Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Buddhism Body Art Project: Dharma Wheel

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Buddhism Body Art Project: Dharma Wheel Nov 30th 2011, 13:01 The Buddhism Body Art Project is a gallery of Buddhist-themed tattoos sent in by readers and others. The Dharma Wheel, also called the dharma-chakra or dhamma chakka, is one of the most well-known symbols of Buddhism. Owner: Jacqui Panek. Studio: Armory Studio, MA The Dharma Wheel, one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols, also is one of the most recognized symbols of Buddhism. The Wheel has eight spokes, representing the Eightfold Path. According to tradition, the Dharma Wheel was first turned when the Buddha delivered his first sermon after his enlightenment.

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Gandhara part one

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Gandhara part one Nov 30th 2011, 13:01 In 2001 the world mourned the senseless destruction of the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the Buddhas of Bamiyan are only a small part of a great heritage of Buddhist art that is being destroyed by war and fanaticism. This is the heritage of Buddhist Gandhara. The ancient kingdom of Gandhara stretched across parts of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was a vital commercial center of the Middle East many centuries before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. For a time, Gandhara also was a jewel of Buddhist civilization. Scholars of Gandhara traveled east to India and China and were influential in the development of early Mahayana Buddhism. The art of Gandhara included the earliest oil paintings known in human history and the first -- and some of the most beautiful -- depictions of bodhisattvas and the Buddha in human form. However, the artifacts and archaeological remains of Gandhara still are being systematically destroyed by the Taliban. The loss of the Bamiyan Buddhas gained the world's attention because of their size, but many other rare and ancient pieces of art have been lost since. In November 2007 the Taliban attacked a seven-meter tall, 7th century stone Buddha in the Jihanabad area of Swat, severely damaging its head. In 2008 a bomb was planted in a museum of Gandharan art in Pakistan. The explosion damaged more than 150 artifacts. The Significance of Gandharan Art Nearly 2,000 years ago, artists of Gandhara began to sculpt and paint the Buddha in ways that have influenced Buddhist art ever since. Earlier Buddhist art did not depict the Buddha. Instead, he was represented by a symbol or an empty space. But Gandharan artists pictured the Buddha as a human being. In a style influenced by Greek and Roman art, Gandharan artists sculpted and painted the Buddha in realistic detail. His face was serene. His hands were posed in symbolic gestures. His hair was short, curled and knotted at the top. His robe was gracefully draped and folded. These conventions spread throughout Asia and are found in depictions of the Buddha to this day. In spite of its importance to Buddhism, much of the history of Gandhara was lost for centuries. Modern archaeologists and historians have pieced together some of the story of Gandhara, and fortunately much of its wonderful art is safe in the world's museums, away from war zones. Where Was Gandhara? The Kingdom of Gandhara existed, in one form or another, for more than 15 centuries. It began as a province of the Persian Empire in 530 BCE and ended in 1021 CE, when its last king was assassinated by his own troops. During those centuries it expanded and shrank, and its borders changed many times. You can find the general area of Gandhara on this map of present-day Afghanistan and part of Pakistan. The old kingdom included what is now Kabul, Afghanistan and Islamabad, Pakistan. Find Bamiyan (spelled Bamian) west and slightly north of Kabul. The area marked "Hindu Kush" also was part of Gandhara. This map of Pakistan shows the location of the historic city of Peshawar. The Swat Valley, not marked, is just west of Peshawar and is important to the history of Gandhara. How Buddhism Came to Gandhara Although this part of the Middle East has supported human civilization for at least 6,000 years, our story begins in 530 BCE. That year the Persian Emperor Darius I conquered Gandhara and made it part of his empire. Then in 333 BCE Alexander the Great defeated the armies of Darius III and gained control of Persia, and by 327 BCE Alexander controlled Gandhara also. One of Alexander's successors, Seleucus, became ruler of Persia and Mesopotamia. The Seleucid Empire officially lasted from 312 to 63 BCE. However, Seleucus made the mistake of challenging his neighbor to the east, the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya of India. The confrontation did not go well for Seleucus, who ceded much territory, including Gandhara, to Chandragupta. Chandragupta left the Mauryan Empire, which included the territory of Gandhara, to his son, Bindusara. When Bindusara died, probably in 272 BCE, he left the empire to his son, Ashoka. Ashoka the Great Ashoka (ca. 304â€"232 BCE; sometimes spelled Asoka) originally was a warrior prince known for his ruthlessness and cruelty. According to legend he was first exposed to Buddhist teaching when monks cared for his wounds after a battle. However, his brutality continued until the day he walked into a city he had just conquered and saw the devastation. "What have I done?" he cried, and vowed to observe the Buddhist path for himself and for his kingdom. Ashoka's empire included almost all of present-day India and Bangladesh as well as most of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was his patronage of Buddhism that left the greater mark on world history, however. Ashoka was instrumental in making Buddhism one of the most prominent religions of Asia. He built monasteries, erected stupas, and supported the work of Buddhist missionaries, who took the dharma into Gandhara and Gandhara's western neighbor, Bactria. King Menander The Mauryan Empire declined after Ashoka's death. The Greek-Bactrian King Demetrius I conquered Gandhara about 185 BCE, but subsequent wars made Gandhara an Indo-Greek kingdom independent of Bactria. One of the most prominent of the Indo-Greek kings of Gandhara was Menander, also called Melinda, who ruled from about 160 to 130 BCE. Menander is said to have been a devout Buddhist. The Pali Canon contains a dialogue, called The Milindapañha, alleged to be between King Menander and a Buddhist scholar named Nagasena. After Menander's death Gandhara was invaded again, first by Scythians and then Parthians. The invasions wiped out the Indo-Greek kingdom. Next page: The rise and decline of Gandharan Buddhist culture; the Buddhas of Bamiyan; Islam comes to Gandhara.

