Dharma Forest

Great Compassion: The topic for Tea & Dharma Night @ Teance

You're invited to come join the conversation on Great Compassion, with stories, songs, a puppet show and some outstanding tea! 

Great Compassion, in the Buddhist world, is the answer to the question: "after awakening, what next?

 is the ultimate destination on the Buddhist path to awakening, and one of those 

bright spots in the 

Interfaith dialogue where the Buddha's Dharma overlaps with the teachings of other religions. 

See you on 

Tuesday July, 2010  at Teance Tea Shop on 4th Street in Berkeley, at 7:30 PM.

Reminder: Spring Harvest Tea and Ageless Wisdom Teachings

Tea and Dharma tonight at Teance Tea Shop in Berkeley. The program begins at 7:30, no RSVP required, and the address is 1780 4th Street in Berkeley, CA, 94710. Come hear Riley the leprechaun's discuss finding a pot of gold vs. finding serenity.

Tea and Dharma Tuesday Night at Teance. Our Topic: What Is Important?

Please join us at Teance Tea Shop on 4th St. in Berkeley this coming Tuesday night (June 29, 2010) for a conversation about "What Is Important?" The stress afflicting us on normal, uneventful days can trigger emotional reactions to even trivial events. How to cope? When things go really wrong, how to find the center where we can use wisdom to respond appropriately?

We will look into this topic on Tuesday, with songs and puppets, who have a lot to teach us about putting things into perspective! The generous staff at Teance will be serving the finest Spring harvest teas. See you there!

Does the image above look like Earth Store Bodhisattva coming out of the sun? It was taken on June 18th, before the 15th observance of Master Hsuan Hua's entering Nirvana.

Bay Area Buddhist & Jewish Artists Sing, Pray for the Gulf Region

A reminder that seven Buddhist and Jewish artists from Berkeley and beyond will perform tonight in a benefit for the suffering of the Gulf Region oil spill. Here are the details once again. Hope to see you there.

EVENT TITLE:  A Song and A Prayer:
               A Public Gathering in Response
                   to the Gulf Coast Disaster  

ARTISTS INCLUDE:
Eve Decker,  (Original Songs, Buddhist)
Betsy Rose, (Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Singing For Peace)
Naomi Newman, (Traveling Jewish Theater)
Alan Senauke (Berkeley Zen Center)
Erika Luckett, Lisa Ferraro  (World Music, Sacred Songs of Rumi)
Rev. Heng Sure (Berkeley Buddhist Monastery)

  DESCRIPTION 
In response to a Sioux Elder’s call for an international day of prayer for the Gulf Region, we gather to sing our prayers and join hearts in compassion and concern for the ocean waters, the sea and land creatures, and the humans who dwell along the shores.

DATE/TIME:
Monday, June 21 (International Day of Prayer for the Gulf Region)
7:30 PM

LOCATION:
Berkeley Buddhist Monastery 
2304 McKinley Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94703
Wheelchair Accessible

COST: Donation-
This is a benefit evening for the Gulf Restoration Network  http://www.healthygulf.org/
Donations/Dana will go directly to this grassroots coalition protecting and restoring the Gulf Region.

Below find a message from Chief Arvol Looking Horse, whose call to prayer focused our effort.

"My Relatives, Time has come to speak to the hearts of our Nations and their Leaders. I ask you this from the bottom of my heart, to come together from the Spirit of your Nations in prayer.
 
We, from the heart of Turtle Island, have a great message for the World; we are guided to speak from all the White Animals showing their sacred color, which have been signs for us to pray for the sacred life of all things. As I am sending this message to you, many Animal Nations are being threatened, those that swim, those that crawl, those that fly, and the plant Nations, eventually all will be affect from the oil disaster in the Gulf.
 
The dangers we are faced with at this time are not of spirit. The catastrophe that has happened with the oil spill which looks like the bleeding of Grandmother Earth, is made by human mistakes, mistakes that we cannot afford to continue to make.
 
I asked, as Spiritual Leaders, that we join together, united in prayer with the whole of our Global Communities. My concern is these serious issues will continue to worsen, as a domino effect that our Ancestors have warned us of in their Prophecies.
 
I know in my heart there are millions of people that feel our united prayers for the sake of our Grandmother Earth are long overdue. I believe we as Spiritual people must gather ourselves and focus our thoughts and prayers to allow the healing of the many wounds that have been inflicted on the Earth. As we honor the Cycle of Life, let us call for Prayer circles globally to assist in healing Grandmother Earth (our Unc'I Maka).
 
