Sante i DN

Ja, det var kul att se Sante i DN igår och givetvis på dn.se – på det stora hela.

Jag undrar givetvis om inte "gudsupplevelse" skulle stått med stora feta citattecken i sista meningen. Men det där var ju kanske en mindre sak i jämförelse med faktarutan. *suck*

Hur länge ska Nationalencykplopedin få fortsätta att miskreditera och felrepresentera buddhismen? Är det inte dags för alla buddhister att ena sig, och tala ut om de galna och missvisande föreställningar som NE sprider omkring sig. Och som journalister och många andra griper efter för att få en "objejktiv" bild av fenomenet buddhism.

Sen har vi ju också de många religionsläroböcker som fortfarande sprider samma sorts gallimattias.

Underbar bild av en glad och penetrerande zenbuddhist här till höger, eller hur? Undrar om han ser fram emot att "uppgå i intet".


Så här stod det i alla fall i faktarutan:

Zenbuddism

Zenbuddism är en gren inom buddism som utvecklades i Japan för cirka 2000 år sedan. Den menar att människan genom meditation ska komma till insikt och uppleva händelserna som de verkligen är och inte fastna i föreställningar och egna tolkningar.
Buddism grundar sig på fyra sanningar som sammanfattningsvis menar att allt liv är lidande men att det finns en väg bort från det. Genom att leva efter fem rättesnören och erkänna tre traditioner kan man bli fri, och efter döden uppgå i intet.
De tre traditionerna brukar kallas för de tre juvelerna och består av Buddha själv, hans lära och den buddistiska församlingen. De fem rättesnörena säger att du inte ska stjäla, inte ljuga, inte döda, inte missbruka droger och inte missbruka sex. Dessa bör varje buddist sträva att leva efter.

A talk by Subhuti

I have just seen Subhuti give a very moving talk, on the men's convention (of the western buddhist order) this august, at Padmaloka. I found it quite helpful and inspiring. And earlier today I also listened to and saw Prakasha give a talk on his meditative life, and teaching life, on the same occassion. Both have inspired me in my dharma practice, and has sort of refuelled my wish to lead the Dharma life ever more fully. You will find Prakasha's talk, as well as others, here: http://www.videosangha.net/playlist/Mens-Convention

A green Tara painting

So, I have finally done it. Through the interconnected world of Facebook I learnt that Devaraja had started painting again. On his facebook page one can see a painting of Avalokiteshvara in progress (I copy it here, with Devaraja's permission). When I lived at Aryarata community in Purley, southern suburbs of London, there was – and probably still is – a beautiful wall painting of green Tara, which I and many have liked. (Maybe I'll post a photo of this later, or maybe not!)

So, I asked Devaraja if he was open to painting a green Tara for me, and he was. As he is on retreat for 3 months this autumn, at Guhyaloka, he won't start until January 2010. Maybe it will be finished for my 51st birthday, 19th April, if I live that long. When I stepped down as chair a year and half ago, as well as when I turned 50, I was given some money that allows me to make this commission. I certainly feel a little trepidation how it will turn out, but I also have good faith that it will be to my liking, and maybe to many others liking too.

The Life of the Buddha

The Life of the Buddha
(on youtube)

A very good documentary, it seems to me.

Donations for Dhamma work in India

I have just donated a small amount to our important Dhamma work in India and wanted to share this with you all. Go to this page fundraising page – set up by Lokabandhu – to see and read more. On the recently held Combined Order Convention (of the Western Buddhist Order) in the UK, this campaign was launched. Karuna Trust, who has been supporting our Dhamma work in India, has come to the conclusion that it can't carry on supporting such explicit Buddhist ('religious') work. They will fade out their support gradually, and it will end by April 2011.

You can read more on the fundraising page.

metta, Viryabodhi

Nagarjuna's Precious Garland

I have finished reading Sangharakshita's commentary, part one, on Nagarjuna's Ratnamala or Precious Garland of advice to a king. Great stuff. I feel inspired to buy the Ratnamala itself. This little section on the paramitas is great:


"Briefly the good qualities
Observed by Bodhisattvas are
Giving, ethics, patience, effort,
Concentration, wisdom, compassion, and so forth.

Giving is to give away one's wealth.
Ethics is to help others.
Patience is to have forsaken anger.
Effort is enthusiasm for virtues.

Concentration is unafflicted one-pointedness.
Wisdom is ascertainment of the meaning of the truths.
Compassion is a mind having one savour
Of mercy for all sentient beings.

From giving there arises wealth, from ethics happiness,
From patience a good appearance, from (effort in) virtue brilliance,
From concentration peace, from wisdom liberation,
From compassion all aims are achieved.

From the simultaneous perfection
Of all those seven is attained
The sphere of inconceivable wisdom,
The protectorship of the world."

(verses 435–439)


Aren't they great?

en ny målning av Aloka på Padmaloka

På fwbo-news berättar Aryapala, från Padmaloka, om deras senaste målning – en ny av Aloka, denna gång av Buddha Amitabha. De har planer på att täcka väggarna i deras meditationssal med buddhabilder. Bilden på Amitabha är ca 4 meter lång och 2 meter hög, och måste se imponerande ut (klicka på bilden för en större bild!). Amitabha återges i sin klassiska form med händerna i meditationsmudran, men över hans hjärta ligger en annan bild, där Amitabha håller upp en lotusblomma. Det är också en traditionell bild, men inte så vanlig. Den kopplar också an till den vision av Amitabha som Sangharakshita hade i en grotta i södra Indien på 1950-talet, tror jag det var. Man kan läsa om den i Sangharakshitas memoarer The Rainbow Road. Den finns att ladda ned från Sangharakshitas hemsida eller kan också köpas via adlibris eller Windhorse Publications.

Här är citatet från The Rainbow Road:

The vision in the cave

"One night I found myself as it were out of the body and in the presence pf Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, who presides over the western quarter of the universe. The colour of the Buddha was a deep, rich, luminous red, like that of rubies, though at the same time soft and glowing, like the light of the setting sun. While his left hand rested on his lap, the fingers of his right hand held up by the stalk a single red lotus in full bloom and he sat, in the usual cross-legged posture, on an enormous red lotus that floated on the surface of the sea. To the left, immediately beneath the raised right arm of the Buddha, was the red hemisphere of the setting sun, its reflections glittering golden across the waters. How long the experience lasted I do not know, for I seemed to be out of time as well as out of the body, but I saw the Buddha as clearly as I had ever seen anything under the ordinary circumstances of my life, indeed far more clearly and vividly. The rich red colour of Amitabha himself, as well as of the two lotuses, and the setting sun, made a particularly deep impression on me. It was more wonderful, more appealing, than any earthly red: it was like red light, but so soft and, at the same time, so vivid, as to be altogether without parallel. In the course of the next few days I composed a series of stanzas describing the vision. Contrary to my usual practise, I failed to write them down afterwards, with the result that they gradually faded from my mind. But the experience itself never faded. Nearly a qaurter of a century later, the figure of the red Buddha is as clear to me, in recollection, as it was the next morning in the Virupaksha Guha (cave)."

p. 338, The Rainbow Road, Sangharakshita