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Buddhism: Deep Honesty

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Deep Honesty Nov 29th 2011, 14:19 This week's main feature article is on the Fourth Buddhist Precept -- do not lie, or refrain from falsehood. On the surface, this is one of the more uninteresting Buddhist Precepts. Number One on the "interesting" countdown must be Number Three, on sexuality. Precepts one and five, on killing and intoxicants, probably come after that. The Second Precept tells us not to steal, and the Fourth tells us not to lie. Some of us might be inclined to check those off pretty quickly. They sound like what we learned in Sunday School, after all. But as in most things, the Precepts go much, much deeper. Speaking truth comes from a practice of truthfulness, or deep honesty. One of the things I first appreciated about Zen practice is that it requires self-honesty. Whatever shtick has gotten you through life is revealed to be a hindrance instead of a crutch, and the myriad little lies and rationalizations we tell ourselves about ourselves fall away. (And they're still falling away.) Another aspect of deep honesty is remaining open to truth. So often we "make up our minds" about the way things are, and then we are closed. Certitude is a dead end. Always leave room for new understanding, even if you like your current understanding. Especially if you like your current understanding. Be particularly mistrustful of "facts" that fit too neatly into your worldview. Stay open to the realization that your worldview is an illusion, even if it doesn't seem to be an illusion. Ultimately, speaking truth can only be built on a practice of truth. Deep honesty does not try to protect our ego, serve our self-interests or confirm our biases. And if we're not being sincerely honest, how can we be truthful?

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Dogen

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Dogen Nov 28th 2011, 19:46 Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), also called Dogen Kigen or Dogen Zenji, was a Japanese Buddhist monk who established Soto Zen in Japan. He is also known for the collection of his writing called Shobogenzo, a masterpiece of the world's religious literature. Dogen was born in Kyoto into an aristocratic family. He was said to have been a prodigy who learned to read both Japanese and classic Chinese by the time he was 4. Both of his parents died while he was still a small boy. The death of his mother, when he was 7 or 8, affected him especially deeply, making him aware of the impermanence of life. Early Buddhist Education The orphaned boy was taken in by an uncle who was a powerful, highly placed adviser to the emperor of Japan. The uncle saw to it the young Dogen received a good education, which included study of important Buddhist texts. Dogen read the eight volume Abhidharma-kosa, an advanced work of Buddhist philosophy, when he was 9. When he was 12 or 13 Dogen left that uncle's house and went to the temple Enryakuji, on Mount Hiei, where another uncle was serving as a priest. This uncle arranged for Dogen to be admitted to Enryakuji, an enormous temple complex of the Tendai school. The boy immersed himself in Tendai meditation and study, and he was ordained a monk at the age of 14. The Great Question It was during Dogen's teenage years at Mount Hiei that a question began to nag at him. His teachers told him that all beings are endowed with Buddha nature. That being the case, why was it necessary to practice and seek enlightenment? His teachers gave him no answer that satisfied him. Finally, one suggested that he seek out a teacher from a school of Buddhism that was new to Japan -- Zen. Years before, Eisai (1141-1215), another monk of Enryakuji, had left Mount Hiei to study in China. He came back to Japan as a teacher of the Linji, or Lin-chi, school of Chan Buddhism, which would be called in Japan Rinzai Zen. It is likely that by the time the 18-year-old Dogen reached Eisai's temple Kennin-ji in Kyoto, Eisai already was dead, and the temple was headed by Eisai's dharma heir Myozen. Travels to China Dogen and his teacher Myozen traveled to China together in 1223. In China, Dogen went his own way, traveling to a number of Chan monasteries. Then in 1224, he found a teacher named Rujing who lived in what is now the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang. Rujing was a master of a Chan school called Ts'ao-Tung in China, and which would be called Soto Zen in Japan. One morning Dogen was sitting zazen with other monks as Rujing was circumambulating the zendo. Suddenly Rujing berated the monk next to Dogen for falling asleep. "The practice of zazen is the dropping away of body and mind!" Rujing said. "What do you expect to accomplish by dozing?" At the words "dropping away of body and mind," Dogen experienced a deep realization. Later he would use the phrase "dropping body and mind" frequently in his own teaching. In time, Rujing recognized Dogen's realization by giving him a teacher's robe and formally declaring Dogen to be his dharma heir. Dogen returned to Japan in 1227, and Rujing died less than a year later. Myozen had also died while in China, and so Dogen returned to Japan with his ashes. Master Dogen in Japan Dogen returned to Kennin-ji and taught there for three years. However, by this time his approach to Buddhism was radically different from the Tendai orthodoxy that dominated Kyoto, and to avoid political conflict he left Kyoto for an abandoned temple in Uji. Eventually he would establish the temple Kosho-horinji in Uji. Dogen again ignored orthodoxy by taking students from all social classes and walks of life, including women. But as Dogen's reputation grew, so did the criticism against him. In 1243 he accepted an offer of land from an aristocratic lay student, Lord Yoshishige Hatano. The land was in remote Echizen Province on the Sea of Japan, and here Dogen established Eihei-ji, today one of the two head temples of Soto Zen in Japan. Dogen fell ill in 1252. He named his dharma heir Koun Ejo the abbott of Eihei-ji and traveled to Kyoto seeking help for his illness. He died in Kyoto in 1253. Dogen's Zen Dogen left us a large body of writing celebrated for its beauty and subtlety. Often he returns to his original question -- If all beings are endowed with Buddha Nature, what is the point of practice and enlightenment? Fully penetrating this question has been a challenge to Soto Zen students ever since. Very simply, Dogen stressed that practice does not "make" a Buddha, or turn human beings into Buddhas. Instead, practice is an expression, or manifestation, of our enlightened nature. Practice is the activity of enlightenment. Zen teacher Josho Pat Phelan says, "Therefore, it’s not even we who do the practice, but the Buddha we already are who practices. Because of this, realization is the practice of non-dual effort, not the result or accumulation of some earlier practice. Dogen said, 'Realization, neither general nor particular, is effort without desire.'"

