Dharma Forest

It's Called The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

In 1978, while on a pilgrimage up the coast of California, I wrote a song dedicated to the place we hope to reach: the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. The song got me through many a hard time, and kept my heart focused on the goal when it would have been much easier to quit.

I will be singing this song at the CTTB this Sunday, as part of our 30 Anniversary celebrations. A Dharma-friend has put up a webpage with the lyrics of the song and an mp3 of me performing the song. Click here to listen.

Helen Woo Visits Berkeley Monastery

I was a brand-new Novice Monk when Helen Woo first arrived at Gold Mountain Monastery; I followed Master Hsuan Hua down to Los Angeles in 1975. Helen had convened the largest Refuge and Precepts ceremony in American Buddhist history in Pasadena; over 100 people became Master Hua's disciples,
Since then Helen has been one of DRBA's most able Dharma Protectors. She and her husband, Dr. Wesley Woo, were instrumental in supporting my Three Steps, One Bow pilgrimage back in 1977-79.

She remains a dedicated cultivator; Helen bows the 10, 000 Buddha's Repentance ceremony in her own Buddha Hall at home in LA. She came up recently to the Bay Area to tell stories for our Oral History Project of her life-changing encounters with our teacher. She is an inspiring story-teller and role model!

Inspiring Craftsmanship: Fabrizio Alberico's Latest Guitar

I own and admire Canadian Luthier (Guitar Builder) Fabrizio Alberico's guitar #3. Since 1998, when my beloved instrument was built, Fab has gone on to become one of Canada's, indeed one of the world's most respected makers of fine acoustic instruments. Fab is a performing musician as well, and recently developed a deep interest in yoga, in meditation, and in the Mahayana Buddha Dharma. 

He recently built a small-body, 00-size mahagony and spruce guitar; he has named it "Mary Rose" and sent me pictures and audio clips. Fab plays "Amazing Grace" and at the end of the clip the sustain of the guitar goes on and on. Listen for yourself:  Please click here to look at listen at Fab's latest guitar.

Here is a photo of my guitar (on the right) and it's brother, guitar #5.

Translation Conference In Los Angeles

Attended a conference at Hsi Lai Monastery in Los Angeles the first week of June, to investigate translation of Buddhist Sutras. Dr. Ron Epstein and I joined distinguished scholars to discuss progress in understanding the Buddha's spoken teachings. Many of the participants had been students of Prof. Lewis Lancaster over the years; I got reacquainted with Bill Powell, Carl Bielefeldt, Dr. Lancaster, and other friends, including Bill Porter (Red Pine), whose translations of Chinese Buddhist prose and poetry are highly regarded.

Click here for more information on the Conference.

Ron Epstein and I reported on the work being done by the Buddhist Text Translation Society, including our new translation of the Shurangama Sutra, which arrived from the printers just this week.

Highlights of the Conference included discussion of a proposed "Sutra Summer Camp" that could bring together both experienced and novice translators in a pleasant setting to share the tools and techniques of translation, combined with regular practice of the Dharma.

Vegan Buddhist Nuns Have Same Bone Density as Meat Eaters

Australian medical reserchers have published a study (click here to read the news item) that followed Vietnamese Buddhist nuns, who are vegan (consume no meat or dairy or eggs) and discovered a significant finding: although the womens' calcium intake is less than a third of meat eaters' intake, the vegan women's bone density was the same as women who eat meat and diary.

This survey's conclusion challenges a common criticism of vegan diets: that removing meat and dairy from one's diet makes one less healthy, particularly harming one's bone density.

Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea

Longtime friend of the Berkeley Monastery, Jaimal Yogis, has just published his first book: Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea. Jaimal studied Dharma here with a group of friends and their search is documented in this handsome paperback from Wisdom Publications. The story narrates Jamail's search for truth and happiness, and he identifies surfing and Buddha Dharma as two tools he uses to aid the search. Click here for more information.  I suspect Jaimal will always appear as a byline from distant lands. The last I knew he was a contributor to San Francisco Magazine; the year before, I heard he was flying through the smoky streets of New Delhi reporting on unrest between Indian religions; before that the report came from a  Hawa'iian beach where he landed after completing the Columbia Journalism School Master's degree, and so forth - - you get the point. 

