary pig...we're talking about what looked to be a 175 lb behemoth, named Ludwig, who plopped himself down in the living room of the home. My dog had never, ever seen a pig, but being the gentle soul she was knew that Ludwig was probably not up to befriending a Coonhound and promptly retreated to the bedroom. No sooner had she tried to settle herself when the son of the lady of the house brought his huge, and I do mean HUGE, white German Shepard over into the back yard. So outside this little room where I am trying to reassure my dog that life is fine, there is a huge “wolf” at the window barking like crazy at her and a huge “pig-monster” outside the door waiting, she thinks, to maybe devour her. All she could do was try to make her 85 lb body as tiny as possible and snuggle closer to her mom.

I thought about how this is like the experience of most sentient beings here in samsara. There are wolves at our windows and pig-monsters at our doors, and the best that most sentient beings can do is try to find some bit of security and happiness and try to believe that life will be OK, somehow, some way. The more I reflected on this, the more my heart opened to all sentient beings and the more I knew that I wanted to open to them and help them to be free from suffering. I have to tell you that this reflection preceded one of the biggest outpourings of compassion I've ever experience. I wept like a child.

I wish my heart would continually stay open in this manner. Retreat gave me the time to be quiet enough, for long enough, to allow some small measure of understanding to come forth of what my teachers have been pouring into me for some time now. I am so grateful to the Dharma, my teachers and my deceased dog-teacher, Gretchen, for guiding me. May all our pig-monsters and wolves be seen for the maras that they are. And may we all reach greater levels of compassion and combine it with wisdom in order to help others.

Ani Dadron

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.

What is different about Urban Dharma?

Right now, I am up in Maryland at the Tibetan Meditation Center annual spring retreat.  TMC is an older, well-established Tibetan Buddhist center, located just outside of Frederick, Maryland. They are an impressive organization: they own a large tract of land, have a main building and shrine hall, a large stupa, and events like this two-week long annual spring retreat (involving about five hours of teaching per day, every day), and also four resident Tibetan monastics.

However, Urban Dharma strives to do something different, to take on a different role and fill different needs than a 'traditional' Tibetan Buddhist center like TMC.  In many ways, we do not aim to be a Tibetan Buddhist center in the same sense.  While the teachings we follow and the spiritual masters we look up to fall within the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, we ultimately aim to practice Dharma, the truth of the Buddha's teachings, and not necessarily to replicate all the aspects of a traditional Tibetan Buddhist center.

One way this difference manifests, I believe, is in our relationship with monastics.  The vows of a monk or a nun are truly noble; they represent a clear awareness of the sufferings of samsara and a distinct and profound decision to turn away from worldly concerns and to focus on living the Buddha's teachings.  They are a powerful instance of sincere re-prioritization, of putting weight behind our common (and often too quickly passing) thoughts about the truth and preciousness of the Dharma.  However, it seems that in traditional Tibetan centers, from my experiences both in Malaysia and the US, the relationship between the laity and the monastics can sometimes be convoluted.  While monastic vows express an intent of focusing on Dharma, ironically, the monastic office can represent a distraction from Dharma for lay people.

It is in Dharma centers that I become most aware of the 'sneakiness' which our self-grasping and ignorance possess.  In these places, where we truly want to hear the Dharma, contemplate the Dharma, take it to heart and apply it in our lives; that is where our 'failures' to do so become most apparent.  It is good that they become clearer! If we do not recognize the negative in our actions, we won't change it.  But it is not as if we are magically transformed into better, more compassionate people when we pass through the doors of a Dharma center.  We are the same people we are in the rest of our lives (though it feeds our egos to sometimes pretend we are not).  Dharma centers represent a chance to improve our actions and our view.  But, it only obscures the problem if we pretend that we are 'realized' when we are in a Dharma center- these are the places where we can and should try to truly see where we are as clearly as possible.  Because unless we are honest about where we stand on the path now, it won't be possible for us to see the next step.

