September 2001

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September 9, 2001
Founder Day’s Celebration

This year we will celebrate Founder’s Day on September 9, commemorating the late Dr. Thich Thien-An’s 75th birthday anniversary, which falls on September 8, and watch a videotape of a lecture that he gave to a local university class.. After the service, we will end with a vegetarian potluck feast in the Zendo garden. So, please bring drinks or vegetarian food to share with everyone.

September 21-23
Ullumbana Weekend Retreat

IBMC will hold its Ullumbana Retreat this year September 21 - 23 This retreat marks the end of the three month training period as well. During the Buddha’s time when Ven. Maud-galyayana, using his divine eye, saw his mother in great torment in hell, the Buddha recommended that he call all the monks together and have them concentrate upon delivering her from her hell. With all the monks sending their merits to her at the close of their rainy retreat season, they were able to puncture her torment and release its hold upon her for a long enough time that she was able to free herself from hell’s realm and to obtain a good rebirth.

At this retreat we will use any merits which we may accrue to send them to our relatives and friends in hopes of helping them to a better life. We invite you to join us as we work to move closer towards enlightenment.

The retreat begins at 8 pm Friday and ends Sunday at noon. Ven. Dr. Karuna Dharma, with the help of the IBMC monks, will lead the retreat. Food is vegetarian, simple, but ample. Please bring comfortable clothing and your personal amenities. Retreatants will sleep at the Center, so also bring a bedroll or sleeping bag. Fee is $95 for non-members and $75 for full members. Make reservations by September 14.

Dharma School to begin

Beginning the first Sunday of September, September 2, IBMC will be offering Dharma school for adults and children, ages 10 and up, of all ethnic backgrounds and Buddhist traditions.. The teachers will be Ven. Sakya Bodhi, Zen teacher from IBMC, and other teachers, as the program grows. The classes will meet the first and third Sundays every month.

For adults the program will include Buddhist bi-lingual Vietnamese-English terminoloy and dokusan (private inter-views) regarding meditation or spiritual matters, basic Buddhist principles, answering questions regarding Dharma that you have never asked before, etc. For children, youth activities will be added on if there is call for them. Dharma school welcomes all ideas and suggestions to enrich the success for all. For more information, or to sign up, e-mail Rev. Karuna at karunadh@earthlink.net

Ven. Sakya Bodhi will be speaking at the 9 am Sunday service at the Unitarian church, 3657 Lemon Street, Riverside, on September 2. His topic is Meditation Techniques and the Cultivation of Real Peace.

Classes at College of Buddhist Studies

Classes will run for eleven weeks at the College of Buddhist Studies from September 24 through December 7. Registration can be done the first night of class. The fee is $150 per class. There are some work/study arrangements possible. Call tthe college office at 213 739-1270 and speak to Ven. Shanti about this possibility.

Mon Certificate of Buddhist Studies,
Prof. Warnisuriya, College office; 6:30-8:30 pm
One year course on Buddhism and its philosophy, developed for those students who want a comprehensive understanding of Buddhism from its beginning to the present day. This quarter is concerned with Sakyamuni’s life, early history and the basic philosophy: Four Noble Truths, Eight fold Path, three marks of existence, karma, the arahant, Bodhisattvas, etc.

Tues Lankavatara Sutra
Ven. Dr. Karuna Dharma, College Library, 7 - 9 pm
The study of the most important Zen Sutra

Wed Applied Buddhism
Rev. Kusala, Zendo, 7 - 9 pm
Buddhist approaches to every day life, using sila, the training pre-cepts of the lay person, as a guide. Changing personal attitudes to promote internal balance and harmony, understanding the nature of suffering; developing skills of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, all with an increasing under-standing of one’s self.

Wed BasicTenets of Buddhism
Dr. Siri Warnisuriya, College Office, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Exploring the basics of Buddhism: Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, Karma, rebirth, impermanence, suffering, no-self, the dif-ference between Sangha and laity, etc. These will be viewed in relation to early Buddhism. This class is the foundation for under-standing the teachings of Buddha.

