As I wrote in “A Protector Protects – Again,” I was on my way to Lakeland Regional Medical Center to leave my contact information with their Pastoral Care office when I had a flat tire and was unable to get there. Just as I discussed in the first part of this “chapter” regarding animal blessings, I could likewise have read into the flat tire something about my service to the sick and dying. However, just as I discussed with a friend Tuesday night, my life experiences have peculiarly prepared me for just such service.
Most fortunately Tuesday afternoon I was able to leave a business card for the chaplains at both Good Shepherd Hospice and Lakeland Regional Medical Center. At the latter, the secretary in the Pastoral Care office seemed happy to receive the information. She said that, although the chaplains on duty were upstairs attending to patients and the head chaplain is on vacation, she expects that after the head chaplain returns from vacation, she and other chaplains will want more information on the help that I can offer them. She further stated that they had already had a need for clergy support for Buddhist patients in the past and expected the same need to arise again.
Therefore, even the limited help that I can currently give will be of value. Whether I am able to give some degree of spiritual help to a patient or I find qualified Buddhist clergy to serve them or I merely act as driver for such clergy, by any of these means I shall have done something worthwhile in service to others. Furthermore, I can seek opportunities to learn more in order to become better able to serve them.
In that regard, I have been searching for the opportunities to receive in depth training in our Phowa practice as well as Tonglen. As far as Phowa training is concerned, it seems that the foremost teacher in this country is His Eminence Choeje Ayang Rinpoche who is teaching 10 level Amitabha Practice at Drikung Meditation Center in Boston just when I am committed to be supporting my own center here in the Tampa area. However, his next Phowa practice trainings are still in the future. Nevertheless, there are still obstacles to attending those teachings at this time.
Of these upcoming trainings, the next is a Phowa Retreat in Olympia, Washington, October 7-15, but I am currently scheduled for my colonoscopy on October 8th and committed to tend fire for a sweat lodge on October 9 th, The next after that is the Phowa Training Course that he will be giving in Bodhgaya, India, in January 2010, but the very location could be a very difficult obstacle to overcome because I do not have the means for such a trip or even a passport. Nevertheless, I shall be looking at every training opportunity that arises for the chance to learn this particularly powerful means to help the dying.
Just as my aspiration for monastic ordination must wait for the next opportunity, this aspiration will await the correct time and place for its fulfillment as well. As it is now, I, in my small way, having received just the basic Amitabha empowerment, currently utilize the Amitabha mantra to aid dead and dying animals in the hope that they may have a better rebirth. Whether it is my monastic ordination, my daily practice, my studies, or any empowerment, I must remember that it is for the benefit of all sentient beings.
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