So, it is in this way that I have observed the monastic office, or the 'glamor of the robes', (along with ritual observances, formalities, cultural fetishes, etc) as providing a foothold for that 'sneakiness' of our impressive ability to distract ourselves: from the Dharma, from seeing clearly, from being totally honest with ourselves in the most uncompromising and unapologetic ways.  It is not, of course, monastics, or robes, or rituals, or formalities that are the problem! The problem is in the way we relate to them, and the way we mistake these traditional observances for the reason we have a Dharma center.

The reason for Urban Dharma, for this community, is to practice Dharma.  And to practice Dharma, I believe, is to practice seeing and acting clearly, and honestly, and truthfully.  Therefore, it makes more sense, to me, to emphasize community (our sangha) as a source of support to cut away at our delusions and to see clearly, than to place our emphasis on formalities surrounding the monastic office.  However, we can of course still practice by respecting the noble choices monastics have made; they can be a reminder of the importance of practicing Dharma sincerely and spur us on in our own efforts to cut delusion, rather than acting as a foothold for distraction and an object of fetishization of 'exotic Tibetan Buddhism'.  But, since it is so easy for us to get distracted from the Dharma, from our goal of seeing clearly, I think at Urban Dharma we want to limit these distractions.  We need to continually remind ourself as an organization along with ourselves as Dharma practitioners why Urban Dharma exists: to practice the Dharma, to practice seeing clearer and clearer, to practice seeing reality as it truly is.

Lama Zopa On His Poor Health and Practice

This is an article I got in my e-mail with all the random stuff that FPMT sends me, mostly I only flip through it, but this was really good. I thought you all might like it.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Own Update "So I guess you know I didn't take care well, [didn't do] daily exercise, didn't get to do daily walking and so forth, [I was] very weak. So then I think my self-cherishing thought went up, then paralysis happened. The doctors all think it's getting better, [I am] past danger, they all think I will get better soon. "[I] try to think a little bit [that I am] receiving the suffering, experiencing the suffering of all sentient beings, especially from whomever suffers [from high]

By propping his clasped hand on the table in front of him, Lama Zopa Rinpoche is able to keep his hands in the mudra of prostration while he offers his food, May 2011. Photo by Ven. Holy Ansett.

blood pressure, diabetes and paralysis. Also I pray to try to do this. It is an incredible opportunity, when I do that it purifies many, many, many – wow, can you imagine? – many eons of negative karma, wow, wow, so it is the quickest path to enlightenment.

"In the hospital I try to practice. I dedicate past, present, future merits to any people who come into my room or this hospital, or into the hospital before this. That any person who from now on comes into this room, any sick people who come, may they immediately recover from their sickness. Then any person who sits in my bed [in the hospital] from now on, may they immediately recover from their sickness, or if they die, may they never ever be born in the lower realms, may they get reborn in Buddha's pure land. I try to pray like this a few times a day. So wonderful, positive, to bring benefit here, so I try to do what I can.

"Then I realized today, usually I try to do 10,000 OM MANI PADME HUM [mantras per day], I increased this year to 20,000 OM MANI PADME HUM [mantras per day], and I turn the prayer wheel. I try to do three times the very, very, very long mantra, then the middle one, then OM MANI PADME HUM. [Rinpoche lists some of the benefits from reciting these mantras.] When I recite, I turn the prayer wheel, so this hand turns the prayer wheel and this hand [moves the] mala. So today and over the last few days I didn't get this done, so today I tried, but I can't use this hand, I can't turn the prayer wheel. I recite 20,000 mantras and then from time to time I turn the prayer wheel, but I can't do both, not possible. So incredible, with your hands free you can recite and turn a prayer wheel and count mantra, wow, wow, wow, what merits, the cause of enlightenment, with bodhichitta, incredible, unbelievable, unbelievable, with both hands free. So I realized how precious it is if you can use both hands, so precious.

"Then normally I do prostration to my altar, so before I always prostrate with two hands to my Gurus, Buddha, [but now] I can't use both hands, so I realized how fortunate it is if one can prostrate with both hands. With two hands it is so easy to create the cause of enlightenment, so easy to get the highest success in life. I told people you are so fortunate you can do that, I can't do that, so I realize how precious the body is, how you can [use it to be] so precious, so easy to create the cause of enlightenment.

