Obon at Tassajara

Summer Obon Ceremony Feeds Hungry Ghosts
Written by Heather Iarusso
SFZC Sangha News

At Tassajara the Obon Ceremony, known as Sejiki at Zen Center, is celebrated on Halloween, at the end of October. This summer, however, the Tassajara sangha decided to hold this ceremony in mid-August, at the time it is celebrated in Japan, so that guests and summer students could participate in this traditional Japanese ceremony of evocation and liberation of deceased ancestors and hungry ghosts.

The soft glow from Chinese paper lanterns and an altar adorned with cakes, stacks of fruit, candles, and a ceremonial cloth transformed the courtyard into a festive square. White slips of rice paper with the names of deceased family members and friends were strung around the square like a garland, where they swayed in the breeze as if the spirits themselves were present.

Abbot Ryushin Paul Haller officiated, leading a procession from the Abbot’s Cabin to the courtyard, calling the spirits’ attention with the rap on the ground of a ring-topped staff in response to the gentle ting of the inkin. He entreated the hungry ghosts to take nourishment from the food and sweet water being offered. During the ceremony, he said, “We hear your cries of hunger and make these offerings to feed your bodies and free your souls.” …

Tassajara is part of the San Francisco Zen Center. These are the Dragon-Elephants of American Buddhism, and like Dragon-Elephants everywhere, they don’t go around publicizing themselves. You’ll NEVER find this news article by searching Google News for Obon.

I’m sure this was a wonderful event, but no Obon odori ?!?!? I’d like us in the Hawai’i Buddhasangha to set our intention that there will be a Bon dance at Tassajara next year, OK? Obon isn’t just for the dead, and the hungry ghosts, it’s for us not-yet-dead suffering beep-holes too, you know! Obon odori is REALLY GOOD MEDICINE. The neo-Confucianist drivel that was just perpetrated at Fo Guang Shan in lieu of Obon this year convinced me of that once and for all. Please believe me on this one. I most definitely know all sides of this particular story, and I tell you that if you’re Buddhist, and you want to live long and prosper, you will dance Obon. End of complications, please. Just go do it.

Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping

Buddhism in America

Read the new Buddhism in America page

Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping

What is so alarming about those who practice Buddhism?

What is so alarming about those who practice Buddhism?
August 14, 2009
In response to: Curren’s faith an election issue (June 21, 2009)
newsleader.com

Read an Interview of Eric Curren on the Buddhist Channel.

Tracy Pyles expresses concern that people will not vote for Erik Curren because he is a Buddhist. Your front page shows Curren in the traditional meditation posture.

I keep thinking about this article. Is it non-mainstream (in America) religious interests Mr. Pyles objects to — or specific tenets of Buddhism? Or is it visions of swamis and chanting dervishes? Does front page coverage say it bears public scrutiny?

First, notice who’s in the White House. What of President Barack Obama’s “hybrid” religious background? Second, our nation’s Constitution provides us with the right to believe as we choose. Personal religion is personal and constitutionally protected.

Is the objection to meditating? I can understand anxiety about how “acceptable” practicing yoga and meditation might be. I included yoga and meditation alongside Bible study in my home school curriculum. Would the public school superintendent approve my plans? Legal research on religion and education put this worry to rest. The Ohio State Supreme Court stated that no one has the right to question a person’s religious values. Nor does anyone have the right to prevent a person from living those values.

The more I read my Bible, the less concern I felt. The Bible “talks” about meditation. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance has 20 references to meditation. My favorite description of meditation is “dwelling in the House of the Lord.”Since the Kingdom of Heaven is within, holding our attention (dwelling) on the place (House) where God resides is meditation. Dwelling fills more than two pages in my concordance. Also, a simple definition of meditation is “listening to God.”

I have had anxiety about meditation. But, scientific research on its benefits has piled up: inner peace, better concentration, spiritual growth and emotional healing. Benefits we all want! Let’s encourage all public officials to meditate!

K.S. MITCHELL Staunton

I think the Rik Veda put it best: “Where there is another, fear arises.”

The public face of Buddhism in America, quite unfortunately, has been dominated by the Tibetans. In trying, and failing, to transmit to America, the Tibetans, with thier “hidden teaching” pomp, have only created an underclass of Buddhists who hide. The elitist but thoroughly suppressed “Buddhists Who Hide Club” of America is composed of people who are driven together by their common denial of their marginalization from the mainstream, which despises and systematically excludes hiders. America is, in fact, choked to the gills with people who meditate. They exist in organized groups in every single center of population in the country, down to the county seat level.

