Download Fellow Travelers The Shin Buddhist Path -- being a fellow traveler

Fellow Travelers
2014 October
Longmont Buddhist Temple/Greeley Shin Sangha
Northwest Corner - Pike Road and Main Street, Longmont 80501
www.longmontbuddhism.org
Issue Contents
Minister’s Message
Minister’s Message Temple Board Updates
Note from Jackie
Living the Eightfold Path
Bishops' Memorial Service
Deep Listening Seminar
Bookstore News
Mindfulness Class - October 12th
Buddhist Conversation Group
Board and Committee Contact Information
October Monthly Calendar
Temple Information
Mountain States District Family Conference
Schedule and Registration
The Shin Buddhist Path -
being a fellow traveler
by Rev. Carol Ganshõ O’Dowd
The Buddha told his disciples not to believe anything he
said because he said it, but to explore and seek the truth.
The Buddha did not invent the Dharma. Instead, as he was
named, – he woke up to it. Therefore, as followers of the
Buddha we are asked to wake up, to wake up to the truth.
Shinran, the founder of our tradition, encouraged us to
join fellow travelers on a journey of following the calling
of the Dharma. He consistently reminded his followers
that he had no disciples. Instead he encouraged all he
met to join in walking the Buddhist path with fellow
practitioners (dogyo).
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entrust. What the Shin Buddhist tradition shares as
practice is an entrusting in wisdom-compassion that is far
beyond our comprehension. Such a practice is something
I find difficult as my ego gets in the way saying, “I have
to have x, y or z.” Other times my internal dialogue gets
going about how things should be a certain way. At times
I find It so, so tempting to place trust or loyalty in my ego
or especially in someone else’s.
The result was that the Shin Buddhist path is one
without gurus. Instead the Buddhist path is shared as
one filled with many fellow travelers. e HhHe Like the
Buddha, Shinran walked a path for us to follow and did
not practice blind loyalty. He questioned the bureaucracy
of his day at the Tendai school on Mt. Hei. He was even
so presumptuous as to walk away from the great teachers
of the day and continued on his journey of ‘following’ the
teaching of Honen.
Yet, this simple tradition says listen to good teachers and
then explore, test the teachings so that you understand.
Be prepared to find teachers in the form of friends or
strangers. Listen carefully and hear the calling of WisdomCompassion in all of life. As we join fellow travelers who,
when we have no place to turn and we are forced to face
our own fear, continue to travel the journey of Life and
support us on our Path in Wisdom/Compassion. When
we find we can do nothing but entrust, then we practice
responding to the calling of Amida.
Even after finding a teacher, he did not parrot what his
teacher said. Instead he explored Honen’s teachings
and tested them for himself. His loyalty remained with
seeking truth as the path not following a person or a thing.
The example he set for us was to entrust even in difficult
times and conditions. He encourage all he met to practice
the nembutsu. He shared the practice of entrusting or
taking refuge (namo) in the ultimate reality (butsu) of
infinite light and life (Amida).
And where to do we hear this calling – on this amazing
journey we call Life. Where do we find teachers, when we
join fellow travelers seeking truth. With fellow travelers
you can explore the path that leads you to your inner
nature, your Buddhahood.
--Rev. Carol GanShō O’Dowd
I am not sure why such a practice got labeled the ‘easy
path’. It takes courage to place complete trust in what we
cannot see or touch. As Shan-tao often explains, the most
difficult of difficulties is to realize shinjin – to completely
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Fellow Travelers - October 2014
Temple Board Updates
Note from Jackie
New Opportunities Await
Joe DeNicholas was generous enough to conduct the
service on Sept.21, 2014, when both Rev. O’Dowd and
John Hughes were out of town. He gave a wonder Dharma talk on one of our basic teachings, the Eightfold Path.