We ask for prayers that the oil spill, this bleeding, will stop. That the winds stay calm to assist in the work. Pray for the people to be guided in repairing this mistake, and that we may also seek to live in harmony, as we make the choice to change the destructive path we are on.   As we pray, we will fully understand that we are all connected. And that what we create can have lasting effects on all life.
 
So let us unite spiritually, All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer. Along with this immediate effort, I also ask to please remember June 21st, World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites day. Whether it is a natural site, a temple, a church, a synagogue or just your  own sacred space, let us make a prayer for all life, for good decision making by our Nations, for our children's future and well-being, and the generations to come.
 
Onipikte (that we shall live),

Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe

One Week Without A Computer!

Made it through a week without my laptop. What a concept! My Macbook Pro's display went out. Still on warranty -- no loss of data. The iPhone filled in for surfing and email. Every other project on hold.

Computer Out Of Action

This morning my laptop display went dark and stayed dark. Stop! Makes you realize how much of the day's work depends on that computer. I planned to edit two videos, pay a phone bill, record song demos and mail them out, catch on up email and this blog, edit photos for friends and watch a video on monasticism in Europe. I planned to check on a price of a netbook for a friend overseas, and prepare to take my car in for new tires, after checking on line. I was going to catch up on the World Cup action in the evening.

I wound up carrying the laptop to Walnut Creek where Paul Pederson informed me that I'm still under warranty, even after 30 months, because I bought the extended warranty plan when the computer was new -- so I won't have to pay for these repairs. There is still the possibility that my hard drive died, so I've got my fingers crossed until I hear from the experts at the Apple Store on Wednesday afternoon. Thanks to Paul for his kind support.

Meanwhile this is a test of how much I can accomplish on my iPhone -- a real-world test of the computing powers of a smart phone. We'll see how well I do without a laptop for up to a week! Sure hope that hard drive is intact!

"A Song And A Prayer" Benefit For the Gulf Coast Disaster

On Monday night, June 21st, 2010, the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery will host an evening of music and (interfaith) spiritual devotions dedicated to raising awareness for the disastrous oil spill currently afflicting all of Nature. If you are in the Bay Area, please consider stopping in and taking part. Our Bay Area Buddhist Musicians and Friends, including Eve Decker,  (Original Songs, Buddhist), Betsy Rose, (Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Singing For Peace), Naomi Newman, (Traveling Jewish Theater), Edie Hartshorne, (Tibetan Bells, Koto), Alan Senauke (Berkeley Zen Center), Erika Luckett, Lisa Ferraro  (World Music, Sacred Songs of Rumi)  and Rev Heng Sure (Berkeley Buddhist Monastery).

Chief Arvol Looking Horse, a Sioux Elder, sent out a call for an international day of prayer for the Gulf Region. We decided to gather to sing our prayers and join our hearts in compassion and concern for the ocean waters, the sea and land creatures, and the humans who dwell along the shores.This is a benefit evening for the Gulf Restoration Network  http://www.healthygulf.org/ Donations/Dana will go directly to this grassroots network that is coordinating relief throughout the region.

Tea and Dharma Tuesday Night at Teance

Tuesday night at 7:30 PM at Teance Tea Shop, on 4th St. in Berkeley, Rev. Heng Sure will host the next Tea and Dharma Night at Teance.

This will be an interactive session on the topic: "Wish Three Changes for a Better World." If you could realize three wishes to change the world for the better, what would they be? For example, Heng Sure would wish for: a plant-based diet in schools and hospitals, and in the military; more public role models for strong and kind fatherhood; and transforming television into a subsidized, non-commercial medium. We will discuss possible ways to realize the changes we seek.

As always, the Dharma will be lively, the tea will be outstanding, the songs will be catchy and the puppets will amuse you!

Australian Wildlife Sanctuary!

Love the animals in Oz! Please enjoy these photos. Video clips to come. Photos taken in Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary near Brisbane and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary near Gold Coast.

Say Hello to An Echidna!

So what's an Echidna? It's an hedgehog-like, spiky Australian mammal that's born from an egg and probably lives under your porch if you live in Australia. Unhappily named after a Greek mythological creature known as the "Mother of All Monsters," the echidna isn't monstrous at all. He's downright cute, shy and a bit mysterious, because they live for up to sixty years but refuse to breed in captivity and are probably the most common crawling mammal you've never heard of. We got the low-down on the echidna yesterday at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, got some quality time with two boy echidnas and got some footage and snaps (and a hand puppet!)