Five-year-old Thai twins in Thailand have been married to fulfill a superstitious Buddhist belief that they were lovers in a past life. Washirawit Bee Moosika and his sister Rinrada Breem had the wedding ceremony at home in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand on March 4.

Their parents, Weerasak, 31, and wife Rewadee, 30, follow Buddhist teachings which claim that all twins are born together because they have karma from a past life in which they were lovers whose relationship ended before they could wed.

They believe that unless twins are married at the earliest chance, their lives will be haunted with bad luck lingering from previous incarnations.

Washirawit Bee Moosika and his sister Rinrada Breem Moosika (right) had their wedding ceremony at home. Their parents Weerasak and wife Rewadee (left) are Buddhist

Weerasak and his wife Rewadee invited friends and relatives to witness their son and daughters marriage.

Proud mum Rewadee said: I feel so lucky to have twins but Im concerned that there is something following them from their previous lives. Our belief is that they should be married in order to clear that karma.

The twins colourful wedding ceremony followed a traditional Thai wedding with parades, dancing, and offering of dowries from close relatives. A Buddhist monk was also present to chant blessings during the toddlers unusual union. Twins married due to belief they were lovers in a past life

After the ceremony, the parents, twins, and their guests had a dancing party while festive music played in the background. Their father, Weerasak, said they had no choice but to marry off their children as Thai superstitious beliefs suggest that one of the twins will become sick unless they get married.

He said: We believe that if your children were born twins who have a different gender, they must be married or else one of them will fall ill later in their lives.

Weerasak added that their twins were lovers in their previous lives so they need to fulfill their marriage wish so that their children grows up healthy. However, the twins marriage was not legally valid and was only done for ceremonial purposes.

The father added: We are only doing this to make sure our children are safe. We do not want them to be sick and there is nothing to lose if we follow this belief.

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Five-year-old Twins Married to Fulfill Superstitious Buddhist Belief - Chiang Rai Times

The University of Chicago Presents and Japan Society co-present an evening of Buddhist ritual chanting, or shomyo, by the critically acclaimed group Shomyo no Kai-Voices of a Thousand Years. Hailing from two of Japan's major Buddhist sects (Shingon and Tendai), two dozen monks will showcase this millennium-old ritual chanting in a performance that transcends sectarian boundaries.

The monks will perform traditional shomyo, one of the earliest forms of vocal music that made its way to Japan in the sixth century, along with a new work titled Moonlight Mantra (Tsuki no Kogon) by young Japanese female composer Yu Kuwabara. This cinematic pre-recorded concert is set against the backdrop of An'yo-in Temple, one of the oldest temples in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, and will begin with commentary on the history of shomyo by Kojun Arai, one of Shomyo no Kai's founders, the director of the production, Hiromi Tamura, and the composer. The performance, streamed with English subtitles, will premiere on Tuesday, March 30 at 7 PM CDT, followed by a live Q&A with the head monks of both Buddhist sects.

On Thursday, April 8, at 7:30 PM CDT, the monks of Shomyo no Kai offer a rare opportunity to practice shomyo in a virtual workshop on how to use Buddhist ritual chant as a form of meditation. The monks will share how their daily practice of this art form, which is believed to have originated in India before entering Japan in the sixth century, informs and enhances their sense of well-being.

Concert tickets are $15, and workshop tickets are $5; both events are free for UChicago students. More information and tickets are available at chicagopresents.uchicago.edu.

Read this article:

The University of Chicago Presents and Japan Society co-Present SHOMYO: Buddhist Ritual Chant - Broadway World

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Buddhist Monks are just happy all the time, right?

I thought they were super-humans who never got annoyed, never had a negative thought and were non-materialistic.

While filming the new LIFE: Done Differently series, I spent time at the Nan Tien Temple in Wollongong with the Buddhist Monks.

The Nan Tien Temple was founded in 1965 by Venerable Master Hsing Yun.

It is the biggest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere.

And the name is fitting. Nan Tien in Chinese, means Paradise of the South.

The Temple: At First Glance

Id never been to a Buddhist temple before, so I was really excited to immerse myself in the experience.

When I arrived at the temple, I was eagerly waiting outside the gated community, until security buzzed me in.

The first thing I noticed when I got inside, was how beautiful the gardens were. Id never seen trees so perfectly trimmed before!

The temple grounds were very quiet. Walking around was so calm and relaxing. Very different to the city lifestyle Ive become accustomed too.

Seeing all the monks walking around, I was starting to get really excited to learn all about their lifestyle.

Shortly after exploring the grounds, I met Venerable Dr Juewei, who was going to be guiding me through my temple experience.

Venerable Dr Juewei is a very impressive woman. She has several degrees under her belt and is the head of the Nan Tien Institute, where they teach Buddhism., and numerous other courses.

She lives by the strict routine of a Buddhist Monk lifestyle, as well as running an entire university, so its fair to say, I was lucky she could fit me into her schedule.

Buddhist Monk Lifestyle

I got to sit down and have a long chat with Venerable Dr Jeuwei.

She was so friendly, calm and everything you thought a monk would be.

I also learnt a lot from her. Mainly, that my initial beliefs about monks were wrong.

Monks arent happy all the time.

Monks do have negative thoughts.

Monks do get annoyed.

Interestingly enough, I even saw some of the Monks using their own iPhones.

They are human just like the rest of us. Its how they approach life and deal with negativity, that makes them unique.

They cant hide from conflict between other monks. They all live together in the temple and have very strict daily routines that make it hard to avoid each other.

When someone does wrong by them, they dont look at the other person, they look inwards within themselves, how they can react in the best way they can.

How they handle lifes obstacles isnt rocket science either.

Its simply just practising mindfulness.

Focusing on their breathing.

They practise mindfulness in their day-to-day life, and whenever faced with a difficult situation, they just take it back to the breath.

It was interesting learning from Venerable Dr Juewei about their goal of striving to nirvana.

Buddhists strive for the journey to perfection.

No one is perfect, but its striving towards perfection that attracts Buddhists focus.

Day in the life of a monk

Its a busy life being a monk. They have a strict structure to their day from the moment they wake-up, right up until bedtime.

Thanks to the team at Nan Tien Temple, I got to live a day in the life of a Buddhist Monk.

I stayed overnight at the temple, and hit the pillow early, as I had my alarm set for 4.50am the next morning, to be up in time for the morning ritual.

I woke up, had a quick shower and then struggled, but eventually got into my robe.

I was wearing a grey robe, all the other monks were wearing fancy orange and black robes, so I really stood out as the newbie.

I then made my way down to the temple for the morning ritual.

At 5.20am, a Monk started to bang the big drum. This is to wake up all the other Monks in the temple. The drum is like a communal alarm clock.

One by one, the monks all walked into the temple (myself included, in my grey robe).

The ritual was an incredible experience, so much was going on.

Singing. Bells ringing. Everyone dropping to the floor and back up again.

I was clearly out of my depth and couldnt keep up with the pace of the ritual.

It was really therapeutic listening to all the monks chanting around me.

They conclude the ritual with a meditation session. I was hopeless at meditation.

I couldnt keep my eyes closed. I couldnt cross my legs. I couldnt hold in my giggles. It was a terrible attempt. Im getting better at it though, slowly, day by day.

We then went for breakfast. The monks eat all their meals in silence, or as they call it, mindful eating. They think about all the hard work that went into getting the food on the table and appreciating the taste.

It was definitely a new experience for me, as Im used to being on my phone or watching television over breakfast, not giving food a second thought.

I then joined the monks in their daily mindful walking exercise. This is where they do laps of the courtyard just focusing on their steps. It really cleared my head.

Tai Chi was next. I did Kung Fu when I was younger, so I felt like this should be easy for me to pick up. I gave myself a 4/10 for effort. The Monks made it look so easy, I was struggling to keep up with their effortless flow of movement.

Life Lessons

I feel like we can all take parts of the Buddhist Monk lifestyle and apply it to our own lives.

How often do we see somebody over-react or do something they later regret, because they acted on their emotions without thinking?

Making a conscious effort to focus on your breathing can help prevent that.

It does take practise and must be a priority in your life for it to be effective.

Ill be honest, I really struggled with practising mindfulness in all the tasks. Its easier said than done. Im working on it.

Also recognising that no one is perfect, but we can all aim to strive towards perfection. Similar to the saying, aim for the stars, land on the moon. We can always aim higher and set higher goals in life if we want more success.

Although living in a temple is definitely not appealing to me, I think I can definitely take away some of the Buddhist ways of doing life and apply them to my own.

Things Ill be taking away from the Buddhist lifestyle and focusing on this year -

1) Meditate regularly to allow a healthy mind, which leads to a healthy life.

2) Always strive for perfection in everything I do.

Read more:

A Monks life: what living behind temple walls is really like - 7NEWS.com.au

Mushim Ikeda is a Buddhist teacher and writer who leads community engagement at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California. Ikeda teaches meditation retreats for people of color, women, and social justice activists nationally.

She recently worked with Center for Healthy Minds collaborator Helen Weng and Center faculty member Larissa Duncan on a project to expand diversity throughout a neuroscience study on meditation. In this Q&A, Ikeda shares how mindfulness meditation can be both inclusive and exclusive, both healing and traumatizingall depending on peoples lived experiences and how theyre met with care during meditation practice or in their community.

Marianne Spoon: How might peoples identities and life experiences affect their meditation practice and their well-being?