But can these people advertize their existence or their beliefs, let alone run for public office? Aha! That quickly becomes another story completely.

The Tibetans will never lead us beyond the “Buddhists Who Hide Club” stage. They are structurally incapable of it. Who can lead us out of this is an ilk of Buddhism that is already in the mainstream where it exists, which means exactly one thing: The Chinese Mahayana.* We need to make our own indigenous noise (i.e., drums, bells, wooden fish, and chanted scripture), and to be publicly HEARD doing that. We need to wear our own characteristic sacred garb, and to be publicly SEEN doing that. We need to have our own indigenous opinions about absolutely everything without exception, and to have those PUBLISHED in every kind of publication that exists, but particularly those characteristic of the mainstream, like major dailies, scholarly journals, and school textbooks. When our presence in America is taken for granted by default, because the perceptual evidence of it cannot be avoided, then the fear of us will evaporate on its own.

*My second choice in this would be that other cuture medium of mainstream meditators: Vaishnavite Hinduism. Within Buddhism, neither the Tibetans nor the Theravada really know what it feels like to exist in the mainstream of a continent-dominant culture.

Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping

Scant Meditation in East Asian Nunneries

Chikwang Sunim on life as a Korean Buddhist Nun

…Sufficient time for meditation is lacking in the sutra schools. The nuns attend morning, midday, and evening services in the main Buddha Hall. Doing a variety of communal activities, they learn to be mindful even without long hours of meditation. Hours of chanting and studying the Buddha’s teachings helps to calm and deepen the mind; yet I believe more meditation would increase their clarity in daily life. The sutra school I attended had an hour for meditation in the daily schedule, but only a few nuns came. When they are young and busy, they do not appreciate the value of this practice. Nor are they introduced to it properly, although they read a lot about it. Thus, even a graduate from a Buddhist university may not have learned how to meditate well. This is quite unfortunate, yet common. However, a nun may do chanting or other practices which purify her mind, and by disciplining herself, she may become a good practitioner…

The above is a short excerpt from a long and fascinating account of life in a Korean nunnery which should be read in its entirety, and there’s much exemplary in the training that is described. I pulled out this criticism because it jibes with my experience of Taiwanese nuns. In general, these very dedicated ladies simply lack clarity, in terms of their ability to think on their feet, and it’s clear that their training lacked meditation. Yi Jiao is an exception to this.

I believe that it is more difficult for women to meditate in general, but that for that very reason, it bears greater fruit in the rare case of the woman who actually does it.

Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping

Purify Mind’s Amazing American Buddhist Screed

Buddhism in America

This is the most complete rundown of the critical parameters of Buddhism’s arrival in America that I have ever seen, and the only one that is better than what’s written in Chinese. It’s a pity that it’s one continuous undifferentiated screed. I’m seriously thinking of ripping it, organizing it into paragraphs, and linking it to the exant organizations. I think some people call that kind of thing “editing.” Here is an example of an historical epitome which might take years of constant interaction to milk out of the members of the Sangha under discussion if you tried to get it by talking to them:

…Robert Aitken is another important American member of Sanbo Kyodan. He was first introduced to Zen as a prisoner in Japan during the Second World War. After returning to the United States, he began studying with Nyogen Senzaki in Los Angeles in the early 1950s. In 1959, while still a Zen student himself, he founded the Diamond Sangha, a zendo in Honolulu, Hawaii. Three years later, the Diamond Sangha hosted the first U.S. visit by Yasutani Hakuun, who would visit various locations in the U.S. six more times before 1969. Aitken travelled frequently to Japan and became a disciple of Yamada Koun, Yasutanis successor as head of the Sanbo Kyodan. Aitken became a dharma heir of Yamadas, authored more than ten books, and developed the Diamond Sangha into an international network with temples in the United States, Argentina, Germany, and Australia. In 1995, he and his organization split with Sanbo Kyodan in response to reorganization of the latter following Yamadas death.

The interior of the dojo at Diamond Sangha, Palolo Valley, O’ahu, Hawaii

I’ve visited and practiced briefly with the Diamond Sangha. It’s not that they’re secretive or that they don’t know their history. It’s that there’s a certain cognitive style involved in this kind of group; they just have a real problem saying three or more declarative sentences in a row on purpose. It just isn’t Zen to them. It’s different if someone gets fed up with the pregnant silence and the cryptic utterances, and starts venting, gushing, etc. That can happen. True, it’s deplored, but it happens. But the orderly discussion of a large body of complex information? Sorry, it just isn’t Zen.

Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping

ifeng.com (5) 美国佛教之路 – American Buddhism’s Journey

Read my new Translation (ongoing – xp, 9 Jul)

This is a really interesting and fresh point of view on my favorite story – How Buddhism came to America.

Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping

Obama Roshi Has Arrived – Place Hands in Gassho!

Politics Daily

… Yet presidents — the good ones, at least — are supposed to be extraordinary. Even if they came from humble beginnings, the great presidents were great because they transcended the petty squabbles and backstabbing of the political process and managed to do tremendous things, with dignity.

But Obama’s actions and personality suggest he is something far more foreign to the common American than a Muslim or a Kenyan. He may actually be a Zen Master, operating on a level so far above regular people that we can only hope to gain a bit of enlightenment from his calm demeanor.

While most Americans have only learned from one master — the wise green monster muppet “Yoda” in the Star Wars saga — they may eventually learn mindfulness, conflict resolution and anger management from our own president of Zen.

But I want to see the author of this blog write “Thank You, Shifu!” Only then will I be convinced of his sincerity.

Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping

Dharma Drum Discovers Buddha Recitation

In September of 2008, a Dharma Drum delegation under the leadership of Abbot Guo Dong visited a number of traditional Buddhist Temples in mainland China. Although they were met by officials of China’s Religious Affairs Committee on their arrival in Beijing, their travels appear to have been guided by the old spirit of casual itinerant Buddhists, rather than close cooperation with the Buddhist hierarchy on the mainland.

As a result, they completely failed to connect with the current mainstream developments in Buddhism on the mainland. They were properly excluded from the one temple they encountered in which the traditional Buddhist winter Retreat was being held, and they didn’t even realize that what was going on in there was the entire significance of real-time Buddhism in China; the reinstitution of traditional collective training of monks, which has been transmitted by Xuecheng Da Heshang throughout China from his home temple (Guang Hua) in Fujian, where it was continued in unbroken succession through all the political changes in China during the last two centuries.

However, they did connect with the next best thing from that, i.e., the legacy of the unutterable Xu Yun Pusa, who was the dragon-elephant of China during the century leading up to the Chinese Revolution, and the father of the China Buddhist Association which is mostly headed today by Xuecheng Da Heshang, and which is the over-arching basis of the unified, politically connected, and socially pro-active Buddhism which has recently emerged on the Chinese mainland. Here’s what they learned from that stream of transmission:

“Inside the temple at Xian Tong (at Wu Tai Shan) we met an older patch-robed monk who offered to answer our questions. When asked about Chan compared to buddha’s name recitation, he said that practicing Chan is difficult and that without the guidance of a master one could get into difficulty, while reciting Buddha’s name is the safest and easiest method for all to practice. He reminded us that even great Chan masters had used an recommended this method. He also told us they use this method in their services and asked us if we would like him to demonstrate. Of course we said yes, and he did an amazingly engaging version of the slow four-step recitation – Namo, Ami, Tuo, Fo – and then the faster two-step version – Amituofo, Amituofo – both done while circumambulating. We would later do this ourselves as part of morning services at the two monasteries where we stayed.

“A number of us were inspired by this special monk to try the recitation method during the rest of our trip. Why is this significant? Because many of us, perhaps all of us, did not frankly think much of the practice of the Buddha’s name recitation prior to meeting this monk. But after hearing his emphatic teaching on the virtue of this practice, some of us made a vow to give it a try, and we gained a better understanding and appreciation of this proven and effective method.”
–Chan Magazine, Winter 2009

This is exactly true, and it’s significant because it’s where the transmission of Buddhism to America is currently hung. What has been transmitted to us is Zen (Chan), and in and of itself, Zen doesn’t penetrate the mainstream because it’s not broad enough, it’s not involved enough, and it doesn’t generalize to an ordinary American lifestyle. What does penetrate is Buddha recitation and the Pure Land School in general.

And it should be understood, please, that the reason that dragon-elephants like Xu Yun said that Buddha recitation is equal to Zen is that they knew what they were talking about. Anybody can do it, and when advanced Zen students, and even lineage holders can’t meditate, they should do Buddha recitation.

Virtually all photos of Xu Yun show him using a mala to do Buddha recitation, and he was doing that as an example to others. His actual stage of practice, with respect to his own development, was light years beyond that. Xu Yun’s practice was such that he lived to the age of 120, and literally grew a new set of teeth in his 60’s.

Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping