Dharma Forest

Meditation Retreat In the Oregon Mountains

Sixty Dharma Friends spent five days in the mountains of Coastal Oregon; studying the Shurangama Sutra. Click on the photo to see the bright faces.

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.

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.

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.

DRBA Delegation In Chinese Buddhist News

The online home of the Chinese Buddhist Association, "Buddhism On-line"  has posted news of our delegation's visit to the headquarters of the Chinese Buddhist Association and our visit to Master Shenghui at Guangji Monastery on Sept. 7th, 2006.

The link to the Chinese language pages is here.

After the jump you can find the Simplified Chinese news account of our visit.

White Feathers Across the Lawn

Sad to report that the CTTB's magnificent, pure white albino peacock was eaten by a wildcat last month. He was everybody's favorite, spectacular, and strange to say, so dedicated to protecting the Patriarch Hall that he seemed to report to work at the same time every day, patrolling the door to the Hall, rain or shine. He'd nest on the roof at night and be back to work the next morning, right on time.

We've chanted on his behalf; his feathers were collected. Perhaps he accomplished his karmic debts and is now enjoying another rebirth in a better body than an albino bird's. He certainly made a lot of people happy as a peacock. An outstanding Dharma-protector! May he enjoy his merit in lives to come.

Life in a Theravada Monastery

Visit to Bodhinyana Monastery. Invited by Ajahn Brahm to stay in Bodhinyana Monastery, Western Australia, was an outstanding experience. Continuing the brotherhood begun by Master Husan Hua and Ajahn Sumedho, I have the privilege of learning about Theravada Buddhism.

Vererables Aninja, Sumana and myself.

Almsround at the Monastery

Dharma Assembly in Taichung

Traveled through Asia with 61 Dharma-friends from all over the US and Canada, on a Dharma-tour Delegation from DRBA, our home organization. When DRBA goes to Asia, by and large we do what are called "Dharma Assemblies" or "fa-hui" in Chinese. Most Western Dharma-friends have not experienced Dharma Assemblies, and at some point I would like to capture the feeling and the energy of 600 people bowing and chanting together for up to 21 days, with the Dharma of sutras, praises, offerings, repentances, silence, movement, constant bowing and absolute harmony of voices and consciousness by so many people all at once.

My experience of the Dharma Assembly can be shared a bit by these superb photographs by Mr. Larry Hsieh (Hsieh Kuo-cheng) a photographer from Taiwan, who is also a long-term disciple of the later Master Hsuan Hua.

Larry Hsieh's photographs convey the intense personal encounter with the Dharma, in a group setting, that is the essence of the Fahui. I hope you all get a sense of this amazing "door to the Dharma," through his photos.

Click here for the photo album.

New Year's Day 2006

Made a vow yesterday to memorize the English version of the "Universal Door Chapter" of the Lotus Sutra. That's the chapter on Guan Yin Bodhisattva's ability to help people. It's full of goodness and truly inspiring. Here's a link to an English translation.

I've memorized it in Chinese and recited it for 20 years but learning the text by heart in English will be a new experience.

The next step: setting the "Universal Door Chapter" to music!

Mall Monks

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on a phenomenon in Thailand:

Mall monks

November 28, 2005

SHOPPERS in Thailand will soon also be able to get their daily dose of dharma under a plan to install monks in department stores. Agence France-Presse reports that under the "meet the monk in a quiet corner" project, the Ministry of Culture plans to rent out space in stores where shoppers can have a quiet chat with clergy.

"People nowadays have no time to go to temples, only shopping malls," the Culture Minister, Uraiwan Thienthong, was quoted as saying by local media. "They can get closer to religion if we provide the opportunity."