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Mushim Ikeda: Its important to note that there are hundreds of kinds of meditations, which are techniques and activities we are doing with bodies and minds. Here Ill talk about mindfulness meditation, which is the same as insight meditation and vipassana meditation in the Buddhist tradition. The specific technique of mindfulness meditation is a thoroughly embodied practice. And by that, I mean that we understand that mind and body are not a binary. Often, this practice is learned by the directed activity of another human being (a teacher), and therefore in terms of diversity, the instructional language that is used is very important if someone is starting out.

As we know, because we live in society where there are structural and institutionalized forms of prejudice, some peoples access to education and access to medical care can be limited. Then there is more structural inequity that is also structural violence. This is especially true for people who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) or identify as LGBTQIA, or people with disabilities and illness, or people who are neurodivergent. Huge portions of our society fall into groups who are targeted in structural discrimination, where their basic human rights and basic needs as human beings are not met equally.

For meditation instructors to not understand that many people are likely experiencing repeated and complex trauma, their ways of leading meditation can be insensitive at best to deeply damaging at the worst. They might re-traumatize the very people they are trying to help.

MS: What does taking trauma into account look like when youre leading a meditation?

MI: At the East Bay Meditation Center where I am, all of the teachers are moving into or are using and continuing to learn trauma-informed and disability-justice informed instructional language. They are based on the idea that the very words we use and the way the teacher delivers actual wordstone of voice, spacing, special attention to actual wordsmatter. The most simple way to get at this is to note the research we receive about trauma. People with trauma find it difficult or impossible to learn if they feel they are commanded with no choice or agency. That is why the instructions and variations of what is being told to them are important. If a meditation teacher says, Now do this. Now do that, this may not be suitable for all people.

The same is true for focusing on the breath, which is common in some widely practiced meditations. Some people have suffered traumas in which theyve been threatened with violence by having air supply cut off (being choked), and, therefore, their awareness of breath is highly activating their trauma reaction.

A teacher needs to be aware of this possibility and probability because we live in a highly traumatized society. Instead of using a language of command, we use invitational language. We give people a lot of choices within the parameters of meditation techniques. We use invitations such as If this is accessible to you, If this is available to you, If you like, You might try both and see what makes you feel safer.

It is really recognizing that not all bodies are the same and that people are not the same psychologically, either. I want to especially acknowledge that this approach comes from groundbreaking work coming to us from the Niroga Institute, Access-Centered Movement, Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, and Dr. Helen Wengs intersectional neuroscience research method.

MS: How has this awareness evolved for you as a teacher?

MI: When I originally trained in Zen Buddhism in the United States and Canada, it was standard to talk about spiritual surrender, so it has been a part of my vocabulary. However, at least 20 years ago, I was giving a talk to a People of Color meditation group at San Francisco Zen Center, and there was an immediate and very clear response from several Black-identified participants who experienced racism in daily life and whose ancestors were violently oppressed for generations. They said: Surrender? Hell no!

Thats when I realized the impact of my words was different than my intention. The responsibility was on me as a teacher to change and to use more skillful speech. I realized the importance of taking into account the trust and relationships between people of different statuses within the hierarchy of power and authority. An embodied meditation practice includes teachers being ethical and transparent, and students being empowered to understand that teachers serve community and that community does not serve or submit to the teacher.

When it comes to trauma-informed teaching, I dont want to be uniqueI want to be part of a larger movement, one where diversity is present in every group, including disability. There can be ways to be more resilient to trauma and build up resilience in communities targeted for oppression, and its a primary part of what were doing at the East Bay Meditation Center.

MS: What has been your experience working with scientists to broaden the benefits of meditation to more people?

MI: To be frank, being truly inclusive in research is good science. If there is a research study that does not have awareness of people who represent what we call the many dimensions of diversity, how can we claim that it helps most people?

Society tends to fracture across lines of difference, which can have profound implications for ethical, legal, and social institutional policies and structures that deeply, deeply affect human be-ing and human beings. In intersectional and inclusive neuroscience, there is no average brain or body. There is no such thing. These dimensions of diversity need to be included rather than excluded in order to get more accurate research findings that will be of help in understanding neuroscience itself.

For those interested in learning more, Ikeda recommends this podcast from Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness author and therapist David Treleaven, on mindfulness and social justice.

This article was originally published on the Center for Healthy Minds. Read the original article.

Excerpt from:

How Meditation Can Be More Sensitive to Trauma - Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

Tricycles free online source for newcomers offers answers to all the questions you were hesitant to ask aloud.

Why do Buddhists talk about many Buddhas?

Often when we speak of the Buddha, we mean the historical figure Siddhartha Gautama, who attained enlightenment and began teaching the dharma around 2,600 years ago. But Buddhist tradition holds that this individualalso known as Shakyamuni Buddhawas only one in a series of awakened ones that stretches back into the distant past and extends into the farthest reaches of the future.