Thurs History of Zen
Rev. Vajra Karuna, Ananda Hall, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
History of Zen Buddhism in Japan from the 12th century to the present

Fri Elementary Sanskrit
Dr. Siri Warnisuriya, College Library, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Three quarter class; emphasis upon reading and writing in Devanagari script, development of extensive vocabulary, selections from Sanskrit writings: Bhagavat Gita, Maha Bharata, Upanishads, Buddhist canonical writings.

tba Pali Chanting
Ven. Havanpola Shanti,
beginning course on Pali chanting; no prior knowledge of Pali is required. Uses Pali sutras as the foundation.This is a “how to” class.

tba Elementary Pali
Dr. Siri Warnisuriya
Individualized classes for those who are interested in the ancient language of the canonical writings of Theravada Buddhism.
A Visit to Dr. Thien-An’s Crypt is scheduled for Saturday, September 8, on his 75th birthday. Call Ven. Karuna at 213 382-9972 if you would like to attend. He is interred at the beautiful lake side in the Japanese section at Rose Hills in Whittier. Please bring bread to feed the koi and ducks.

September Events

Sunday Talks

9/2 I See Dead People
11am Rev. Kusala

9/9 Videotape of Dr. Thien-An Lecture
11am Ven. Dr. Thich Thien-An

9/16 The Healing Mind
(Going Beyond Entanglements)
11am Prof. Jon Bono Pizzurro

9/23 Service and Compassion
11am Bro. Sraddha Karuna

9/30 The Third Buddhist Council
11am Rev. Havanpola Shanti

Classes at IBMC

Mon Certificate in Buddhist Studies
6:30 Dr. Wanisuriya

Tues The Lankavatara Sutra
7:00 Ven. Dr. Karuna Dharma

Wed Basic Tenets of Buddhism
6:30 Dr. Warnisuriya

Wed Applied Buddhism
7:00 Rev. Kusala

Thurs History of Zen
6:30 Rev. Vajra Karuna

Fri Elementary Sanskrit
6:30 Dr. Warnisuriya

Pali Chanting
Rev. Havanpola Shanti

tba Elemenrary Pali
Dr. Wanisuriya

Special Events

9/2 Dharma School

9/8 Trip to Ven. Thien-An’s Crypt

9/9 Founder’'s Day

Videotape of Dr. Thien-An
Garden luncheon

9/16 Dharma schoo
l
9/21-23 Ullumbana Retreat

9/24 College classes begin

Meditation times
Mon, Sun evenings from 5:00-7:00 pm, led by Rev. Sakya Bodhi
Wed evening: 7-9 pm, led by Rev. Kusala
Fri evening: 7:30-9 pm, led by Rev. Kusala

IBMC web page is found at: InternationalBuddhistMeditationCtr.org
You can email us at: IBMC@InternationalBuddhistMeditationCtr.org
Rev. Karuna’s email: Karunadh@earthlink.net
Karuna’s web page:
http:// home.earthlink.net/~karunadh
Rev. Kusala’s email: Kusala@kusala.org
Rev. Kusala’s web page: www.kusala.org
Rev. Shanti’s email:Hshanti@earthlink.net
Rev. Prabuddhi’s: Prabuddhi@yahoo.com
Rev. Vajra’s email: Madmonk88@aol.com
Bro. Sunya’s email: Sunya2@Earthlink.net
Bro. Ksanti and Bro.Sraddha’s email: VictorTom@aol.com



Voices from Prison
Bro. Sraddha Karuna

On March 11th we gave the Eight Precepts to Prisoner SK 931 at the State Prison in Tucker, Arkansas. We welcomed him to the Sangha and gave him the Grey robes and gave him the name Jyoti Priya-Lover of the Light. His name in the mundane world is Damien Echols. He is on death row convicted of killing three eig ht-year-old boys and he has become my friend and brother inthe Dharma.

We've talked about him here. Told something about his case. But a year ago I knew nothing of him or any prisoner for that matter. I don't think that most of us have the opportunity to experience a relationship with someone in prison. I never gave it much thought. Even when I served on a jury and convicted a man of a felony, I didn't consider what was about to happen to him.That's how anesthetized we are. Prison was a James Cagney film or OZ on HBO. Something of a fantasy.

Last August during Monk's training Rev. Karuna brought in letters from prisoners. I was given one from Damien:

"My name is Damien Echols and I am a 26 year old Rinzai Zen Buddhist on death row in Arkansas, where I have been incar-cerated since 1993. I found your address in a Resource Guide from the Prison Dharma Network."

I replied and offered to answer any questions he might have.

"On September 19th I am to receive Jukai lay ordination and a new name from Shodo Harada Roshi, who will be arriving from Japan."