Now this impressive piece of prose makes a mark- - www, jaimalyogis.com will help you get a copy; his website holds a video with footage of two actual surf runs! My experience with Jaimal so far has been, keep the meditation cushion warm because if he left recently, that means it won't be long til he's back for the sit! Congratulations, Dude!

Read the Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change

A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change deserves your attention - - please consider signing it and encouraging friends and family to do the same. You need not be a Buddhist to support the initiative - - living on the planet is enough! Click here to read about the Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change

Recite the "Universal Door Chapter" of the Lotus Sutra

Somebody suggested that we make a pledge to recite the "Universal Door Chapter" from the Lotus Sutra  with the wish that Guan Yin Bodhisattva might respond to end the suffering of people whose lives have been impacted by the economic crisis. The Universal Door Chapter (Pu Men Pin 普門品） is the story of Guan Yin Bodhisattva that is told in Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra. The idea caught on and lots of folks have already pledged to recite the sutra. Should you want to read it or recite it yourself, you can find it here.

We are inviting people to recite the sutra once a day or many times a day, up to reciting it 100 times, and then transfer the merit to end the suffering and hardship caused by the global recession that is plaguing so many individuals, families, and nations. We plan to gather in Berkeley on Saturday, August 15th and transfer the merit together.

Many people have experienced Guan Yin Bodhisattva's compassionate responses in their own lives; we are suggesting that Guan Yin can respond in a big way if we supply a large enough spiritual stimulus. It takes about twelve minutes to recite the Universal Door Chapter; then please transfer the merit or dedicate it with a prayer or a vow or a wish however your heart desires it.

Please do consider reciting this wonderful text and sending out your thoughts for healing energy for the world and for living beings.

Here is an English version (text format)  of the "Universal Door Chapter," translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.Download Pumenpin_text

Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi and Prof. Raoul Birnbaum in Dialogue

The Eighth Annual Master Hsuan Hua Memorial Lecture took place at the Pacific School of Religion on Thursday night, April 16th, 2009. Both speakers were in fine form, as they discussed the topic "In Search of a Genuine Engaged Buddhism: Voices from Ancient Texts, Calls From the the Modern World."

Ven. Bodhi spoke eloquently from the perspective of the Pali tradition of the Theravada; Prof. Birnbaum used the Mahayana Sutras in the Chinese tradition to expound his views on the Bodhisattva's vows and their implications for Engaged Buddhism. An overflow crowd estimated at 225 listeners heard two carefully reasoned positions, and then enjoyed the speakers' dialogue.

Both talks will be published in book form by Open Court Press in 2010. Stay tuned for further announcements about its preparation.

Layman Ha Guo-hong captured photos and videos of the event; please click on this link to view the images.

DRBY Conference at BBM

The 11th Annual Conference of the Dharma Realm Young Adults is happening this weekend in Berkeley at the Monastery. Organized and lead by college students and young professionals, the conference brought 100+ youth to the weekend gathering. Details are available at www.drby.net.

Learning Guqin In Shanghai

Musical Blessings! In Shanghai before returning to California I took a lesson on the ancient Chinese zither (table-top lute) at the You Huang Li Studio (幽篁里).

Director of the Studio, Qiao Shan, an accomplished performer and teacher of the guqin, showed me the basics of left and right hand techniques for making sounds correctly on the instrument. The guqin has been in constant play since the time of Confucius, and its music is soothing and deeply grounding. Some of the available music for guqin is thousands of years old, and one feels while listening, that the music speaks with the voice of the Dao.