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Parinirvana

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Parinirvana Nov 28th 2011, 19:46 This abridged account of the historical Buddha's passing and entry into Nirvana is taken primarily from the Maha-parinibbana Sutta, translated from the Pali by Sister Vajira & Francis Story. Other sources consulted are Buddha by Karen Armstrong (Penguin, 2001) and Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press, 1991). Forty-five years had passed since the Lord Buddha's enlightenment, and the Blessed One was 80 years old. He and his monks were staying in the village of Beluvagamaka (or Beluva), which was near the present-day city of Basrah, Bihar state, northeast India. It was the time of the monsoon rains retreat, when the Buddha and his disciples stopped traveling. Like an Old Cart One day the Buddha asked the monks to leave and find other places to stay during the monsoon. He would remain in Beluvagamaka with only his cousin and companion, Ananda. After the monks had left, Ananda could see that his master was ill. The Blessed One, in great pain, found comfort only in deep meditation. But with strength of will he overcame his illness. Ananda was relieved, but shaken. When I saw the Blessed One's sickness my own body became weak, he said.Everything became dim to me, and my senses failed. Ye I still had some comfort in the thought that the Blessed One would not come to his final passing away until he had given some last instructions to his monks. The Lord Buddha responded, What more does the community of monks expect from me, Ananda? I have taught the dharma openly and completely. I have held nothing back, and have nothing more to add to the teachings. A person who thought the sangha depended on him for leadership might have something to say. But, Ananda, the Tathagata has no such idea, that the sangha depends on him. So what instructions should he give? Now I am frail, Ananda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year, and my life is spent. My body is like an old cart, barely held together. Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no other refuge; with the Dharma as your island, the Dharma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge. At the Capala Shrine Soon after he had recovered from his illness, the Lord Buddha suggested he and Ananda spend the day at a shrine, called the Capala Shrine. As the two elderly men sat together, the Buddha remarked upon the beauty of the scenery all around. The Blessed One continued, Whosoever, Ananda, has prefected psychic power could, if he so desired, remain in this place throughout a world-period or until the end of it. The Tathagata, Ananda, has done so. Therefore the Tathagata could remain throughout a world-period or until the end of it. The Buddha repeated this suggestion three times. Ananda, possibly not understanding, said nothing. Then came Mara, the evil one, who 45 years earlier had tried to tempt the Buddha away from enlightenment. You have accomplished what you set out to do, Mara said. Give up this life and enter Parinirvana [complete Nirvana] now. The Buddha Relinquishes His Will to Live Do not trouble yourself, Evil One, the Buddha replied. In three months I will pass away and enter Nirvana. Then the Blessed One, clearly and mindfully, renounced his will to live on. The earth itself responded with an earthquake. The Buddha told the shaken Ananda about his decision to make his final entry into Nirvana in three months. Ananda objected, and the Buddha replied that Ananda should have made his objections known earlier, and requested the Tathagata remain throughout a world-period or until the end of it. To Kushinagar For the next three months, the Buddha and Ananda traveled and spoke to groups of monks. One evening he and several of the monks stayed in the home of Cunda, the son of a goldsmith. Cunda invited the Blessed One to dine in his home, and he gave the Buddha a dish called sukaramaddava. This means "pigs' soft food." No one today is certain what this means. It may have been a pork dish, or it may have been a dish of something pigs like to eat, like truffle mushrooms. Whatever was in the sukaramaddava, the Buddha insisted that he would be the only one to eat from that dish. When he had finished, the Buddha told Cunda to bury what was left so that no one else would eat it. That night, the Buddha suffered terrible pain and dysentery. But the next day he insisted in traveling on to Kushinagar, located in what is now the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. On the way, he told Ananda not to blame Cunda for his death. Ananda's Sorrow The Buddha and his monks came to a grove of sal trees in Kushinagar. The Buddha asked Ananda to prepare a couch between to trees, with its head to the north. I am weary and want to lie down, he said. When the couch was ready, the Buddha lay down on his right side, one foot upon the other, with his head supported by his right hand. Then the sal trees bloomed, although it was not their season, pale yellow petals rained down on the Buddha. The Buddha spoke for a time to his monks. At one point Ananda left the grove to lean against a door post and weep. The Buddha sent a monk to find Ananda and bring him back. Then the Blessed One said to Ananda, Enough, Ananda! Do not grieve! Have I not taught from the very beginning that with all that is dear and beloved there must be change and separation? All that is born, comes into being, is compounded, and is subject to decay. How can one say: "May it not come to dissolution"? This cannot be. Ananda, you have served the Tathagata with loving-kindness in deed, word, and thought; graciously, pleasantly, wholeheartedly. Now you should strive to liberate yourself. The Blessed One then praised Ananda in front of the other assembled monks. Parinirvana The Buddha spoke further, advising the monks to keep the rules of the order of monks. Then he asked three times if any among them had any questions. Do not be given to remorse later on with the thought: "The Master was with us face to face, yet face to face we failed to ask him." But no one spoke. The Buddha assured all of the monks they would realize enlightenment. Then he said, All compounded things are subject to decay. Strive with diligence. Then, serenely, he passed into Parinirvana.