"My practice begins in the morning with chanting the Heart Sutra, the triple refuge, and Kwan Seum Bosal on the 108 bead mala. I then sit for 30 to 45 minutes. At night I do the same. This is my daily schedule except for weekends, when I try to get in at least 3 to 4 hours of sitting a day."

I felt a little over my head in this.

I went on the Internet and found out a little more about Damien and the case. I was appalled by the manner in which this inno-cent young man became the scapegoat for a town's fear and anger.

But also found out about how Buddhism has begun to take hold in prisons. There is a Prison Dharma Network. The Zen Mountain Monastery and John Daido Loori are active in the New York prison system. Rev. Karuna has an active
practice with prisoners across the country. And so began a year of active correspondence with a generous spirit placed in a terrible circumstance. He is writing a book and I'll share some of it today. In fact the reason we're sharing it is because I joked with him after he got the Grey robes that nowhe would have to give a Dharma talk. He leapt at the chance. So I'm subbing
for him today.

Damien/Jyoti Priya doesn't tell me much of what his life is like in prison but one gets a glimpse now and then. Like describing how beautiful the night was with the moon making the ice on the razor wire sparkle. Or when we gave the eight precepts hearing the shouts and noise of the prison. I asked if he had had anyone with him during the ceremony and the answer was
“No. No one.” They just rolled the pay phone over to his cell and he made the collect call to us.

But he has a practice. It is intense. And it has helped him.This is an article that he wrote:

Patience

People here in prison always say that the worst part is the waiting.Constant waiting to see what will happen next A great deal of patience is needed, and sitting in this cell for seven years I have learned a little about patience.

When you are patient, it doesn't mean that you endure the situation, or just grit your teeth and wait for it to be over.Instead of waiting for the moment to pass, it's better to be with the moment - to examine it and open our eyes to the entire experience - to everything that is there, instead of just reacting. If boredom comes, then just sit and be with the boredom. If anger or fear come, then just be with the anger or fear. Really examine it, and examine your reaction to it, instead of instantly fighting against it or trying to get beyond it. Patience means being with and experiencing what is happening. Even if nothing happens, then be with nothing.

In normal day to day life, we're almost never patient, never still. We constantly try to keep busy, even if it's only learning things to be clever and entertaining to others. But when you sit zazen, all of those things are useless.They're worse than useless, they ecome a hindrance, because when you are sitting zazen, you can be neither clever or entertaining. So all of those things just go around in the mind, until it wears itself out.

We've corresponding back and forth about making the practice more meaningful, more concrete.For me something to volunteer for. Jyoti Priya doesn't have that opportunity. There's no inter-action with the other prisoners. But he did find an answerÿ

Making Offerings

Lately I have taken up a practice that has helped me a great deal, and it is very simple. It's an act of both surrendering and making an offering to the Buddha. Normally when we think of making offerings, we think of food or drink, flowers or incense that we sit out on an alter or shrine. There is no reason why we should limit ourselves to those small offerings during our formal sitting, we can do it every second of the day, every act, every thought, every emotion, just take a second to stop and make an offering to the Buddha. When you cook or clean, offer it up. When you are happy, sad or angry, offer that up, too. But don't stop there, keep going. When you get dressed in the morning, offer up your shirt, your pants, and even the act of getting dressed in itself, along with any thoughts you may have. Do the same with every act performed throughout the day. Not only will it train you to be
more mindful, but you will also accumulate the merit of so many offerings. Then you can even offer your mindfulness and accumu-lated merit up to the Buddha. Just stop, take a breath and focus on offering it up to the Buddha in order to more quickly attain enlightenment and serve others, as well as the Buddha. You can offer up your every breath. It works best when we offer up our most harmful thought, action or habit because it instantly purifies
the mind of one more obstacle or piece of negativity. It becomes one less poison that will accumulate in your heart and mind. This s a greater offering than all the incense, flowers and food in the world. This is the act of a Buddha offering up gifts to a Buddha, and if you practice it for even one week, then you will notice a difference in your mind.

The process of coming to Buddhism is filled with chance. (Some of you may have heard this already.)

"One day an inmate named Frankie Parker, who later became a Japanese Zen Priest, was thrown into the "hole". When you're in the hole, you're only supposed to have one piece of property, a "religious book". In Arkansas that usually translates into a "Bible". One of the guards opened Jusan's (Frankie Parker) door, and to taunt him said, "Here's your holy book" and slammed the door after throwing in a copy of the Dhammapada. He read it and began practicing. He was the first person I met when I arrived on death row, and he tried to help me become adjusted. He's dead now, executed 5 or 6 years ago. Even the Dalai Lama himself asked that he not be killed, but we have a very fundamentalist governor who believes in "an eye for an eye". That's how I was introduced to Buddhism. After Jusan's death, I met his teacher, whom I took Refuge with."