Of the many buddhas who preceded Shakyamuni, one of the most important was Dipamkara. His name means light maker: it is said that at his birth many lamps appeared and that he predicted Shakyamunis enlightenment.

After a long period, Dipamkaras teachings faded and were forgotten. Then came a succession of other buddhas, leading up to Shakyamuni, the buddha of our era. In the distant future, after a similar decline, it is said a buddha named Maitreya will emerge. Dipamkara, Shakyamuni, and Maitreya are often depicted in a triad representing past, present, and future. Past buddhas and future buddhas are objects of devotion that exist eternally and are available to those who seek them.

Although buddhas are infinite in a cosmic sense, the appearance of one in our world is rare. Buddhist cosmology describes a vast array of worlds of which ours is only one. Each of these worlds is overseen by a buddha, and rebirth in these worlds, known as buddha-fields, is the goal of many Buddhists.

Two of these prominent buddhas are Amitabha (Japanese, Amida), the Buddha of Infinite Light, and Bhaishajyaguru, the Medicine Buddha.

Amitabha Buddha is central to Pure Land Buddhism. He rules over the Western paradise of Sukhavati, literally blissful land, a place where enlightenment is much easier to achieve than elsewhere.

Bhaishajyaguru is the patron of doctors and healers and rules over an Eastern paradise. Rays of light that emanate from his blue body illuminate the world so that practitioners will never be in darkness. Devotion to him is said to ensure longevity, wealth, and prestige.

The Eastern and Western paradises are both said to be located trillions of buddha-fields away from our (impure) realm, which gives an idea of the epic scope of Buddhist cosmology.

Many other buddhas also reside in Pure Lands across the cosmos, serving as objects of reverence.

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Other Buddhas Across the Cosmos - Tricycle

A story from the Karmashataka illustrates how true devotion can be a source of energy and joy.

When the Blessed One was in Shravasti, there was a young god named Maniprabha who had hoops in his ears and necklaces around his neck and whose body was graced with strings of precious stones. He had a luminous celestial mansion of exquisite, divine jewels. Karmashataka

One of our favorite avadanas, or teaching stories, from the Karmashataka is the tale of the god Maniprabha, whose body, like the celestial mansion he lived in, shone with light and was adorned with fine jewels. One day when the Buddha was teaching at Jeta Grove (near the ancient Indian city of Shravasti), the brightly shining deity came to the garden with flowers, which he scattered over the Buddha to show homage. He then bent down to touch his head to the Buddhas feet in a traditional gesture of respect before sitting to hear the dharma. (The image of a god bowing down to the Buddha may be surprising for some readers. But in the Buddhist framework, buddhas far exceed the gods in spiritual realization. Maniprabhas deference to the Buddha is an embodied expression of this truth.) The Buddha offered a teaching that had such an immediate and profound effect on Maniprabha that the young gods eventual awakening became inevitable. In celebration he rose from his seat, again touched his head to the feet of the Blessed One, circumambulated him three times, and disappeared upon the spot.

Some of the other monks in the sangha were confused. They had been studying with continued, earnest, and sleepless efforts at dusk and dawn when they saw Maniprabhas great light emanate and then disappear. They went to the Buddha to ask what had happened. The Buddha explained, but the monks still had questions. They inquired how it came to be that Maniprabha had taken rebirth as a god whose residence was a celestial mansion and whose body was ornamented with divine jewels.

As is often the case in the Karmashataka, the Buddhas response comes in the form of a story within the story. The story takes place long before Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddhabefore he was even born. Back then, Buddha Kashyapa, one of the other buddhas the sutras say have appeared throughout history, was teaching the dharma. At the time, there lived in Varanasi a householder of tremendous wealth. After Buddha Kashyapas final passing, the householder, out of deep devotion, built a great stupa (shrine) containing the hair and nail relics of Buddha Kashyapas holy body. This stupa was so magnificent that even its rain gutters glimmered with jewels. Not only that, but the householder organized the construction of an associated monastery. For the rest of his life, he faithfully served the monks who studied and practiced there and provided for their every need.

The Buddha explained to the monks that after going for refuge and maintaining the fundamental precepts of a lay vow-holder all his life, the householder was reborn among the gods in a celestial mansion made of jewels. That householders name? Maniprabha, which means Jewel-Light.

Like all the stories of the Karmashataka, the story of Maniprabha is a gem that crystallizes for us certain essential teachings on karma. One facet is the enormous power of actions taken from a mindset of devotion.

True devotion does not actually drain us. It is a source of vibrant energy that makes our commitments come alive and become a source of joy.

When we think about our actions, we often focus on their effects, but the Buddhist view of karma easily overlooks the importance of the underlying intention. Yet as Joseph Goldstein points out, the Buddha used the term karma specifically referring to volition, the intention or motive behind an action. He said that karma is volition because it is the motivation behind the action that determines the karmic fruit. Inherent in each intention in the mind is an energy powerful enough to bring about subsequent results. Indeed, the Buddha stated, Action (karma) is volition, for after having intended something, one accomplishes action through body, speech, and mind.