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Madhyamika

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Madhyamika Nov 28th 2011, 19:46 Many schools of Mahayana Buddhism have an inscrutable quality that can be both compelling and maddening to non-Buddhists. Indeed, sometimes Mahayana seems more Dadaist than religious. Phenomena are both real and not-real; things exist, yet nothing exists. No intellectual position is ever the correct one. Much of this quality comes from Madhyamika, “school of the Middle Way,” that began about the 2nd century. Madhyamika profoundly influenced the development of Mahayana, especially in China and Tibet and, eventually, Japan. Nagarjuna and the Wisdom Sutras Nagarjuna (ca. 2nd or 3rd century) was a patriarch of Mahayana and the founder of Madhyamika. We know very little about Nagarjuna’s life. But where Nagarjuna’s biography is empty, it has been filled with myth. One of these is Nagarjuna’s discovery of the Wisdom Sutras. The Wisdom Sutras are about 40 texts collected under the title Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) Sutra. Of these, the best known in the West are the Heart Sutra (Mahaprajnaparamita-hridaya-sutra) and the Diamond (or Diamond Cutter) Sutra (Vajracchedika-sutra). Historians believe the Wisdom Sutras were written about the 1st century. According to legend, however, they are the words of the Buddha that were lost to humankind for many centuries. The sutras had been guarded by magical beings called nagas, which looked like giant snakes. The nagas invited Nagarjuna to visit them, and they gave the scholar the Wisdom Sutras to take back to the human world. Nagarjuna and the Doctrine of Shunyata Whatever their provenance, the Wisdom Sutras focus on shunyata, “emptiness.” Nagarjuna’s principle contribution to Buddhism was his systematization of the sutras’ teachings. Older schools of Buddhism maintained the Buddha’s teaching of anatman. According to this doctrine, there is no "self" in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being within an individual existence. What we think of as our self, our personality and ego, are temporary creations of the skandhas. Shunyata is a deepening of the doctrine of anatman. In explaining shunyata, Nagarjuna argued that phenomena have no intrinsic existence in themselves. Because all phenomena come into being because of conditions created by other phenomena, they have no existence of their own and are empty of a permanent self. Thus, there is neither reality not not-reality; only relativity. Shunyata and Enlightenment This emptiness is not nihilistic. All phenomena are void of self-essence, but it is incorrect to say that phenomena exist or don’t exist. Form and appearance create the world of myriad things, but the myriad things have identity only in relation to each other. Related to shunyata are the teachings of another of the great Mahayana Sutras, the Avatamsaka or Flower Garland Sutra. The Flower Garland is a collection of smaller sutras that emphasize the interpenetration of all things. That is, all things and all beings not only reflect all other things and beings but also all existence in its totality. Put another way, we do not exist as discrete things; instead, as the Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh says, we inter-are. Relative and Absolute Another related doctrine is that of the Two Truths, absolute and relative truth. Relative truth is the conventional way we perceive reality; absolute truth is shunyata. From the perspective of the relative, appearances and phenomena are real. From the perspective of the absolute, appearances and phenomena are not real. Both perspectives are true. For an expression of absolute and relative in the Ch’an (Zen) school, see the Ts’an-t’ung-ch’i , also called the Sandokai, or in English “The Identity of Relative and Absolute,” by the 8th century Ch’an master Shih-t’ou His-ch’ien (Sekito Kisen). Growth of Madhyamika Along with Nagarjuna, other scholars important to Madhyamika were Aryadeva, Nagarjuna’s disciple, and Buddhapalita (5th century) who wrote influential commentaries on Nagarjuna’s work. Yogachara was another philosophical school of Buddhism that emerged about the same time as Madhyamika. Yogachara is also called the “Mind Only” school because it teaches that things exist only as processes of knowing. Put another way, what we think of as reality is a creation of mind. Thus, the world of things and objects is Mind Only. Over the next few centuries a rivalry grew between the two schools. In the 6th century a scholar named Bhavaviveka attempted a synthesis by adopting teachings from Yogachara into Madhyamika. In the 8th century, however, another scholar named Chandrakirti rejected what he was as Bhavaviveka’s corruptions of Madhyamika. Also in the 8th century, two scholars named Shantirakshita and Kamalashila argued for a Madhyamika-Yogachara synthesis. In time, the synthesizers would prevail. By the 11th century the two philosophical movements had fused. Madhyamika-Yogachara and all variations were absorbed into Tibetan Buddhism as well as Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism and some other Chinese Mahayana schools.