I'm going to close with something of Jyoti Priya's that haunts me.

The Spider

To Buddhism, intellectual knowledge doesn't help very much. Certain lessons may start out as an intellectual knowledge, but through practice that changes. Intellectual knowledge must become attained wisdom. Some of the most important lessons that I've learned were taught to me by a spider.

One morning I awakened to find myself looking face to face with an especially plump, poisonous spider. Sometime during the night it had built a web on the other side of my window.I was separated from it by a pane of unbreakable glass, but it was still disturbing and gave me the creeps. Just looking at it made my skin crawl. I wanted very much to remove it. I had to look at it several times a day, even though I found it utterly repugnant. The worst was when I noticed one morning that a grasshopper was trapped in the web. I could imagine the fear the grasshop-per felt, and if there was any way possible, I would have torn up the web and helped it to escape. Over the next couple of days, the spider made several meals out of the grasshopper.

Somehow, I grew used to seeing the spider there every morning, noon and night. As more time went by, I realized that I was taking pleasure from simply lying here, listening to the radio and watching the spider for hours at a time. I found it a little odd that this creature that only a short time ago had repulsed me had now become my friend. It made me think of the story of a traveling monk who stopped to rest for the night, and was very thirsty. He was feeling around in the dark and found something shaped like a bowl that had water in it, so he drank it. It was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted, because he was so thirsty. The next morning, when the sun came up, he saw that it was a skull he had drank from the night before, filled with filthy water and insects. He immediately vomited the water that had tasted so delicious during the night.

This is a story that someone, somewhere made up in order to illustrate that it's our own minds that create "good" and "bad", "pure" and "impure", and every other dualistic label. I under-stood that all the way down in my bones, from examining how I had once found the spider's presence disturbing, but that now I took pleasure in it. I knew that if someone saw the spider they would probably want to smash it, but I would want to prevent it.

Time passed, and I watched the spider capture several beetles that were far bigger than itself. I didn't view it with horror and disgust anymore, I tried to view it as nature's cycle and thought about how happy the spider must be to have something to eat after going for days with nothing.

One morning there was a strange brown thing in the web, which just hung there. I noticed that the spider was considerably smaller than it had been. Something was up. A few days passed before I noticed that the brown thing was gone and in its place were hundreds of tiny baby spiders. I quickly called my wife, and told her about it. After that, she asked for "spider news" every day. The big spider was now referred to as "she" instead of "it".

It was with great disappointment that I watched the baby spiders gradually leave the web and head for other places. I guess I wanted them all to stay. Nothing lasts forever, though. Change is the nature of reality.

I watched the entire process begin again, until one day the web was once again full of baby spiders, only this time, tragedy struck. A huge thunderstorm hit as the baby spiders were just beginning to explore the web. The web was being blown about fiercely, causing it to tear apart while the spiders tried to hang on. The big spider's legs were beating a frantic rhythm on the window, as if wanting to be let in. At that moment I wanted so badly to be able to open the window so they could escape the wind and rain. I must admit that I even felt like crying for a few moments. While dying, the spider was showing me the greatest example of impermanence that can be shown - life doesn't last forever, dying is inevitable and every living creature must reap the fruit of its karma.

There is a lesson to be learned from everything. A famous zen master told one of his students that any time the student did not understand his true nature, he could ask a tree, or ask the sky, and they would tell him. There are no trees here, but I asked the spider, and she told me. It seems a shame to me that I not write about the spider, because she was a friend to me.

Even spiders understand the Tao, it is only people who get con-fused. That's because we clutter our minds, fill them with all sorts of useless garble to hang onto ego. We try too hard to be clever. The spider had no thought of being clever, it simply acted in accord with the Tao. When you realize your true nature, others learn from you even when you aren't trying to teach.

One morning I heard a noise in the window and thought "that must be one huge spider!", but when I opened my eyes I saw a bird on the window ledge, staring at me with straw in it's mouth. I became excited at the prospect of having an entire nest of birds to watch, but I guess it didn't like the thought of having to look at my big, bald head every morning, so it flew away. Perhaps next summer.ÿ

I started out thinking I would be writing a "prisoner" and ended with a friend who cares and shares and listens and shows me the truth in the simplest, gentlest manner.