The story of Maniprabha starts with a description of his numerous acts of devotion. Far from being a set of isolated occurrences, these actions are an upwelling of Maniprabhas devotion in previous lifetimes. In honor of the earlier buddha Kashyapa, he built a magnificent stupa and an associated monastery where he rendered service all his life, and provided for the material well-being of the monastics there. But Maniprabhas devotion was directed not only to these two buddhas. From his consistent, lifelong support of the monastery, we recognize that his devotion is also to the dharma and sangha, to notions of love and service, to compassion, and to putting others first.

In the course of the story, Maniprabha is never depicted as wavering. He appears with purpose, fulfills that purpose, and departs. Moreover, in the story of his past life, we are given to understand that the service he rendered was a joyful commitment that he never abandoned. The purity of that devotion later manifests concretely in the pristine qualities of his future rebirth in the god realmin his brilliant appearance, his splendid ornamentation, his divine residence, and his clear intention. Practitioners will find it particularly interesting to note that his acts of devotion gave rise to the auspicious circumstances needed to receive teachings directly from a buddha. Not only that, but Maniprabha was able to comprehend the teaching so deeply that he arrived speedily at the threshold of liberation.

Seen in relation to our own practice, the potential benefits of devotion are numerous. Devotion has the quality of stabilizing the mind. When something occurs that in other contexts might set us off balance, devotion helps us stay on course. For example, at times when we hear criticism from others, we may notice that our potential reactivity and defensiveness are allayed by the depth of our conviction in the dharma. We are able to actually hear their feedback and contemplate its validity without losing our emotional center.

Devotion is akin to love: when cultivated, it grows over time. It develops within the context of an ongoing relationship. When that relationshipwith a person, to the teachings generally, or to a certain lineage or practiceis healthy and not excessively predicated on projected longing, devotion matures and deepens. It is balanced. It becomes less superficial as it increases.

In keeping with our individual temperaments and inclinations, we may find ourselves drawn to certain devotional acts and disinclined to others. Traditional forms such as making offerings, building stupas, or bowing our heads or bodies are certainly important. But there are also contemporary forms more familiar to us: we can set out the cushions at the dharma center, like and subscribe to our favorite dharma sources on social media, or help to update Rinpoches iPhone. We may be spontaneously engaging in these activities without recognizing the devotion we are already expressing.

Simply attending dharma teachings with a mind that is genuinely open and receptive, not armored or argumentative, can itself be an act of devotion. It is a practice to notice where devotion already exists in our minds and hearts. That mindful awareness increases their power.

When emphasizing intention and devotion, the thought does come to us: Isnt it enough that Im here at the dharma talk? Or that I made it onto this cushion? Arent these virtuous actions good enough on their own? There can be a sense in our daily practiceand in our livesthat going through the motions is enough. This is especially true when were experiencing the challenges of life, and we find ourselves tired, overwhelmed, scared, anxious, busy, or burdened, as we often have every reason to be. Devotion feels like yet another item on our to-do list.

True devotion, however, does not actually drain us. It is a source of vibrant energy that makes our commitments come alive and become a source of joy.

Strengthened by devotion, we are more resilient when we encounter exhaustion, criticism, or the questions that arise naturally along the way. Our efforts will continue to grow in spite of challenges and even in response to them.

We know were experiencing devotion when we feel a genuine, spontaneous appreciation for the gifts we are receivingfor the fact that we can meet with qualified teachers, hear the word of the dharma, and find support in the sangha. Devotion is the wish to demonstrate this appreciation in respectful form, to pay homage as Maniprabha did.

Maniprabha leaped to repay the Buddhas kindness without hesitation. Similarly, the dharma can inspire a realization of our wondrous good fortune that naturally overflows in an abundance of gratitude.

This is the second installment in a four-part series on the Karmashataka (A Hundred Deeds) Sutra, a collection of ancient teaching stories on karma that has recently been translated from Tibetan into English. Read the first installation here.

Continue reading here:

Maniprabha and the Power of Devotion - Tricycle

How lifes little annoyances can teach us ever-greater tolerance.

The 8th-century Indian Buddhist sage Shantideva dedicated a chapter of his work The Way of the Bodhisattva to the subject of patience. In the new book Peaceful Heart: The Buddhist Practice of Patience, the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche follows the 134 verses from the Patience Chapter and explains how they apply to our busy lives today. In this excerpt, he discusses verses 15 through 18, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group.

15 And do I not already bear with the common irritations Bites and stings of snakes and flies, Experiences of hunger and thirst, And painful rashes on my skin?

16 Heat and cold, the wind and rain, Sickness, prison, beatings Ill not fret about such things. To do so only aggravates my trouble.