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Jataka Tales

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Jataka Tales Nov 28th 2011, 19:46 So did you hear the one about the monkey and the crocodile? What about the story of the contended quail? Or the rabbit in the moon? Or the hungry tigress? These stories are from the Jataka Tales, a large body of stories about the earlier lives of the Buddha. Many are in the form of animal fables that teach something about morality, not unlike Aesop's fables. Many of the stories are charming and light-hearted, and some of these have been published in sweetly illustrated children's books. However, not all of the stories are suitable for children; some are dark and even violent. Where did the Jatakas originate? The stories come from multiple sources and have a multitude of authors. Like other Buddhist literature, the many stories can be divided into "Theravada" and "Mahayana" canons. The Theravada Jataka Tales The oldest and largest collection of Jataka Tales is in the Pali Canon. They are found in the Sutta-pitaka ("basket of sutras") part of the canon, in a section called the Khuddaka Nikaya, and they are presented there as the record of the Buddha's past lives. Some alternative versions of the same stories are scattered about in other parts of the Pali Canon. The Khuddaka Nikaya contains 547 verses arranged in order of length, shortest to longest. The stories are found in commentaries to the verses. The "final" collection as we know it today was compiled about 500 CE, somewhere in southeast Asia, by unknown editors. The overall purpose of the Pali Jatakas is to show how the Buddha lived many lives with the goal of realizing enlightenment. The Buddha was born and reborn in the forms of humans, animals, and superhuman beings, but always he made a great effort to reach his goal. Many of these poems and stories come from much older sources. Some of the stories are adapted from a Hindu text, Panchatantra Tales, written by Pandit Vishu Sharma around 200 BCE. And it is probable many of the other stories are based on folk tales and other oral traditions that have otherwise been lost." Storyteller Rafe Martin, who has published several books of Jataka Tales, wrote, "Formed of fragments of epics and hero tales arising from deep in the collective Indian past, this already ancient material was taken over and revised, reworked, and reused by later Buddhist storytellers for their own purposes" (Martin, The Hungry Tigress: Buddhist Myths, Legends, and Jataka Tales, p. xvii). The Mahayana Jataka Tales What some call the Mahayana Jataka stories are also called the "apocryphal" Jatakas, indicating they come from unknown origins outside the standard collection (the Pali Canon). These stories, usually in Sanskrit, were written over the centuries by many authors. One of the best known collections of these "apocryphal" works does have a known origin. The Jatakamala ("garland of Jatakas"; also called the Bodhisattvavadanamala) probably was composed in the 3rd or 4th century CE. The Jatakamala contains 34 Jatakas written by Arya Sura (sometimes spelled Aryasura). The stories in the Jatakamala focus on the perfections, especially those of generosity, morality, and patience. Although he is remembered as a skillful and elegant writer, little is known about Arya Sura. One old text preserved at the University of Tokyo says he was the son of a king who renounced his inheritance to become a monk, but whether that is true or a fanciful invention no one can say. The Jataka Tales in Practice and Literature Through the centuries these stories have been much more than fairy tales. They were, and are, taken very seriously for their moral and spiritual teachings. Like all great myths, the stories are as much about ourselves as they are about the Buddha. As Joseph Campbell said, "Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that's what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you." ["Joseph Campbell: The Power of Myth, with Bill Moyers,"PBS ] The Jataka Tales are portrayed in dramas and dance. The Ajanta Cave paintings of Maharashtra, India (ca. 6th century CE) portray Jataka Tales in narrative order, so that people walking through the caves would learn the stories. Jatakas in World Literature Many of the Jatakas bear a striking resemblance to stories long familiar in the West. For example, the story of Chicken Little -- the frightened chicken who thought the sky was falling -- is essentially the same story as one of the Pali Jatakas (Jataka 322), in which a frightened monkey thought the sky was falling. As the forest animals scatter in terror, a wise lion discerns the truth and restores order. The famous fable about the goose that laid golden eggs is eerily similar to Pali Jataka 136, in which a deceased man was reborn as a goose with gold feathers. He went to his former home to wind his wife and children from his past life. The goose told the family they could pluck one gold feather a day, and the gold provided well for the family. But the wife became greedy and plucked all the feathers out. When the feathers grew back, they were ordinary goose feathers, and the goose flew away. It is unlikely Aesop and other early storytellers had copies of the Jatakas handy. And it's unlikely that the monks and scholars who compiled the Pali Canon more than 2,000 years ago ever heard of Aesop. Perhaps the stories were spread by ancient travelers. Perhaps they were built from fragments of the first human stories, told by our paleolithic ancestors. Read More -- Three Jataka Tales: The Selfless Hare The Golden Deer The Golden Mallard

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: The Wheel of Life: Yama, Lord of the Underworld

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The Wheel of Life: Yama, Lord of the Underworld Nov 28th 2011, 19:46 The terrible face of Yama, who represents death, peers over the top of the Wheel. In spite of his appearance, Yama is not evil. He is a wrathful dharmapala, a creature devoted to protecting Buddhism and Buddhists. Although we may be frightened of death, it is not evil; just inevitable. In legend, Yama was a holy man who believed he would realize enlightenment if he meditated in a cave for 50 years. In the 11th month of the 49th year, robbers entered the cave with a stolen bull and cut off the bull's head. When they realized the holy man had seen them, the robbers cut off his head also. But the holy man put on the bull's head and assumed the terrible form of Yama. He killed the robbers, drank their blood, and threatened all of Tibet. He could not be stopped until Manjushri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, manifested as the even more terrible dharmapala Yamantaka and defeated Yama. Yama then became a protector of Buddhism.

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Buddhism: The Month of Hungry Ghosts

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The Month of Hungry Ghosts Nov 25th 2011, 14:52 This morning brought the distressing news that a "black Friday" Wal-Mart customer in California gained a competitive edge on her consumer competition by pepper-spraying other shoppers. Witnesses said she was trying to get to some Xbox game consoles before they were all gone. There are other news stories of holiday shoppers around the country losing their purchases to armed robbers in the parking lot. On the bright side, so far I haven't heard that anyone has been trampled to death this year. Our consumerist culture has turned a religious holiday into a social pathology. Although the practice of� exchanging Christmas gifts goes back many centuries, I believe it's been only in the past 150 years or so that gift-giving became THE most essential part of the holiday, instead of church services and a big family dinner. By the time the poster above was published, in 1918, Christmas had become so important to the U.S. economy that the war-depleted government urged people to get out there and shop, already. Now we've got the Crazy Target Lady urging us to shop aggressively. The former Christmas shopping season is turning into the hungry ghost season. I agree with Nathan that at the root of this pathology is a deep sense of inadequacy. Advertisers have gotten very good at tapping into our (probably hardwired) urge to maintain status among our peers/families/neighbors. Do you dress correctly? Are your teeth white enough? Do you really want to be seen driving that car and not this one? I say this is hardwired because nearly all species that live in herds or packs form status hierarchies, to one extent or another. For example, elephant families are headed by a matriarch who has lived a long time and remembers where to find water and food. And the other elephants mind elephant social convention in order to keep their place in the herd. But in humans, the three poisons have subverted a useful evolutionary trait into something else entirely. Along with the pepper spray, there are reports of customers trampling store displays and merchandise. What might be happening is that crowds are so think people pushing from behind are forcing other customers into the shelves and displays. This is dangerous. It's also well, remarkable, although not in a good way. History is full of bread riots. But Xbox riots? The whole "black Friday" phenomenon got out of hand as retailers began opening earlier and earlier on the day after Thanksgiving to lure shoppers into their stores. Then stores began opening in the middle of the night. This year Toys R Us and Wal-Mart stores opened at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving. At some point, will Thanksgiving be sacrificed to feed the Christmas hungry ghosts? Robert Frank writes in the New York Times that at this point, the retailers are making no more money than they did in the old days of regular Friday shopping hours. But they feel they have to open early to remain competitive with the stores that open early. It's a race to the bottom, in other words. Maybe next year some stores will try opening late and offering a mayhem-free shopping environment.