I thought it would be nice to share it with everyone who
wasn’t able to attend.
by Jackie Tono
I would like to take this time to thank Rev. O’Dowd,
minister's assistants John Hughes and Joe DeNicholas, as
well as, all the people who volunteer, for any and all of
our events, our chair people of all our committees and our
board members. Everyone has worked so hard in 2014 to
make things happen at our temple.
We have a wonderful new mediation garden, a new
handicap ramp and we are working on our 501c3 as a result of the hard work of so many people and the generous
donations of several people.
During the first half of this year people have donated
countless hours on our new projects. I know I have said
it many times but we have some amazing members at our
temple. When our temple members are having personal
issues, health issues, sicknesses and even death, the other
members of the sangha extend a helping hand, a shoulder
to cry on and support in any possible way. Our members
serve as examples of living the Buddhist teachings in everyday life. I’m so honored to be a member of Longmont
Buddhist Temple and work with such humble, caring people.
Our next event on the calendar is the Mountain States
District Family Conference which will be on November
8-9, 2014 at the Tri-State Denver Buddhist Temple. This
Conference is a great way to meet other Buddhist from
the Tri-State Denver Temple, Salt Lake and Ogden temples as well as hearing talks from other ministers from
these temples. Both Rev. O’Dowd and minister assistant
John Hughes will be participating in the workshops. This
event is free to our members so everyone please sign up
on the form located on the back sheet of the newsletter
to attend. PLEASE complete the form and send it to the
Denver Temple if you are attending. They need a count
for food and seating. Please let me know if you want to
volunteer to help.
Our next board meeting is Oct. 19, 2014 around 12:00,
noon. Everyone is welcome to attend and give their input.
Eightfold Path
Living the Eightfold Path
by Minister's Assistant Joe DeNicholas
I always ask people what they would like to hear about,
and this time I received a few responses that struck a
common theme: Why isn’t this working? Why don’t I
stay calm when things go awry? Why am I still frustrated
/ angry / depressed / afraid so much of the time? First,
let’s understand the task before us: what we need to do is
unpack layer upon layer of deep delusion and neurosis.
These habitual patterns were set in motion long before you
were born, and they’re stuck deep in your subconscious in
that we don’t even know why we think and do what we
do or where any of it comes from. A lot of these things
lie at the level of assumption, the things we are so sure
we know we take them for granted, their integrated into
our subconscious, that’s where you’ll find the root of the
issue. Andy at work really annoyed me today. Really?
Is that really what happened, you’re an innocent victim of
Andy and you had nothing to do with it?
The good news is that these tendencies are only that,
they are habits. And, habits can be broken, but it takes
an immense amount of work to break these particular
habits and that’s where most people fall down. The path
is outlined for us in the four noble truths. (1) Samsara
stinks. (2) There are well-understood reasons it is this
way, we know the root cause. (3) There’s a fix for all
this. (4) The fix, with the fix being the Noble eightfold
path.
As much as I would love to, I’m not going to drag
you through the entire noble eightfold path. We can
actually drill it down to three things, not eight. The
three are: (1) Wisdom – Right View and Right Intention
(2) Concentration – Right Effort, Right Mindfulness,
and Right Meditation, and (3) Ethical conduct – Right
Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood. I listened
to a podcast that put it this way: (1) Know what is, (2)
In gassho,
Jackie
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Fellow Travelers - October 2014
there’s meditation, and mindfulness, which can be said to
be meditation in action. Meditation is practice watching
things arise in your mind and dealing with them in skillful
means rather than just habitually reacting.
Accept what is, (3) Be nice. “Know what is” – that’s
wisdom. “Accept what is” – that’s concentration, it’s the
absorbing of the wisdom, making it your own. “Be nice”
– that’s ethics.
Wisdom
So, meditation and mindfulness.
Here’s the problem: If you’ve studied Buddhism for any
length of time, you know intellectually what you need to
do and who you need to be. But, and this is a really key
point, we seem to literally be hardwired for denial. A
lot of this denial is about the external situation. “If only
I had this I would be happy.” We all, to some extent,
define happiness as that situation when our attachments
are getting what they want.
