Please check out the new DRBY Dharma Realm Buddhist Young Adults blog. You'll find articles, reflections, photos and insights written and designed entirely by young adults. Inspired by the vision of Master Hsuan Hua as he brought the essential teachings of the Buddha to the West, this new publication hits the right spot.
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!
Looking back on a travelin' year, today, at the change of the calendar. New music CD, and new story-telling CD, (type Heng Sure into the Apple iTunes store search window) travels to nine countries and nearly 200 Dharma talks or Sutra lectures, classes or music performances. This is of course, what monks do, especially if you're a disciple of the late Master Hsuan Hua. You do that as long as possible without burning out and then you balance it with stillness. So I'm heading for a period of stillness, I plan a reteat to write a book, from February til April, if I can. More on that later.
Until then, Happy New Year, may 2008 bring you all the happiness you seek. Together let's wish that all beings quickly realize the fruition of all their good karma and all their negativity vanish like ice melting in the warm Spring breeze.
On every mountain trail we climb, at each monastery we visit, we hear two monks' names: Master Xuyun, and Master Hsuan Hua. Of course Master Hsuan Hua is the reason we are visiting Buddhist Monasteries in the first place. He is the founder of our Buddhist association, and the monk who brought the Dharma to the West. But his Dharma-transmitter, the 120 year-old Great Master, our grand-teacher, Master Xuyun, (Empty Cloud) is the monk from whom all Chan teachings flow in China for the last century.
For the last two days we have stayed at Zhenru Monastery on Yunju (Cloud Dwelling) Mountain in Jiangxi Province.
At the San Francisco Zen Center
December 24th, 2005, Christmas eve day. (Photograph by John Hall)
To listen to this talk, Mac users click here.
The Chatauqua institution in Jamestown, New York, around the turn of the century (20th century,) was an American Institution of religion and learning. Chatauqua meant culture, it meant oratory, it meant great preachin' and story-tellin'.
When it began in 1879, Chatauqua was a Methodist campsite out in the woods where folks went to meet God, listen to inspired words, and sing good choral music. Then after the sermon and the concert you sat on a porch and talked about what was wrong and right about our country. Many great orators of the 19th and 20th century at one time held the podium at Chatauqua. Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his "I Hate War" speech from the Amphitheater platform in 1936.
I lecture on the Avatamsaka Sutra's "Ten Practices Chapter" every Saturday night from the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery on Saturday nights.
Our lecture staff, John and Lucie Hall, Philip Lai, Loc Huynh and Hong Ha, have received requests to make the audio available for download so folks can listen to the talks later on.
This is especially useful if you happen to be in a time zone different from California's.
The audio has been available in MP3 format at Dharmaradio.org. for online listening (streaming) or for download.
Now with the advent of Apple's iTunes. 4.9, there is a new, more convenient way to download and listen to Buddha Dharma: the podcast.
Now you can use the free Apple program iTunes to subscribe to the lectures on your PC or Mac.
Continue reading "Sutra Lecture Podcasts Now Available Through iTunes" »
Starting Wednesday night, March 30th, 2005 and continuing for two more months, (April 27th and May 25th), I will be lecturing at the Land of Medicine Buddha on "Sutras and Bodhisattvas," focusing in particular on Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, the Awakened Being of Great Practice. The lectures begin at 7:00 PM and I will introduce this Bodhisattva, known as Universally Worthy, or Universally Good, and his many functions in the Mahayana Buddhist universe.