If we look at our lives, we already have a certain amount of patience. We can bear many difficult circumstances quite well. For example, we all have to endure minor illnesses such as colds and headaches. We have to deal with plenty of weather we dont like. We put up with mosquitoes and mice and many other creatures that cause us minor trouble.

Rather than constantly seeking to eliminate all small irritations from our lives, we can use them as a basis for developing more patience. If you emphasize comfort over the practice of patience, your mind will get weaker and weaker. If you want your life to be free of the challenge of needing patience, your mind will be in constant fear. You will feel increasingly under threat, increasingly provoked, increasingly paranoid. This will lead you to act more negatively and to reject much of the world.

Practitioners need to be going in the opposite direction. We need to have a little oomph to work with all the challenges we encounter. A lot of people wonder, Why does my life have so much struggle? But there is no such thing in samsara as a life free of struggle. There is no such thing as a life where nothing threatens us. So instead we should ask ourselves, Why doesnt my life have more oomph?

Its interesting that its easier to be patient with things or beings that cannot be held responsible, such as the weather or infants. We should also notice that its relatively easy to muster our tolerance toward people we want to please or impress, such as those we find attractive or our superiors at work. These examples show how capable we are of having control over our minds. If we use these easier situations as a training ground, we are also capable of extending our patience to situations or people that tend to provoke our anger more strongly.

Shantidevas point here is that developing patience depends a lot on our self-confidence and self-image. If we see ourselves as nervous, shaky, and irritable, our experiences will tend to follow that image. So we need to change our attitude to see ourselves as tolerant and not easily disturbed. This will make a great difference in how we react to outer conditions and will set in motion more favorable ways for things to unfold. When we see ourselves in such a positive light, it will be easy to tolerate small disturbances, let go, and move on with ever-increasing patience. As our minds become more agile and ready to make use of discomfort and adversity, we will gain more strength to face the great disturbances of life with tolerance.

17 There are some whose bravery increases At the sight of their own blood, While some lose all their strength and faint When its anothers blood they see!

18 This results from how the mind is set, In steadfastness or cowardice. And so Ill scorn all injury, And hardships I will disregard!

Our reactions to situations, people, and our own states of mind are based on how we condition our minds. For instance, if you have habituated yourself to be brave in battle, seeing your own blood flow may give you even more courage to fight. But if youve habituated your mind to weakness and oversensitivity, you may faint or panic even when you see someone elses blood. Your response in that moment comes from how youve built up your habits in the past.

You can train your mind to be strong and resilient, or you can train your mind to be fainthearted and easily discouraged. This is your choice. If you want to be a bodhisattva, its not viable to act like a weak dog and run away with your tail between your legs, succumbing to your habitual reactions. A bodhisattva needs to endure countless challenges, so you have to shed any tendencies toward cowardice.

In these modern times, particularly in the West, its common for people to give up on themselves easily. Many dharma students tend to judge themselves too harshly and then become discouraged. Part of the problem is they want to be too good. So when they see their neuroses and their imperfections, they have a hard time accepting themselves. This comes from having unreasonable expectations. It is a puritanical mindset. I hear people say, Ive been practicing for the last twenty years. How could this happen? How could I do this? How could I have this thought, this feeling? This often happens just when they think theyve made some progress. The result can be deep despondency.

Our thoughts, feelings, and reactions come about due to a vast number of interdependent circumstances. When the perfect circumstances converge for you to have a particular reaction, its almost impossible not to have that reaction, at least initially. As a result, no matter how long youve practiced, its very unlikely that nothing will bother you anymore. It isnt realistic to think youll be exempt from getting frustrated or losing your temper. The mark of a true practitioner is not what arises in your life and mind, but how you work with what arises.

It all comes down to your perspective and your self-confidenceyour oomph. Now you may think, What can I do about that? Im just not a self-confident person. Its important to know that self-confidence isnt something were born with. Everyone can develop self-confidence if they want to. But we must understand that here we are talking about genuine self-confidence, not egos bloated version, which is more like arrogance.

The process begins with your willingness to take a chance. Rather than having everything absolutely clear and predictable ahead of time, you have to be willing to go into the unknown. This may require a leap of faithfaith in your own mind and its innate wisdom and ability. Then, having taken that leap, you have to work with your intelligenceskillfully, mindfully, and patientlyas the situation unfolds. Going through this kind of process repeatedly will increase your self-confidence, especially when you encounter difficulties and find ways to turn them around or bring about the best outcome possible.

The mark of a true practitioner is not what arises in your life and mind, but how you work with what arises.

Here it is helpful to remember verses 15 and 16, in which Shantideva advises us to train ourselves in cultivating positive qualities by beginning with relatively small things. This is a realistic, doable approach to developing any desirable attribute in your mind. For example, you may wish to be a generous person but realize that youre not very generous. Resigning yourself to being stingy by nature will get you nowhere. That is just making an excuse based on laziness.