World Buddhist Forum In China 2009

The Buddhist Communities of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong convened a huge gathering in Wuxi, China, and Taipei, Taiwan, called the World Buddhist Forum. Entitled "A Harmonious World, A Synergy of Conditions," this second Forum (the first was in 2003, in Hangzhou,)  brought together representatives from 50 Buddhist countries, the Forum met from March 28th to April 1st, 2009. This collaborative project used Buddhism to strengthen peaceful international ties across the Taiwan Straits and around the world. Over 1700 persons attended the opening day. The conference took place in Wuxi at The Ling Shan Fan Gong, a new venue that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, and was completed in two and a half years, only for this event.

Prof. Pan Zongguang, Chancellor Emeritus of Hong Kong Polytechnical University, co-chaired the 5th of seven speakers' panels on Opening Day.

Mr. Jet Li, who is a sincere Buddhist disciple, gave a rousing Dharma-talk about his Jet Li One Foundation.

Master Ming Zhe, of Qingdao's Sandalwood Monastery.

Dharma Master Jin Fan, of CTTB, addresses the Group on Challenges to Buddhist Education.

Dharma Master Jin Fan responds to questions during the Forum Group on Buddhist Education

Dragon Flower Monastery, Shanghai

My first two visits to China led me both times to Dragon Flower Monastery, (龍華寺）which has been a sacred, ancient corner of downtown Shanghai for 1800 years. My Dharma-friend Master Zhao Cheng has become the new Abbot, and he keeps track of all the activities of the Monastery, including the 40,000 guests who come to light incense and bow twice each month around the year.
 

 

Gao Min Monastery, Where Master Hsu Yun Was Enlightened

Master Hsu Yun, the Venerable teacher of Master Hsuan Hua, was enlightened in a famous episode at Gao Min Monastery in Jiangsu. After nearly dying from falling into a river on his way to a China Session, Master Hsu Yun heard a tea cup hit the floor and shatter. The sound woke him up to the source of his Buddha nature and his own mind. All his doubts fell away and his mind was luminous and boundless.

We visited Gao Min Monastery and toured its nine-story pagoda, the Chan Hall where Master Hsu Yun woke up (it's now the main dining hall) and a nearby convent where the sharira/relics of Ven. Master Lai Guo are preserved.I will post photos separately.

Elderly Buddhist Nun

This Bhikshuni is 81 years old and left home when she was 6. Wearing her robes she has been through the Republican Era, the Japanese Invasion, the Second World War, the Communist era, the Cultural Revolution and the current period of prosperity and renewal of Buddhism. She works every day in the garden and in the ceremony hall, serving as a model for the younger nuns.

The photo shows (wearing the red cap) the elderly nun, and in the back, the Abbot of her convent,  myself and Bhikshu Jin Fan, from the CTTB.

Seasoned Wooden Fish Shows How Its Done

There are layoffs all over the country but in Fa Yuan Monastery in Beijing, this veteran wooden fish is holding up fine. Despite younger, more attractive youth waiting for the job, seniors still set the pace in the Buddhist Sangha.

 

Visit to SARA in Beijing

Master Hsuan Hua's commentaries on sutras have been published by the Religious and Cultural Publishers of the Central Government of China for the last two years. Shi Fu's books have become the best sellers in their catalog, already being sold out and reprinted five times. We were hosted at a banquet by the State Adminstration for Religious Affairs (SARA) to celebrate the success of Master Hua's publications, and also to welcome SARA's latest title from us: Paramita: American Buddhist Folk Songs, in Chinese translation!

 
The photo shows our gathering for lunch at the Religious Affairs Office, in the Houhai section of Beijing, which is the former residence of the father of the last emperor of the Ching Dynasty, Puyi. From left to right: Mr. Lin Zhiping, our local Beijing Dharma-protector, Bureau Vice Chief Shi Yuanpeng, Chief of the Publishing Department Chen Hongxing, Jin Fan Shi, Heng Sure, Ms Guo Wei, Director of the Foreign Affairs Department of SARA, our mentor in China Madalena Tam, Vice Chief Ms. Dai Chenjing, and Han Song, Editor in Chief of the journal China's Religions.