Ethical Conduct
Ethical conduct is part of the path but it feels to me
like less something I have to do than something that is a
consequence or natural result of wisdom and concentration.
If I know what the right thing to do is, and I’m aware
of what I’m doing, then it immediately follows that I’m
going to act in ethical ways. And now, you’re interacting
with the world in a positive way and therefore the law of
karma says that things have to go better for you. If you
drop orange seeds you get orange trees and more oranges,
if you drop lemon seeds you get more lemon trees and
more lemons. Ethical conduct is the
incessant dropping of orange seeds into
the world. Now, the orange trees might
not show up when you want them you,
and you might still be so deluded that
you think they’re lemon trees when
they’re actually orange trees, or you
don’t see the orange trees at all.
That all said, the overwhelming majority of the
denial is about ourselves. We talk about other people
and are critical as if we’re not that way. I’m not
materialistic, I’m not rude, I’m not
lazy, I’m an ethical person. And, guess
what, we’re all messed up. Here’s one
example where our failings in wisdom
generate unhappiness for us: Other
people frustrate us to no end. How
do you fix that? A big part of it is
fully realizing and accepting, through
wisdom, that we are all equally messed
up, equally struggling in this situation
we call life, and truly understanding
this wisdom creates a shift in your
mind and heart. Truly realizing that
we’re no better generates compassion
as opposed to frustration. We can feel
love and compassion for others, yes, even when their junk
is aversely affecting us, because we know where they’re
at. We know where their junk is coming from – from a
place of confusion, fear, insecurity, anger – all things that
we have dealt with at some point. We know what’s it’s
like to be where they are.
Putting It All Together
The point is that you can’t embody
only one or two of these things, you
have to address all three every single
day, every single moment. You can’t
just read books and come to temple
and expect things to change for you in a big way. Your
problems aren’t going away. Karma isn’t that something
bad is happening to you, it’s that you think it’s bad. The
thing isn’t good or bad, it’s just a thing that happens,
you’re the one turning it into good and bad. So, all the
stuff that’s happening to you now will continue to happen,
it’s the human condition. Yes, through ethical conduct it
will change over time but we have many thousands of
years of negative karma to work through, so it’s gonna
be a while, and that’s ok. The important thing is to stop
being a part of the problem and start being a part of the
solution.
Concentration
I think of this in terms of mindfulness – what is your mind
doing and are you acutely aware of it and it’s effects on
your life? But, mindfulness is the foundation for progress;
it’s where the theory (wisdom) part meets the real part,
the real part being your daily life. When you are mindful
you will notice yourself getting frustrated, because that
will still arise, and then, if you’ve been practicing, you’ll
know what to do. And I said practicing there because
that’s the second aspect of Concentration, meditation. So,
Know what is.
Accept what is.
Be nice.
Namo Amida Butsu.
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Fellow Travelers - October 2014
Bookstore News
Special October 19th Service
Bishops' Memorial Service
Discounts and Highlights
by Mike Shibata
by Meredith Hutmacher
Memorial Services are held for all the loved ones who
have departed from this Universe.
Good News
All temple members will now receive 20% off of
all purchases as a way to show our gratitude for your
membership in the temple. We truly appreciate your
dana!
Memorial Services embrace all our departed loved ones
and is a time set aside to pay respect and remembrance
for our beloved ones who have returned to the Pure Land
before us. It is a day when our thoughts may reflect to
happier days and the impact of sharing life with those who
have gone - to realize the impermanence of this world and
the importance of faith in Amida Buddha in our every
day life.
Bookstore Highlights
The temple’s bookstore offers nenjus, nenju holders, Shinran statues, incense and incense burners,
stationery, and a variety of other items. I thought it
would be useful to elaborate on the significance of
the Nenju and incense in the Jodo Shinshu tradition.
The Bishops’ Memorial Service, held on October 19th,
is a time to reflect on the importance of the Bishops of
the Buddhist Churches of America who have passed away
and their efforts to spread the Jodo Shinshu teachings
in this country while overseeing all the temples in the
United States. They have also become representatives
of American Buddhists in the National and International
communities.