If youre genuinely interested, you can always find small ways to be generous. You can even practice by passing money or some object youre attached to from one of your hands to the other. The Buddha actually suggested this simple practice to a disciple who thus got over his miserliness and eventually became a great patron of the dharma. Starting small will serve as an effective beginning to your generosity practice, which you can then take as far as you want it to go.

With patience especially, we can use the small irritations that come up in our lives as wonderful opportunities to train. For example, sometimes we feel offended, but at the same time we realize its silly to be offended. Here we have a great chance to apply the humor we already see in the situation. This humor is based on realizing the irony of what is happening: were blaming somebody else, but the real problem is our own ego, manifesting in the form of a ridiculous uptightness. This kind of ironic humor is not just a patch we use to cover up pain. It is an insight that can turn irritation into a genuine laugh or smile, which gives us a feeling of release. A humorous perspective gets us through the slight pain of the offense and enables us to turn that pain into wisdom. We can then appreciate the pain as we would the pain of an immunization. We need to take advantage of these situations, which are within our reach to work with successfully. If we forgo such opportunities to practice in small ways, then to believe we will be patient when bigger things come around is just wishful thinking.

Because humor and appreciating irony are such effective means of cutting through irritations, I would like to share a contemplation I once had, which I found both funny and helpful. It occurred to me that people come with different shoe sizes, but that doesnt bother me. They have different pants sizes and hat sizes. That also doesnt bother me. So why should I be bothered that people come with different sizes of ego? Just as I dont have to wear other peoples shoes, I dont have to wear other peoples egos. I can just let them wear their own egos, whatever size they are. Why should I take the size of someone elses ego personally and let it bother me? It is theirs and theirs alone to wear. I can just let them be.

The size of another persons ego can make you feel very bothered and uncomfortable. But if you can find other ways of looking at your irritation, especially using humor, then you have a better chance of being patient. In this way, your patience will increase not only in trivial situations but also in serious situations where humor and irony are more difficult to find.

Excerpted from Peaceful Heart: The Buddhist Practice of Patience by Dzigar Kongtrul 2020. Reprinted with permission of Shambhala Publications.

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Dzigar Kongtrul: The Path of Patience - Tricycle

Our expert explains the meaning of dukkha.

The Pali word dukkha (duhkha in Sanskrit), usually translated as suffering, sits at the heart of the Buddhas four noble truthswhich boil down to (1) dukkha exists, (2) dukkha arises from causes, and (3) we can end dukkha (4) by following the Buddhas path to awakening. This central term is best understood alongside the related word sukha. The prefix su- generally means good, easy, and conducive to well-being, and the prefix du- correspondingly means bad, difficult, and inclining toward illness or harm. On the most basic level, then, sukha means pleasant while dukkha means unpleasant. The noble truth of suffering, however, does not simply refer to bodily pain; its meaning is far more subtle and rich.

One can also feel mental pleasure and pain. Here, the twin prefixes are employed again. A good mind (su-manas) is contrasted with a bad mind (du-manas) to yield the Pali words most often used to describe happiness (somanassa) and sorrow (domanassa), also known as mental pleasure and mental pain. Here, happiness and sorrow simply refer to the experience of a painful or pleasurable feeling, which is different from emotional pleasure or pain. When Buddhist teachings talk about emotions, such as love and hate, they are describing our disposition toward the things we encounter. This important distinction can be easily lost in translation.

Dukkha is further used to describe the disappointment that comes when the things we are fond of inevitably change and slip through our hands. The Pali term for this is viparinama-dukkha, meaning the suffering of change, which the second noble truth explains is caused by craving and attachment. We experience emotional pain when we crave either pleasure or the absence of pain, and dont get what we want. Mind- fulness practice is designed to help us abandon this craving by replacing it with emotional equanimity.

Beyond the physical, mental, and psychological sense of dukkha, we might add an existential sense of these words. In Pali texts, the feeling that the very conditions of the world we inhabit are unsatisfactory is called sankhara-dukkha, or the suffering of conditioned reality. The fact that all beings must consume to live and that we will age, become ill, and die are also sources of suffering.

Fortunately, there is a corresponding state of existential well-beingthe liberation from suffering that comes about with awakening.

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The Meaning of Dukkha - Tricycle

November 1, 2020 3:35:06 am

Written by Vinaya Rakkhita Mahathera

On October 14, 1956, along with his 5 lakh followers, Dr B R Ambedkar went to the refuge of The Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Committed as he was to rationality and empiricism, he was attracted to Buddhisms rational outlook tuned with morality and further strengthened by scientific temper. Its teaching of equality and solidarity, and its emphasis on transforming both the self and the world through self-effort attracted him.