Return Visit to Fa Yuan Monastery

In Western Beijing the ancient monastery known as Fa Yuan Si, "Source of the Dharma," is home to the Beijing Buddhist Studies Academy. Our Dharma-friend Master Yuan Chi is the Antiquities Librarian for the Buddhist Association of China. Every trip to Beijing we drop in to see what he has collected recently. After the Cultural Revolution Fa Yuan Monastery was the place where orphaned Buddha images found a home. As a result Master Yuan Chi has quite an outstanding collection of rare images and implements from the Three Kingdoms, Wei, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, . This time we got to look at an 1800 year old incense holder, and Guan Yin images from the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

 

The photo shows an incense urn (not a censor, but a pot for holding incense) from the Three Kingdoms period (2nd century CE).

Bookstore Mania!

Bookstores in China are places for wandering in fantasy, for hard study, for keeping up on current events, for browsing and for making the scene. We visited a big bookstore on Chang An Avenue, Beijing's main drag, and found this amazing scene, which I'm told is the same all over the country. People are welcome to browse all day in bookstores, and read in the aisles to their heart's content. The average Chinese loves to read, and bookstores are where the action is. The photo shows the "Foreign Popular Books" table and the pages were turning!

Sutra Reciting at Fa Yuan Temple

Spring has come to Beijing and this solitary laywoman has moved her seat out into the sun to recite the Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra at Fa Yuan Monastery (est. 645 CE) in downtown Beijing.

Monk Who Bows Footprints Into the Floor

The BBC has reported on a  monk who has bowed in a temple so many times that he has left permanent footprints on its wooden floor.

Hua Chi once prayed up to 3,000 times a day on the same spot, to ensure his soul makes a smooth transition in the afterlife.

Sign of the (Changing) Times In China

On the China Southern Airlines Flight to Shanghai the inflight magazine hosts an advertisement for outdoor gear, available across China. The picture shows a handsome Chinese man dressed in stylish outdoor mountain-climbing gear, His features are distinctly Han, pure ethnic Chinese, and he looks like a celebrity. He is looking upwards, gazing into the distance. Behind him are snow-capped Himalayan peaks and the obvious inference is that he has just conquored some very tall mountains.

The caption of the photo is "ziyou zhi xin" (自由之心）which means, "thoughts of freedom," or "the will to be free." Before the last several decades, the concept of ziyou, or freedom in the Western sense, was not a familiar concept in China. People identified more quickly with a clan, or a group, or a family, and less with "self-source," or individualism. Now the ads are glorifying self-made individuals who go out and subdue the world on their own. Sign of the changing times in China.

Our Temple in Six Turtles

A Trip to Kaohsiung County and Dharma Realm Monastery, Our Temple In Six Turtles

Liuguei (Six Turtles) is fifty kilometers from Kauhsiung. On both sides of the road are banana fields, paddy fields, pineapple groves, and mountains. En route we pass Meinong, the major settlement of Hakka people in Taiwan, then Chishan, a small but influential crossroads town and then into the mountains. The tiny villages unfold on both sides of the highway with the local folks’ lives passing right outside your window. Our monastery is out in the scenic mountains, fifteen minutes drive from the village of Six Turtles.

Folks come out in tee-shirts and flip-flops to roll up their steel security doors and open their shops for business. Right outside of town the banana and taro fields begin, and these are high production, agricultural fields that yield three harvests a year.  Old ladies in straw cone hats ride slow-moving bicycles, dogs sleep on the driveway. Young girls walking in file head to school with book bags on their backs, passing by hand-painted signs that announce temples and monasteries down the narrow lane, and in the distance, tall serrated mountains.  Once you enter our valley you find eighteen strangely shaped mountains, called the “Eighteen Arhats.” This is the setting for Dharma Realm Monastery, our monastic home in rural Taiwan.

You have to cross the Launung (Old Farmer) River, past the Catholic Orphanage and weave up through the fruit trees, around the driveway of the Taoist Temple to find our gate. You drive in past the Lichee grove and up the steep hill to our tiny place. A former resort home belonging to the uncle of a disciple of Master Hua, we got the building in 1989 and I was the first one to settle in, along with Bhikshu Heng Jang, of Malaysia.