Nenju or O-Juzu: The nenju (O-juzu) is the
single string of beads used in Buddhist rituals
and meditation. Lay members generally carry
a single strand nenju, the nenju worn by monks
and priests consists of 108-beads. The nenju
Some temples also combine this service as a memorial
for their past ministers who have returned to the Pure
Land.
In the Colma Cemetery, just south of San Francisco,
California, there is a Japanese American section which
includes monuments to past BCA bishops and ministers
and graves of other Buddhists.
Shin Buddhism Serimar
Deep Listening Seminar
by Rev. Carol Ganshō O'Dowd
Join me as I share practical ways to practice listening
from a Shin Buddhist view. Practice listening techniques
to for use at home and work. Explore ways of opening up
to all of life with awareness and appreciation. The class
will be held after service from noon to 1:00 p.m. The
class is free for all LBT members and is $15 for the public. We hope you join us.
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(O-juzu) encircles the hands during Gassho,
symbolizing Oneness. It is treated with the utmost respect at all times. When not in Gassho,
during religious service, it is held in the left
hand or worn on the left wrist. At home the
nenju should be kept in a special place on the
family shrine. The bookstore sells a stand to be
used for this purpose. The left hand represents
Fellow Travelers - October 2014
the world of samsara (the repeated cycle of birth,
life and death) or in other words, the world we live
in. The right hand represents the world of awakening, the world of nirvana. When we bring our hands
together in Gassho, we are bringing the worlds of
suffering and nirvana together.
Buddhist Conversation Group
Conversation Group Resumes for the Fall
by Susan Fisher
The Buddhist Conversations group will meet from 6:308:30 p.m. on Monday, October 6th, and on Monday, November 3rd to discuss Rev. J.K. Hirano’s book “Teriyaki
Priest.”
Incense: The bookstore offers stick incense and
burners. In our tradition, the incense is placed horizontally in the burner on a bed of ash, and not stood
on end. The incense can be burned at home if you
have a family shrine, or simply when you wish to
purify a sacred space or to show appreciation for
the great heart of the Buddha that accepts us as we
are. The incense allows our joy and gratitude to flow
into the air as it burns. We offer several samples that
give you the opportunity to select a fragrance that
you enjoy.
The meeting place will be the Community Room at the
Longmont Safety & Justice Center, 225 Kimbark St.,
Longmont 80501. Turn east from Main St. onto 3rd Avenue, and then south onto Kimbark.
Some thought questions to consider: how can gratitude
lessen our suffering? do you believe we are responsible
for our own destiny? These and many other themes are
found in the first section of the book, which we will focus
on for the October meeting. Bring your own thoughts and
questions, whether or not you have read the book.
Mindfulness Class - October 12th
The mindfulness class on October 12th will explore a
very different aspect of mindfulness. We will be doing
a “Body Scan” as a guided meditation. Bring a yoga
mat, blanket or pad to lie on. Wear loose fitting clothes
and bring a towel to roll up and put under your knees.
Everyone welcome.
All are welcome. The facility has a well-lit parking lot
and is fully handicapped accessible.