"Thank you very much for the Medicine Buddha pujas, for everybody's prayers and practice.

"I am just experiencing my short comings of self-cherishing mind. According to one view, I lost and it won, that is according to one view. Then according to another view this [sickness] is the best thing to achieve enlightenment, the quickest way to achieve enlightenment.

"Thank you very much. Here I am the most fortunate person."

"This we must perceive and curb our wrath"

Bodhicharyavatara:6.65.4*

I am making my way through the patience chapter (6) of Bodhicharyavatara, and though work makes it impossible for me to attend the lectures live (and I'm making my way through the recordings, for now, rather slowly), I thought there might be some benefit in discussing what I've gone through so far.

I'll start by saying that even though various commentaries will segment parts of the text into more comprehensible parts and under an intelligent framework, trying to make these distinctions on my own has been quite hard, for part seems to blend into part, and sometimes it's easy to forget where the text is going, or where it has come from. At times, I have even wondered, "wait--what is this chapter about?" forgetting the very obvious, when confronting a smaller detail in the verse.

Yet sometimes a line will stand out and speak for itself:

24.1-2"Irritation, likewise, comes
Though never plans to be experienced!"

9.1-4"So come what may, I'll not upset
My cheerful happiness of mind.
Dejection never brings me what I want.
My virtue will be warped and marred by it."

14.1-2"There is nothing that does not grow light
Through habit and familiarity."

I think there is obvious benefit to studying this text and Shantideva's arguments. Sometimes an argument's relevancy is hit or miss (for me!), yet most of the arguments are precise in detail and intuitively graspable (for example when he argues, within the first ten stanzas, that we should avoid anger at all costs if only because of the reason that it destroys all of our happiness.) For no matter how many times we get angry, we never think about the things that Shantideva asks us to think about. Part of the problem is the instinctive "right" that anger brings with it.

Shantideva spends time talking about not being angry at your enemies--but what is surprising to me is how often I feel the spectrum from discontent to anger toward the people I love! And even with powerful, clear arguments that I support, and even when I recognize it at the moment that that anger arises, sometimes the "right" of anger feels more important than applying the dharma. So I think, if we really think about his arguments every day, and see how and when we get angry, we will really see the level of insanity that we are perfectly happy (so-to-say) living with. It makes me think how samsara doesn't stop once we become "buddhists," nor once we begin chanting some new syllables, nor if we even change our schedule a little to accommodate a practice. Samsara still rushes onward. I've enjoyed Shantideva because he brings you, if you let him lead you, to that edge where the insanity of samsara is undeniable. That at least is revulsion and effective in itself.

*For a while I was happily misreading this line as "Thus we must perceive and curb our wrath." With this in mind, I chose it for the title of this blog, for it fittingly, succinctly describes a theme I wanted to touch on: we must recognize wrath, and we must curb it. The actual line is slightly less powerful as a succinct title, for "this" is now the ambiguous place-holder for what we need to "perceive," the information for which proceeds this line (go look it up if you're curious!)

Repost: Here's the "look" I am going for for Urban Dharma

All three are from one of the Kechara centers in Malaysia.

Dharma in the World

Words from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche that are particularly relevant to our vision/understanding at Urban Dharma.

"As a follower of Siddhartha, you don't necessarily have to emulate his every action - you don't have to sneak out while your wife is sleeping."

"As we begin to understand the four views, we don't necessarily discard things; we begin instead to change our attitude towards them, thereby changing their value. Just because you have less than someone else doesn't mean that you are more morally pure or virtuous. In fact, humility itself can be a form of hypocrisy. When we understand the essencelessness and impermanence of the material world, renunciation is no longer a form of self-flagellation."

[Four views: all compounded things are impermanent, all afflicted emotions are painful, all things have no inherent existence, nirvana is peace/beyond concepts.]