Standing on the roof of our building and looking back down the valley you see two unusual mountain ranges sloping back towards the valley mouth. The mountains look precisely like two elephants kneeling down and paying homage to the distant valley entrance. The impression is uncanny. Every day during my year in residence here I meditated in the cool morning before sunrise; the sun rose and I practiced tai chi in sight of the two kneeling elephants. I felt that my meditation found solid footing at this point in my career as a meditator. The birds and insects wake up together and greet the rising sun in the steep jungle-covered hills that slope up behind the monastery.

Dharma Talks In Taiwan on March 15th

I gave Dharma-talks three times in one day: twice in Taichung, once in Kaohsiung, a total of six hours in full lotus on the Dharma-seat.

I felt at home on this green island, as always. Talk topics: because it was Guan Yin Bodhisattva’s holiday, I lectured on the many faces of compassion; and told numerous Guan Yin stories. The laity seemed happy to listen, as I was to see them. Many familiar faces, families whose stories I know.

The Taichung Branch is on the third floor of a city building; the first floor is a store that sells Buddhist ceremonial items: incense, wooden fishes and bells, beads and sutras. The second floor is a vegetarian restaurant, no meat dishes at all. The third floor is an altar and worship space with bowing cushions, Buddha images and behind, a kitchen. It’s set up for ceremonies and for listening to talks and lectures, then eating vegetarian meals together with lots of folks on Saturday and Sunday.

How unexpected, that a city boy from Toledo, Ohio would find himself feeling at home so far away.

Backstage at the National Chiang Kai-shek Concert Hall

Buddhist disciple, pianist Gwhyneth Chen performed in Taibei Friday night, March 13th, at the National Concert Hall with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra. The program was dedicated to Asian Valentine's Day, and 2500 enthusiastic listeners filled every seat. Ms Chen performed Tschaikowsky's Piano Concerto in a benefit for rare diseases. Her inspired performance was enthusiastically received: even the members of the orchestra and the conductor applauded her playing.

The photo below shows the banners that appeared on light poles in downtown Taibei advertising the performance.

The concert was held at the National Concert Hall. This hall is part of Taiwan’s National Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Center, a grand scale venue for classical music and also for Chinese opera.

Before the concert we attended the dress rehearsal and got a backstage tour of the piano storage room. Taiwan’s National Concert Hall, the premier venue for classical music performance in Taiwan, has an extraordinary selection of fine pianos. The average concert hall keeps a selection of three or four performance quality instruments for the artist to choose from. Taiwan’s National Concert Hall keeps on hand seven first class instruments, including four Steinway concert grands (each nine feet long), a Fazioli, a Bosendorfer, and a Yamaha. Gwhyneth Chen always requests Steinway #660, because of its rich sound and responsive touch.

The photo shows the piano storage room, with Ms Chen playing #660.

Vegie Lunch in Beijing

Near Yong He Gong, the former Imperial Lamasery in Beijing there is a vegetarian buffet that our local hosts patronize. It's called Xu Xiang Zai, "Pure Frangrance Vegetarian Restaurant." It's all you can eat, fresh, varied, and costs around $10.00 per person for lunch. The food is great!

The photo shows our delegation: from the left: Madalena Tam, Mr. Lin, our host, myself and Dharma Master Jin Fan from the CTTB, Jonathan Choo, from Singapore, in the back Mr. Chung Guo-chi, and on the far right in the red jacket is Mrs. Chung Guo-ju.

Back to Tea City!

What is a visit to Beijing without a trip to Tea City? Ma Lien Dao is a street in Western Beijing where all the tea lovers gather to sell tea, drink tea, compare teapot making skills and vend all the items that tea drinkers need to enjoy China's famous export, the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant, known world-wide as tea.

Because one of our local disciples is a true expert in tea appreciation, we get to go behind the scenes at Cha Cheng, "Tea City." The photos do not do justice to the three floors of Tea City, a shopping center devoted entirely to tea, with hundreds of merchants all competing to sell you the best Longjing, Pu'er, Da Hong Pao, Wulong, Tie Guan Yin teas in endless variety.