Ambedkar was the brightest thunderbolt of intellect elicited from the darkest storm of casteism. Therefore, the followers of Ambedkar, the Ambedkarites, must emulate their leader and should give up the repeated labelling of themselves as suppressed class. By repeating such labels, they are giving an auto-suggestion that they are suppressed and therefore can do nothing except to look for help from someone up there in the sky or may be waiting for another Ambedkar or Buddha to arrive to relieve them.

Today we should reflect together on the predicament in which the Ambedkarites find themselves. On the one hand, they confront the exploitation they continue to suffer in a casteist society that refuses to acknowledge them as equals; on the other, they can be manipulated by an opportunist Dalit political style that has turned Ambedkar into an icon but betrays his ideals in practice of Buddhism. One is ready to take the political reservations earned by him but not his religion, Buddhism, when he himself has said that to serve Buddhism is to serve humanity.

Ambedkarites should have self-confidence and believe in self-effort to gain self-respect. Ambedkarites should try to be like Ambedkar of high moral character, highly educated, self-confident and believing in self-effort.

One may ask why Ambedkar left Hinduism. To which Ambedkar himself says: I thought for long that we could rid the Hindu society of its evils and get the depressed classes incorporated into it on terms of equality Experience has taught me better. I stand today absolutely convinced that for the depressed classes there can be no equality among the Hindus because on inequality rest the foundations of Hinduism.

Most of the Hindu leaders are hypocrites who profess to fight casteism while in reality are committed to its rules. Brahminical bureaucrats who claim to have democratic ideas wish to raise the backward castes but crave nothing better than an oligarchy for themselves. Untouchability and inequality cannot be removed if education produces only slavish and selfish-minded leaders. Moreover, how can we gain anything by staying in the caste system?

Buddhism has been in the service of the poor and the oppressed. The Buddhas teachings are based on this fact called suffering, the cause for suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering. This is the reason why Ambedkar chose The Buddha. The Manuvadis want to keep the masses in the casteist religion so that they can go on exploiting them.

Ambedkars call for conversion to Buddhism has been ignored and deliberately marginalised by his own community leaders with few exceptions. It is interesting that Ambedkar fought for the rights of Dalits and had a broader vision, which couldnt be inculcated by post-Ambedkar Ambedkarites. He wanted to give his people an identity so that they get out of the varna system but here, what we see is the stimulation of the culture of varna and caste among the Dalits.

If only constitutional guarantees would have been sufficient, Ambedkar would have rested in peace. He would never have spent years of his life even in bad health, digging out Buddhism from oblivion.

The segmented morality endemic to Hinduism is oppressive to those who suffer under it. Both uneducated and educated Dalits seems to vacillate between two discourses. On one hand they praise Ambedkar as the symbol of the Dalit movement for his conversion to Buddhism and on the other, they themselves stick to their old casteist life.

The writer is a Bahujan Ambedkarite associated with Alok Sangharam Mahavira.

Suraj Yengde, author of Caste Matters, curates the fortnightly Dalitality column

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Ambedkar showed the way, others must follow - The Indian Express

Oct. 31 (UPI) October will have its second full moon a rare Blue Moon beginning Saturday and lasting through Sunday.

The moon appears at its fullest, opposite the sun in earth-based longitude, at 10:49 a.m. EDT on Saturday, according to NASA. It should appear full through Sunday night.

The first full moon after the Harvest Moon which appeared Oct. 1 this year is also called the Hunters Moon, according to the Farmers Almanac, a moniker that appears in the Oxford English Dictionary dating back to 1710.

This full moon will appear smaller Saturday night because it occurs nearest to the time when the moon is farthest in its orbit from the Earth, at its apogee, so NASA calls it a Micro Moon as opposed to a Supermoon.

In astronomical terms, Blue Moons occur with a regular pattern about once every two and a half years. After October 2020, the next Blue Moon will take place in August 2023. A full moon will occur on Halloween once every 19 years in the 21st century.

The Native American name for the second full moon of autumn is the Beaver Moon, also called the Frost or Frosty Moon, or the Snow Moon, NASA says.

In North America, the deer rut mating season is in full swing and snow geese arrive at the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and southern Delaware. The Old Farmers Almanac says its best to plant garlic and dig up sweet potatoes during the Hunters Moon.

In the Indian subcontinent, this full moon coincides with the end of monsoon rains, and is called the Sharad Purnima, coinciding with Hindu festivals marking the end of the rainy season.

Buddhist names for the full moon mark the end of Vassa, or the three-month retreat also called the Buddhist Lent.

The full moon falls near the end of the Buddhist Hpaung Daw U festival in Myanmar and Indochina which lasts between Oct. 17 and Nov. 3. In Thailand, this full moon coincides with the Loi Krathong festival, in which decorated baskets are floated in rivers.

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Halloween weekends Blue Moon to last through Sunday - Gephardt Daily