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Buddhism: Jadrel Rinpoche Feared Dead

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Jadrel Rinpoche Feared Dead Nov 25th 2011, 10:16 There are reports today that Jadrel Jampa Trinley Rinpoche has died, possibly by poison. Jadrel Rinpoche, the former Abbot of Tashi Lhunpo monastery, led the search party for the 11th Panchen Lama. The Rinpoche had spent years in prison and then secret detention after he protested the Chinese government's decision to replace the legitimate Panchen Lama with its own political choice. The Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamshala says it received news of the Rinpoche's death from one of his close associates. Since his release from prison in 2002 the Rinpoche had remained in detention in an undisclosed location. In 1995 the Rinpoche's search led to a six-year-old boy named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was identified by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama. But Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family disappeared on 17 May 1995 and have not been seen or heard from sincec. Later that year Beijing named another boy, Gyaltsen Norbu, as the 11th Panchen Lama. Since the search and identification of Dalai Lamas traditionally the responsibility of the Panchen Lama, Beijing requires a puppet Panchen Lama in order to control the eventual selection of the 15th Dalai Lama. Beijing has made no secret of its intention to name the next Dalai Lama as part of its plan to control Tibetan Buddhism and subjugate the people of Tibet.

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Buddhism: Try a Little Gratitude

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Try a Little Gratitude Nov 23rd 2011, 16:06 If you're ever in a funk, feeling deprived or forsaken, try a little gratitude. Contemplate all that has been done for you and given you by parents, teachers, friends, strangers. And then contemplate all the things given to them. Soon the universe reveals itself to be a vast field of benefaction, of giving and receiving, throughout space and time. Gratitude helps soften our hard shells of selfishness. None of us achieves anything entirely alone, you know. Even when we are working "by ourselves' we are using skills, knowledge, and resources others have developed. Your life is made possible by your parents and all the people who have helped house, feed, clothe, and cure you over the years. The Pali word often translated as "gratitude" is katannu, which means something like "acknowledging what has been done."� Endeavoring to repay a debt of gratitude is katavedi. Katannu-katavedi often appears as a single word to represent a single virtue. The Theravada monk and teacher Ajaan Chah has called katannu-katavedi "a virtue that sustains the world." It helps to sustain relationships, families, communities. We humans may be greedy and selfish, but if we weren't generous to each other also we wouldn't have lasted this long as a species. Let's be grateful for that. Awhile back I wrote about the Verse of Gratitude written by my teacher that we chant at the end of services at our Zen center. It occurs to me that it makes a pretty good verse for Thanksgiving. Here it is again -- For all beneficent karma, ever manifested through me, I am grateful. May this gratitude be expressed through my body, speech, and mind. With infinite kindness to the past, Infinite service to the present, Infinite responsibility to the future.

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Koan

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Koan Nov 23rd 2011, 10:18 Definition: The Japanese word koan means "public notice." It is taken from the Chinese kung-an, which is a legal proceeding. Formally, koans are presented as cases, with a "main case" presenting a phrase or fragment of a story, a brief commentary, and a capping verse. In the Rinzai school of Zen, a student is given a particular koan to "solve" in his zazen practice. Most koans involve a paradox that cannot be solved by reason or intellect. The resolution forces the student into a different level of consciousness or comprehension. It's important to understand koans as a means for teachers and students to work together. In private interviews with the teacher called dokusan, the student asks for guidance or for approval of his understanding. The face-to-face work between student and teacher is an essential part of Zen training. Classic koan collections include the Mumonkan, also called The Gateless Gate; the Hekiganroku, or Blue Cliff Record; and the Shoyoroku, The Book of Equanimity.

