Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2020 i Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

Black & Buddhist Edited by Pamela Ayo Yetunde & Cheryl A. Giles Black Buddhist teachers off er lessons on racism, resilience, and achieving a truly representative American Buddhism. China Root David Hinton A compelling and liberating guide to the original nature of Zen in ancient China. The Essence of Chan Guo Gu Clear and illuminating commentary on one of Bodhidharma’s most important texts for both new and experienced Chan practitioners. Hidden Zen Meido Moore The first collection of hidden practices from the Rinzai Zen tradition used to remove obstructions to awakening.…

HAD SOMEONE TOLD Susan O’Connell, when she started her Zen journey over thirty years ago, that one day the San Francisco Zen Center would be a partner in a retirement community, she would have politely questioned their sanity. And yet today that very same Susan O’Connell is leading the way for one of the most audacious Life Plan Communities ever imagined. Enso Village in Sonoma County will be the first of its kind—an inclusive, retirement community where Zen practice will influence every aspect of living from design and architecture to healthcare, cuisine and community culture. Architectural plans are being developed and approvals from the City of Healdsburg are underway. “Our focus is on mindful aging, experiencing the joys of nature, participating in environmental stewardship, and providing contemplative care for adults…

SOME TRADITIONS in the Buddhist world seem hopelessly out of touch—and that can sometimes leave us, as Buddhist practitioners, feeling powerless. I have struggled with my own lineage, especially in relationship to the work that needs to be done to confront racism, sexism, patriarchy, ableism, whiteness, and all of the various invitations to spiritual bypass. My takeaway from this rather painful struggle has been this: we cannot wait for lineage elders to institute the changes we want—we need to step up and lead. This clarity arises in part from an understanding that most of Buddhism is not that centralized, even if it feels like a few lineage elders control everything. Yes, the Buddhist world is still run by senior lineage holders, and their lack of education around cultural communication and…

TO CONTEMPORARY readers, the Pali suttas can sometimes seem unapproachable. They are almost as old as Greek tragedy, and we lack many of the cultural references that make such writings relevant. Then there are so many of them that it can be confusing where to start. Finally, much of the canon isn’t epic storytelling but rather a collection of situational records and loosely grouped snippets of teaching. If you read and savor these snippets carefully, though, it’s possible to recognize the humanity of the men and women who practiced so long ago. They were touched by something big and yet lived, in many ways, ordinary lives and had ordinary hearts and emotions. And sometimes they needed help. As Shariputta, one of the foremost of the Buddha’s disciples, was approaching death,…

AT THE VERY HEART of Buddhism is the promise of enlightenment. It’s the bright flame illuminating the dharma, and the rich variety of practices developed in the traditions that make up Buddhism are all in some essential way in the service of that promise. For millennia, in response to the struggles and sorrows of life on this planet, and in honor of the breathtaking beauty of life on this planet, people have passed this flame from hand to hand, encouraging one another to take part in the agonizingly slow but impossibly tender awakening of our world as a whole. In the West the idea of enlightenment has gotten a little bruised, in part because the intensity of our longings has made us so vulnerable to disappointment, and in part because…

China Root: Daoism, Chan, and Original Zen by David Hinton Shambhala Publications, 2020 176 pages; $17.95 THE COMMON understanding in America is that Zen Buddhism came to us from Japan, where in turn it was transmitted from China in the twelfth century, by the great masters Eisai and Dogen. In China, it developed first through a singular, active transmission from India in the sixth century, a feature most notably associated with the figure of Bodhidharma. The legendary iconoclast, moreover, came from a long line of masters in southern India that traced their teaching directly back to the Buddha, focusing on meditation practice and a close connection to the master in the quest to overcome the pervasive suffering and essentially illusory nature of the world and reach “the other shore” of…

Human beings have written paeans to everything from shadows to nightingales, but few things inspire more admiration in bodhisattvas than compassion. Yet what exactly does compassion, a word used so liberally today, consist of? In Praise of Great Compassion (Wisdom) by the Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron is a comprehensive treatment of Buddhist compassion that probes its depths concept by concept, from the four immeasurables to the various facets of bodhicitta and its cultivation as found across the Tibetan, Chinese, and Pali traditions. In this indispensable reference work that lays out the theory and praxis of bodhisattvic compassion, we are reminded that the altruistic wish to benefit all beings unconditionally “doesn’t arise by praying to the Buddha or by sitting in a machine that alters our brain waves.” It must…