In Hamlet there's a scene with Rosencrantz and Guilderstern

Hamlet:. "What have you, my good friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune, that she sends you to prison hither?"

Guiderstein: "Prison, my lord?"

Hamlet. "Denmark's a prison."

Rosencrantz: "Then is the world one."

Hamlet: "A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one of the worst."

Rosemcranz:. "We think not so, my lord."

Hamlet: "Why, then 't is none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it soÿ.."

Early in our correspondence Damien wrote

"I came to Zen all at once. I had to, because the stress of the entire situation was driving me nuts. The anger, frustration, and desperation were eating me alive. Zen was the key to not letting it. And the strangest thing was that it didn't teach me to overcome it. It taught me to sit right in the midst of it and open myself up to it Then there was no longer a problem. It was not the situation that was causing the trouble, it was my own fighting against it. I know what you may mean about feeling happy, though. For me, it is very exciting. I love getting up every morning, and I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. It truly is wonderful."

Visiting the Coroner’s Office
by Rev. Kusala

Most of the Wednesday Night Class was spent talking about my trip to the Orange Co. Coroner's office. The police chaplains were allowed to tour the facility, ask questions, and see an autopsy.

In the role of police chaplain, we may come in contact with a deputy coroner. And this field trip was a way for the chaplains to understand the role of a coroner on a crime scene.

I have always felt death is the last great mystery. This field trip cleared up many questions. And allowed me to feel (again) how rare this human birth of ours is. And even more than that, I came to know and experience the spirituality (karmic energy) of afterlife.

The coroner's office is a very spiritual place. And the people that work there are very special indeed.

To tour the Coroner’s is a very insightful thing to do if you are a Buddhist monk. When the karmic energy leaves, the body is much different and pretty useless. A very strong sense of non-attachment arose in me... With the chest cavity of a 34 year old woman open and exposing all the internal organs waiting to be taken out for weighing and dissecting...

I was taken aback by the color of it all... It was like a garden in a flower box on a window ledge. I see now why they use the term harvesting organs...The organs are filled with, reds, blues, yellows, greys, purples, etc. and all the shapes and forms are interconnected in an unending chain of cause and effect... Not at all repulsive... But vibrant and surreal.

I was surprised by how spiritual it was at the coroner's office. Not in the autopsy room itself (that had a feeling of emptiness), but in every other room, nook, and cranny, of the coroners office. Hundreds of spirits, or karmic energy patterns, still attached to having bodies and confused by their untimely separation... Perhaps having followed the deputy coroners back from their body pickup, they were just hanging out trying to find balance and meaning again.

At one point something brushed against me... As if trying to get my attention and then having a change of heart. I quickly turned and looked around... The closest person to me was at least ten feet away... I refocused on the presentation for a few moments... And then became aware of how crowded it was in this very large room with only a few chaplains and some deputy coroners... It was like a foggy night, or a hot humid summer day, when you can feel the air around you.

I brought this up after the tour, as we sat around discussing what we had experienced... Our tour guide, one of the deputy coroners spoke very candidly about the energy he felt at work... Some days were light and happy, other days cold and dark, and the density of energy was apparent to him as well... He went on to say there seemed to be no logical reason for such drastic changes in feelings and energy levels... He simply referred to it as the spirituality of the place.

He also shared with us, most of the deputy coroners didn't believe in God...The general feeling was... How could God let so many people die in such horrible ways??? But in his own case, he had found his faith renewed by working in the coroners office (he was a Christian)... Again, I was really surprised at the spiritual density of the place. A wonderful sense o f karmic activity filled this house of death.

At one point a song came into my head and wouldn't leave... "Is that all there is my friend? Well lets keep dancing"... Death is very safe... No need to worry about the body, when the energy leaves... Its tossed away like an old glove... But the karmic energy that's left over, now that's another matter all together.

Well it may not be Buddhist cemetery meditation, but I am starting to get real insight into the karmic energy of rebirth and how unproductive attachment to this body of ours is...

The four requisites of a monk... Food, robes, shelter, medicine... That's all the body really needs... Pretty simple to keep the body alive... Much harder to transform the karmic energy.

After all, this body of ours is only good for 70 years or so, whereas karmic energy is alive and well until we reach Nirvana. How many more lifetimes is that going to take???