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Bhavana

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Bhavana Nov 23rd 2011, 10:18 Buddhist meditation takes many forms, but all of them are bhavana. Bhavana is an ancient discipline. It is based in part of the discipline of the historical Buddha, who lived more than 25 centuries ago, and in part on even older forms of yoga. Some Buddhists think it is incorrect to call bhavana "meditation." The Theravada monk and scholar Walpola Rahula wrote, "The word meditation is a very poor substitute for the original term bhavana, which means 'culture' or 'development', i.e., mental culture or mental development. The Buddhist bhavana, properly speaking, is mental culture in the full sense of the term. It aims at cleansing the mind of impurities and disturbances, such as lustful desires, hatred, ill-will, indolence, worries and restlessness, sceptical doubts, and cultivating such qualities as concentration, awareness, intelligence, will, energy, the analytical faculty, confidence, joy, tranquility, leading finally to the attainment of highest wisdom which sees the nature of things as they are, and realizes the Ultimate Truth, Nirvana." [Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught (Grove Press, 1974), p. 68] Walpola Rahula's definition ought to distinguish Buddhist meditation from many other practices that get lumped under the English word meditation. Buddhist meditation is not primarily about reducing stress, although it can do that. Nor is it about "blissing out" or having visions or out-of-body experiences. Theravada The Ven. Dr. Rahula wrote that in Theravada Buddhism, there are two forms of meditation. One is the development of mental concentration, called samatha (also spelled shamatha) or samadhi. Samatha is not, he said, a Buddhist practice, and Theravada Buddhists do not consider it necessary. The Buddha developed another form of meditation, called vipassana or vipashyana, which means "insight." It is this insight meditation, the Ven. Dr. Rahula wrote in What the Buddha Taught (p. 69), that is Buddhist mental culture. "It is an analytical method based on mindfulness, awareness, vigilance, observation." For more on the Theravada view of bhavana, see "What Is Vipassana?" by Cynthia Thatcher of the Vipassana Dhura Meditation Society. Mahayana Mahayana Buddhism also recognizes the two types of bhavana, which are shamatha and vipashyana. However, Mahayana considers both to be necessary for the realization of enlightenment. Further, just as Theravada and Mahayana practice bhavana somewhat differently, so do the various schools of Mahayana practice them somewhat differently. For example, the Tiantai (Tendai in Japan) school of Buddhism calls its bhavana practice by the Chinese name zhiguan (shikan in Japanese). "Zhiguan" is derived from the Chinese translation of "shamatha-vipashyana." Just so, zhiguan includes both shamatha and vipashyana techniques. Of the two commonly practiced forms of zazen (Zen Buddhist bhavana), koan study often is associated with vipashyana, while shikantaza ("just sitting") appears to be more of a shamatha practice. Zen Buddhists generally aren't given to shoving bhavana forms into separate conceptual boxes, however, and will tell you that the illumination of vipashyana arises naturally from the stillness of shamatha. The esoteric (Vajrayana) schools of Mahayana, which includes Tibetan Buddhism, think of shamatha practice as a prerequisite for vipashyana. More advanced forms of Vajrayana meditation are a unification of shamatha and vipashyana.

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Gandhara part one

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Gandhara part one Nov 22nd 2011, 10:06 The Kushans The Kushans (also called the Yuezhi) were an Indo-European people who came to Bactria -- now northwestern Afghanistan -- about 135 BCE. In the 1st century BCE the Kushans united under the leadership of Kujula Kadphises and took control of Gandhara away from the Scytho-Parthians. Kujula Kadphises established a capital near what is now Kabul, Afghanistan. Eventually the Kushans extended their territory to include part of present-day Uzbekistan as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. The kingdom extended into northern India as far east as Benares. Eventually the sprawling empire would require two capitals --Peshawar, near the Khyber Pass, and Mathura in northern India. The Kushans controlled a strategic part of the Silk Road and a busy port on the Arab Sea near what is now Karachi, Pakistan. They became wealthy, and their wealth supported a flourishing civilization. Kushan Buddhist Culture Kushan Gandhara was a multiethnic blend of many cultures and religions, including Buddhism. Gandhara's location and dynamic history brought together Greek, Persian, Indian, and many other influences. The mercantile wealth supported scholarship and the fine arts. It was under Kushan rule that Gandharan art developed and flourished. The earliest Kushan art mostly reflects Greek and Roman mythology, but as time went on Buddhist figures became dominant. The first depictions of the Buddha in human form were made by artists of Kushan Gandhara, as were the first depictions of bodhisattvas. The Kushan King Kanishka I (127â€"147) in particular is remembered as a great patron of Buddhism. He is said to have convened a Buddhist council in Kashmir. He did build a great stupa in Peshawar. Archeologists discovered and measured its base about a century ago and determined the stupa had a diameter of 286 feet. Accounts of pilgrims suggest it may have been as tall as 690 feet (210 meters) and was covered with jewels. Beginning in the 2nd century, Buddhist monks from Gandhara actively engaged in transmitting Buddhism into China and other parts of north Asia. A 2nd century Kushan monk named Lokaksema was among the first translators of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. King Kanishka's reign marked the peak of the Kushan era of Gandhara. In the 3rd century the territory ruled by Kushan kings began to shrink. Kushan rule ended altogether in 450, when what was left of Kushan Gandhara was overrun by Huns. Some Buddhist monks gathered as much Kushan art as they could carry and took it to what is now the Swat Valley of Pakistan, where Buddhism would survive for a few more centuries. Bamiyan In western Gandhara and Bactria, Buddhist monasteries and communities established during the Kushan era also continued to grow and flourish for the next few centuries. Among these was Bamiyan. By the 4th century Bamiyan was home to one of the largest monastic communities in all Central Asia. The two great Buddhas of Bamiyan -- one nearly 175 feet tall, the other 120 feet tall -- may have been carved as early as the 3rd century or as late as the 7th century. The Bamiyan Buddhas represented another development in Buddhist art. While earlier Kushan art had depicted the Buddha as a human being, the carvers of Bamiyan were reaching for something more transcendent. The larger Bamiyan Buddha is the transcendent Buddha Vairocana. Vairocana represents the dharmakaya, beyond time and space, in which all beings and phenomena abide, unmanifested. Thus, Vairocana contains the universe, and thus, Vairocana was carved on a colossal scale. Bamiyan art also developed a unique style distinctive from the art of Kushan Gandhara. Bamiyan art was less Hellenic and more of a fusion of Persian and Indian style. One of the greatest achievements of Bamiyan art has only recently been appreciated -- unfortunately, after most of it was defaced by the Taliban. Dozens of small caves were dug out of the cliffs in back of the great buddhas, and many of these were decorated with painted murals. In 2008 scientists analyzed the murals and realized that some of them had been painted with oil-based paint -- the earliest use of oil painting yet to be discovered. Before, art historians had placed the beginning of oil painting in 15th century Europe. The Swat Valley: Birthplace of Tibetan Vajrayana? Now we go back to the Swat Valley in north central Pakistan and pick up the story there. As stated earlier. Buddhism in the Swat Valley survived the Hun invasion of 450. It was said that at its peak of Buddhist influence, the Swat Valley was filled with fourteen hundred stupas and monasteries. According to Tibetan tradition the great 8th century mystic Padmasambhava was from Uddiyana, which is thought to have been the Swat Valley. Padmasambhava brought Vajrayana Buddhism to Tibet and built the first Buddhist monastery there. The Emergence of Islam and the End of Gandhara In the 6th century CE the Sassanian dynasty of Persia took control of Gandhara, but after the Sassanians suffered a military defeat in 644 Gandhara was ruled by the Turki Shahis, a Turkic people related to the Kushans. In the 9th century control of Gandhara reverted to Hindu rulers, called the Hindu Shahis. Islam reached Gandhara in the 7th century. For the next few centuries Buddhists and Muslims lived together in mutual peace and respect. Buddhist communities and monasteries that came under Muslim rule were, with a few exceptions, left alone. But Gandhara was long past its prime, and conquest by Mahmud of Ghazna (ruled 998â€"1030) effectively put an end to it. Mahmud defeated the Hindu Gandharan King Jayapala, who committed suicide. Jayapala's son Trilocanpala was assassinated by his own troops in 1012, an act that marked the official end of Gandhara. Mahmud left the Buddhist communities and monasteries under his rule alone, as had most Muslim rulers. Even so, after the 11th century Buddhism in the region gradually withered away. It is difficult to pin down exactly when the last Buddhist monasteries in Afghanistan and Pakistan were abandoned. However, for many centuries the Buddhist cultural heritage of Gandhara was preserved by the Muslim descendants of the Gandharans.