The Trilogy of Rest Longchenpa The three volumes of Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Rest is an essential work on Dzogchen, addressing the nature of the mind, meditation, and postmeditation conduct. The Wisdom Chapter Jamgön Mipham The Padmakara Translation Group’s translation of Mipham’s famous commentary on the “wisdom chapter” of Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva. Healing Emotions The Dalai Lama Explore healing approaches to stress, death, meditation, selfcompassion, and working together across scientific and religious aisles. From Here to Enlightenment The Dalai Lama An essential distillation of Tsongkhapa’s classic text, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Kindness, Clarity, and Insight The Dalai Lama Learn the core tenants of Tibetan Buddhism, including the Four Noble Truths, karma, compassion, and meditation.…

GINA SHARPE was born in Jamaica and immigrated to New York as a child. After successful careers in government, the motion picture industry, philanthropy, and law, she cofounded New York Insight Meditation Center in 1997, where she led its People of Color sangha and served as its guiding teacher until 2017. A member of the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, she led, with Larry Yang, Lila Kate Wheeler, and Rachel Bagby, the most diverse dharma teacher training in Spirit Rock’s history, which was completed in September. JODY HOJIN KIMMEL, SENSEI, is codirector of the Zen Center of NYC and the training director for the Mountains and Rivers Order at Zen Mountain Monastery, where she has been in full-time residential training for thirty years. She ordained as a priest…

SATYA ROBYN: Early this morning I went outside to sit in with our garden Buddha. I recited a mala of nembutsu—my main practice as a Pureland Buddhist—taking refuge in Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light. Saying the nembutsu reminds me that I am already accepted just as I am, and that after I die I will be going to a good place. WiThevery utterance of Namo Amida Bu, I relax a little more into the Buddha’s lap, and am slowly filled with faith. What is Buddhism for? Buddhism helps me to love and to be loved. How? By helping me to be less afraid. My teacher, Dharmavidya, says that all of our problems are a result of a lack of faith. I fear being disliked because I don’t trust that…

CALIFORNIA DHARMA REALM BUDDHIST UNIVERSITY 4951 Bodhi Way, Ukiah, CA 95482. (707) 621-7000, info@drbu.edu, www.drbu.edu • Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU) is an accredited university in northern California dedicated to liberal education in the broad Buddhist tradition. DZOKDEN 3436 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94123. (415) 810-6168, office@dzokden.org, dzokden.org • Online and in-person classes on Kalachakra, Jonang Ngondro, Rimé philosophy, Zhentong-Rangtong Emptiness and Meditation. We hold special Events & empowerments throughout the USA (California, New York, Colorado, and Oregon). INSIGHT LA MEDITATION 1430 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404. (310) 450-1821, programs@insightla.or, insightla.org • InsightLA Meditation is a meditation center teaching the highest quality evidence-based mindfulness practices throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. For 17 years, we have offered classes, retreats, and special events in an open and welcoming community.…

Lion of Speech Dilgo Khyentse Recently rediscovered, Lion of Speech is the sweeping biography of Mipham Rinpoche, one of the greatest 19th-century masters. Sarasvati’s Gift Mayumi Oda The memoir of artist, activist, and Buddhist teacher Mayumi Oda told through her words and paintings. In the Footsteps of Bodhisattvas Phakchok Rinpoche A complete path of meditation training with a commentary on the King of Samadhi Sutra. The Third Karmapa Ranjung Dorje Ruth Gamble The first comprehensive overview of the life and writings of the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje.…

HONGZHI was a twelfth-century Zen master in China who had a great influence on Dogen. The following is one of his practice instructions—it’s something we are to do: Emptiness is without characteristics. Illumination has no emotional afflictions. With piercing, quietly profound radiance, it mysteriously eliminates all disgrace. Thus one can know oneself; thus the self is completed. We all have the clear, wondrously bright field from the beginning. Many lifetimes of misunderstanding come only from distrust, hindrance, and screens of confusion that we create in a scenario of isolation. With boundless wisdom journey beyond this, forgetting accomplishments. Straightforwardly abandon stratagems and take on responsibility. Having turned yourself around, accepting your situation, if you set foot on the path, spiritual energy will marvelously transport you. Contact phenomena with total sincerity, not…

GINA SHARPE: We may not want to talk about authority or power, but it’s the elephant in the room, isn’t it? If we’re not talking about it, we’re abusing it, because we’re not being conscious. The silence is toxic and harmful. Students begin to lose confidence in their own intuition; they see something happening with the teacher and they think there’s something wrong with their perception rather than something awry with the teacher. We’re dancing on that edge all the time. I’ve seen abuses of power—not so much the sexual misconduct of teachers, but other misuses of power. I prefer not to talk about it just in terms of sexual abuse, because then we miss a larger issue of how power is wielded and the systemic negligence in not educating…