Imagine one store with several thousand purple clay teapots, then multiply that by a hundred stores, and you have an idea of the scale and the unique quality of Tea City. Our friend Mr. Lin, debated the merits of a handmade pot on sale for $10,000 US, and decided it was a bit over-priced, but still as a collectors item, it was worth it, because that particular maker, Mr. Hwang, was a much copied - - and much fraudulently imitated - - artist. So to have a genuine item made by him could be considered as an investment!

Taiwan Tranquillity

Taiwan is tranquil these days: only one baggage carousel was in use at noon in the Taoyuan airport.
Possible Cause #1:  business travelers have moved to China
Possible Cause #2:  commuter flights that just opened to China have moved to the Songshan city airport
Possible Cause #3: the economic depression has made people less willing to travel by air.

Another possible reason for the reduction in air travel is that Taiwan's new high-speed train is so convenient and lovely! We rode it from Taibei to Taichung and it was pleasant indeed!

One of Taiwan traffic's more endearing qualities: rarely do drivers on the island honk their horns in traffic. Traffic flows along nearly silently. Amazingly well-behaved drivers.

Taibei streets are clean and free of trash. Even in downtown one sees tidy streets and gutters - - I was told that that if a motorist flips a cigarette butt out of his car window, ordinary citizens with cameras can snap a photo of the license plate of the car and send it to the cops. The litterer gets fined $500.00 per piece of trash.

The air in Kauhsiung used to be the worst in Taiwan. Industry, the port, factories, the military bases, all pumped pollutants into the air. Now, no longer. The air today was partly cloudy and blue sky shone through.

Taiwan is in the middle of a nation-wide campaign to eliminate smoking in public places. Bravo!

The picture below shows the warm greeting our group received from the Taibei Dharma-friends.

Off To Taiwan & China

Off to Taiwan and China!
Starting on Tuesday, March 11th I will be travelling through Buddhist Taiwan and China. I'll be posting to Dharma Forest as often as I have Internet access. I hope to gather stories and pass on what I learn to you all.

Stay tuned!

Songs That Woke the World!

The Berkeley Monastery is hosting a "Sing-along Concert" of activist songs from the 60s. Called "protest songs," or "peace songs," or "freedom songs" or "anti-war songs," these tunes woke up a generation of people to the deeper connections and the deeper yearning for awareness in humanity around the world.

Betsy Rose, Alan Senauke, Melanie DeMore and I will be presenting a program of the finest of these songs this coming Sunday, March 1st, at 7:00 PM at the Monastery.

Holiday Spirit!

Louis the Berkeley Monastery Giraffe wants to wish you the best of holiday spirit!

Those Buddhist Christmas Carols Again!

Despite a diminishing number of requests, here they are again, the deathless Buddhist Christmas Carols! Happy Holidays!

Buddhist Carols

O Western Land of Utmost Bliss
O Western Land of Utmost Bliss
How pure we see thee lie.
Your lotus flowers give birth to us,
Our karma purified.
The vows of Amitabha,
The one of Limitless Light,
Saves everyone who says his name,
Reborn in pure delight.

Holiday Greetings!

Okay, in fact it's a Christmas song, but it's too good to pass up. Think: Santa and his reindeer singing to you like the Drifters! Click here, sit back and smile.

Sacred Cows Give More Milk

At the ISKCON center in Mayapur they treat cows kindly. It's true for most of India, to be sure, but the Krishna Devotees have created an Old Cows Home that really does it right. I took walks there in the mornings last week while in India for the URI Global Assembly. The story goes like this: in West Bengal, if a cow gets old and stops giving milk, it's hard on the farmer's pocketbook to keep feeding her/him/it. But in India people rarely kill cows so what to do? The Krishna center at Mayapur decided to invite the farmers to donate their old, milkless cows to the Mayapur Goshala, or "Cow Home." The cows came, the devotees gave each cow its own name, its own stall (with name painted overhead) and sang the names of God to the cows all day long. Guess what happened? The cows started to give milk again. So much milk that it provided for all the yoghurt, ghee, and millk needs for the entire community, with surplus to sell.