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Buddhism: What's Hot Now: Bardo Thodol

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Bardo Thodol Nov 22nd 2011, 10:06 The Bardo Thodol -- "Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State," known commonly as "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" -- is among the most famous works of Buddhist literature. It is best known as a guide through the intermediate state, or bardo, between death and rebirth. However, the teachings in the book can be read and appreciated on many different, subtle levels. Origins The Indian master Padmasambhava came to Tibet in the late 8th century. He is remembered by Tibetans as Guru Rinpoche ("Precious Master"), and his influence on Tibetan Buddhism is incalculable. According to Tibetan tradition, Padmasambhava composed the Bardo Thodol as part of a larger work called the "Cycle of Peaceful and Wrathful Deities." This text was written by his wife and student, Yeshe Tsogyal, and then hidden in the Gampo Hills of central Tibet. The text was discovered in the 14th century by Karma Lingpa. There's tradition, and then there are scholars. Historical scholarship suggests the work had several authors who wrote it over a period of many years. The current text dates from the 14th or 15th centuries. Bardo In his commentary on the Bardo Thodol, the late Chogyam Trungpa explained that bardo means "gap," or interval of suspension, and that bardo is part of our psychological make-up. Bardo experiences happen to us all the time in life, not just after death. The Bardo Thodol can be read as a guide to life experiences as well as a guide to the time between death and rebirth. Scholar and translator Francesca Fremantle said that "Originally bardo referred only to the period between one life and the next, and this is still its normal meaning when it is mentioned without any qualification." However, "By refining even further the understanding of the essence of bardo, it can then be applied to every moment of existence. The present moment, the now, is a continual bardo, always suspended between the past and the future." (Fremantle, Luminous Emptiness, 2001, p. 20) The Bardo Thodol in Tibetan Buddhism The Bardo Thodol traditionally is read to a dying or dead person, so that he or she may be liberated from the cycle of samsara through hearing. The dead or dying person is guided through encounters in the bardo with wrathful and peaceful deities, beautiful and terrifying, which are to be understood as projections of mind. Buddhist teachings on death and rebirth are not simple to understand. Most of the time when people speak of reincarnation, they mean a process by which a soul, or some essence of one's individual self, survives death and is reborn in a new body. But according to the Buddhist doctrine of anatman, there is no soul or "self" in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being. That being so, how does rebirth function, and what is it that is reborn? This question is answered somewhat differently by the several schools of Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism teaches of a level of mind that is always with us but so subtle that few ever become aware of it. But in death, or in a state of deep meditation, this level of mind becomes manifest and flows across lives. Metaphorically, this deep mind is compared to light, or a flowing stream, or wind. This is only the barest of explanations; fully understanding these teachings takes years of study and practice. Through the Bardo There are bardos within within the bardo that correspond to the three bodies of the Trikaya. The Bardo Thodol describes these three bardos between death and rebirth: The bardo of the moment of death The bardo of supreme reality The bardo of becoming Taking these one at a time: The bardo of the moment of death. The Bardo Thodol describes a dissolution of the self created by the skandhas and a falling away of external reality. The consciousness that remains experiences the true nature of mind as a dazzling light or luminosity. This is the bardo of dharmakaya, all phenomena unmanifested, free of characteristics and distinctions The bardo of supreme reality. The Bardo Thodol describes lights of many colors and visions of wrathful and peaceful deities. Those in the bardo are challenged to not be afraid of these visions, which are projections of mind. This is the bardo of sambhogakaya, the reward of spiritual practice. The bardo of becoming. If the second bardo is experienced with fear, confusion and nonrealization, the bardo of becoming begins. Projections of karma appear that will cause rebirth in one of the Six Realms. This is the bardo of nirmanakaya, the physical body that appears in the world. Translations There are several translations of the Bardo Thodol in print. Here are just a few. W. Y. Evans-Wentz (editor) Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup (translator), Tibetan Book of the Dead, 1927, 1960. This was among the first English translations and is often cited, although some of the newer ones are more readable. Chogyam Trungpa and Francesca Fremantle, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, 1975. Chogyam Trungpa's commentary makes this edition a good choice. Robert A. Thurman (translator), foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, 1993. Professor Thurman's translations are always readable and engaging. Graham Coleman (Editor), Thupten Jinpa (Editor), Gyurme Dorje (Translator), foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation, 2007. The entire "Cycle of Peaceful and Wrathful Deities," some of which did not appear in earlier translations.

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