Contact Information
Board Members and Committee Chairpersons
Position: Name
Phone
Board Members
Email Address
303-517-4622
President: Jackie Tono
Vice President:
Treasurer: Gail Hogsett
Financial Secretary: Ouida Kincaid
Secretary: Christie Guttridge
[email protected]
Position Open
303-776-9578
970-290-2998
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[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Committee Chairpersons
Bookstore: Meredith Hutmacher
Building/Property: Gayle McArthur
Dharma School: Mike Shibata
Fundraising:
Marketing: Nancy Edmonds
Membership: Harriet Bissell
Rose Takamoto
Music: Christina Hildebrandt
Social Media: Meredith Hutmacher
970-744-1661
---303-359-8341
303-997-6896
303-652-2430
970-353-5718
720-284-8710
970-744-1661
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[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Position Open
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Fellow Travelers - October 2014
October Calendar
October 5
Family Service
9:30 am - 10:00 am
Newcomers Welcome
Music and Singing Practice
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Meditation Service & Dharma School
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Family Service
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Toban (Coffee/Tea Hour) in Community Room
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Shin Seminar: Deep Listening
12:00 noon - 1:30 pm
October 12
Mindfulness Class
October 19
Bishops' Memorial Service
10:00 am - 11:00 am
9:30 am - 10:00 am
Newcomers Welcome
October 26
Music and Singing Practice
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Meditation Service & Dharma School
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Bishops' Memorial Service
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Toban (Coffee/Tea Hour) in Community Room)
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Board of Directors Meeting (Open to all)
12:00 noon - 1:30 pm
Mindfulness Class
10:00 am - 11:00 am
LONGMONT BUDDHIST TEMPLE
Northwest Corner - Pike Road and S. Main Street, Longmont, Colorado
Reverend Carol Ganshō O’Dowd (720-244-2299); [email protected]
Minster’s Assistant: John NyuDō Hughes (303-997-6896); [email protected]
Please check web site for latest updates on services, classes and event times.
www.longmontbuddhism.org
Newsletter: Nancy Edmonds (303-997-6896); [email protected]
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Mountain States District Family Conference
Nov. 8th and 9th, 2014
Tri-State Denver Buddhist Temple
1947 Lawrence Street
Denver, CO 80202
The Tri-State Denver Buddhist Temple is pleased to announce that they
will be hosting the annual Mountain States District Conference. Come
join us as we gather with our Colorado and Utah Temples for a
weekend of Dharma lectures and family fun!
This year’s theme is Myokonin or ‘wondrous person’. These are examples of Jōdo
Shinshū followers from the past and present who exhibited deep commitment to the Jōdo
Shinshū teachings through the ways in which they lived. Ministers and Minister
Assistants from the different temples will be presenting short lectures on different
myokonin.
Please register ahead of time so that we can get a rough head-count and notify you in
advance of any changes.
Name(s):______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Address:______________________________________________________________________
Phone:________________________________ Email:_________________________________
Temple Affiliation:______________________________________________________________
Dietary Restrictions:____________________________________________________________
You can send the form to:
Tri-State Denver Buddhist Temple
c/o Rev. Diana Thompson
1947 Lawrence Street
Denver, CO 80202
Mountain District Conference 2014
Hosted by Denver Buddhist Temple
Location: Denver Buddhist Temple
Theme: Myo-Ko-Ni (Living example in Jodo-Shin-Shu)
Style: Workshop, Q&A period (English and Japanese workshops)
Each minister shares one Myo-ko-nin during the workshop.
Participants enjoy 4 or more living example. (Dharma school and YBA workshops)
Speakers: Mt. District ministers & Map
Saturday, November 8th, 2014.
08:00-8:30 am: Registration
08:30-9:00 am: Opening Service at Hondo………………………….…Service order
(Taken care of by Denver)
09:15-10:30 am: Meetings (District Council, BWA, Dharma School, YBA)
10:30-10:45 am: Intermission at Gym
10:45-12 Noon: Workshop-I
12:00-1:30 pm: Lunch (Potluck at Gym)
01:30-2:45 pm: Workshop-II
02:45-3:15 pm: Intermission at Gym
03:15-4:30 pm: Workshop-III
05:00-6:30 pm: Dinner at Gym
06:30-08:00 pm: Entertainment at Auditorium? (gambling trip?)
Sunday, November 9th, 2014.
08:30-09:00 am: Morning Service …………………….……………...Service order
(Taken care of by Salt Lake/Ogden/Longmont)
09:15-10:45 am: Workshop IV
11:00-11:30 Noon: Closing Service……………………………………Service order
(Taken care of by Denver)
12:00 Noon: Lunch at Gym and/or Bento Box
In Gassho,