To Mayapur, India with a Voyage-air Guitar

Just returned from the United Religions Initiative's Global Assembly in Mayapur, India. Did a lot of singing this time. Traveling with a guitar has always been a problem and I believe I have found a solution. This trip I took a folding guitar, a Voyage-air, designed by Harvey Leach, in Colfax, California. It folds up into a backpack, then unfolds into a full-size, beautiful-sounding guitar. I used it a dozen times in front of hundreds of Interfaith friends, and here is the proof. Photos are by my traveling companion, Chung Guo-chi (Tru Chung). Click here for the photos!

I'm In Mayapur, West Bengal

I'm sitting in a tent at the United Religions Initiative's Global Assembly with 400 friends from 30 religions and 60 countries. An outstanding gathering of spiritual pilgrims and friends. I sang "Dedication of Merit" last night to conclude the program. Tomorrow we sail on the Ganges!

In the photo are the first URI friends I met in Mayapur: Sally Mahe and Charles Gibbs. Behind Sally and Charles are Abraham Karickam, a Mar Thoma Christian from Kerala, South India and Ratta Chana, a Sikh from Nairobi, Kenya.

President-Elect Obama's Spirituality

Here is a fascinating interview with President-Elect Obama about his spirituality. Recommended! Read also the comments on the Beliefnet.com page that follow the interview.

President-Elect Obama's Victory Speech

If you missed it, let me encourage you to watch and listen to a visionary leader's soaring words and inspiring spirit. The New York Times has an interactive site that scrolls the transcript along with the video of President-Elect Barack Obama's victory speech in Chicago on Nov. 4th, 2008. Click here to watch. Watch the faces of the audience as the eighteen minute clip continues. Bring a box of kleenex. Near the end, watch for Oprah Winfrey, standing in the crowd with tears in her eyes.

This is truly moving oratory; people are saying there have been two great Presidents from Illinois, both of them tall and skinny, one of them is named Lincoln. The other took the stage last night and began to heal the world's wounds.

iTunes U Dharma Talk at Stanford!

I spoke last year at Stanford to the combined Buddhist Community at Stanford and Center For Buddhist Studies. The topic was "Being Buddhist in America." The fun part is: you can download the whole talk, songs and all, as a podcast from iTunes U! Stanford had just launched iTunes U and my talk was among the very first to be recorded specifically for posting as a podcast. Visit this website or go to iTunes and type in Heng Sure. You'll see a Stanford Univ. logo with the title Spirituality and Religion. Click on it and then scroll down to lecture #17.  I'm listed as Venerable Reverend Heng Sure. The talk is a free download. Click on "Get" and the mp3 file will begin to download.

It's 93 minutes long. Enjoy!

 

Buddhist BBQ With Sunnyvale Chan Meditation Center

The Berkeley Monastery Community joined hands with Sunnyvale's Chung Tai Chan Meditation Center on September 7th, 2008 for a Buddhist BBQ. A special treat awaited our group when we arrived:  Master Jian Hu's also invited the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley AND the Tzu Chi Foundation for an interfaith dialogue. We got the tour of Chung Tai's excellent new faciltiy that only recently opened their doors. Then we drove across town to a city park where we ate a delicious vegetarian BBQ picnic and sang music. I sang some new Buddhist songs, the Chan Center choir sang some Chinese Buddhist favorites, and the Jewish Council did some impromptu songs particular to Rosh Hashana, which was being celebrated at the time. Here is an article from the online newsletter of the Community Relations Council saying some nice things about the day.

Teance Tea Shop Dharma Talks!

Once a month I convene a Dharma-gathering at the Teance Tea Shop on Fourth Street in Berkeley. We talk about truth, compassion and stories from our lives; we drink tea and sing.

The owners and managers of Teance, Winnie Yu, Futung Cheng, and Yadollah Moghaddam have been friends for decades; bringing Dharma and music to a small roundtable group every month is a joy and a privilege.

Berkeley Monastery Oregon Mountains Dharma Retreat

Buddha Root Farm! If the name sounds exotic, imagine how it feels to drive twenty miles into the remote green mountains of coastal Oregon, beyond cell phones, beyond stores, to where the road loses its yellow stripe and the surroundings include black bears and Buddhist monks! Imagine meditating with Dharma friends on a misty mountain morning and hiking in the afternoon to a far-away waterfall.

Monastic Sangha Gathering at Shasta Abbey

Members of the North American Monastic Sangha gathered again at Shasta Abbey this summer; I have clipped below an article written by Bhikshuni Heng Yin, who reported on the conference for DRBA's periodical, Vajra Bodhi Sea.

Western Buddhist Monastic Conference 2008
by Bhikshuni Heng Yin

From June 23-27, thirty-five monastics from 23 monasteries and Dharma centers, representing Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions originating from Asian countries such as Thailand, Burma, China, Japan, Vietnam, and Tibet, convened at Shasta Abbey in Mount Shasta, northern California, for the 14th Annual Western Buddhist Monastic Conference.

North American Interfaith Network Connect!

N.A.I.N., the North American Interfaith Network held its annual gathering at the University of San Francisco  from  July 24-28, 2008. I sang with my 12-string guitar to open the first morning session. The friendly relationship between the URI and NAIN is  example of Interfaith fellowship done in the spirit of harmony and collaboration. As I sang in the USF cafeteria at 8:30 AM, so many friendly URI faces came in, including the URI Founder, Bishop William Swing, URI former Chair Rita Semel, URI Executive Director Charles Gibbs, Core Staff Sally Mahe and Barbara Hartford, and many other Global Trustees, including my fellow North American colleagues, P.K.McCary and Adelia Sandoval.

Design and Process Science Conference in Taichung

In early June I traveled to Taichung to attend the annual Conference of the Society for Design & Process Science (SDPS). This year they met in Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan. I spoke about Buddhist views on being a "Transdiscipinarian," somebody who wears many different hats while integrating the effort in service to humanity. I introduced Master Hsuan Hua's legacies: establishing the Sangha in the West, Translating the Mahayana Sutras into the world's langauge, setting up schools in every monastery, and advocating interfaith harmony as an example of transdisciplinary pioneer vision. The Mahayana Bodhisattva has to expediently teach all living beings where they are, each according to their abiities to understand.

Gethsemani III Buddhist-Catholic Gathering

Monks and nuns, both Catholic and Buddhist, have always lived simply, and close to the natural world. Monastic communities East and West have served as stewards of the environment, rooted in place locally, since the Buddhist monastics put down roots in India and the Desert Fathers (and Mothers) went to ground in North Africa and the Mediterranean countries.

Catching Up On Summer

This summer I attended conferences: Gethsemane III in Trappist, Kentucky; the SDPS Transdisciplinary Conference On Integrated Systems, Design and Process Science in Taichung, Taiwan; the North American Interfaith Network's Gathering in San Francisco; the American Hymn Society in Berkeley, the North American Monastic Sangha Gathering in Mt. Shasta, California, the Buddhist Music Festival in Long Beach, and the Swannanoa  Gathering in Warren Wilson College, North Carolina. In the articles to come I'll be posting photos and details.

Autumn is here and the Berkeley Monastery is back to school!
(Photo caption: The Ashtronauts, otherwise known as Ashely Broder's Intermediate Mandolin class from Swannanoa's Guitar Week).

"Dedication of Merit"

"Dedication of Merit," filmed last year at the 5th Global Sangha Conference in Kulala Lumpur, Malaysia. The melody is Loreena McKennitt's "Dark Night of the Soul."

"Repentance Verse" on YouTube

"Repentance Verse," filmed at the Fifth Global Sangha Conference in Kuala Lumpur, last year. The melody is Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain."

"American Beef Cow" on YouTube

Hi,

Did you all know I've got three songs up on YouTube? The videos were taken last year at the 5th Global Sangha Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Enjoy!