Food Not Bombs - Why Doesn't Everybody Get the Idea?

Today I spent my day with a bunch of kids who are all probably less than half my age. Anarchists everyone, as far as I know. I hope that I can call them my friends, because they are doing what so many “respectable people” are not doing, feeding hungry people. No sermon, no politics, just vegan food served to whoever comes up. They are open enough to accept me, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, to join them in their work.
We began at 11:00 AM preparing the meal. I peeled and chopped onions and washed and peeled potatoes, while someone else cut up the potatoes and someone else peeled and chopped garlic. We each had some part in preparing the soup, if only taste testing it. A rice cooker made the rice simple and foolproof. Green beans sautéed with garlic and tomatoes rounded out the menu. In true anarchist fashion nobody was really in charge and everyone contributed to the effort.
The product of our morning's labor was put into insulated transport containers and loaded onto a bike trailer with the sign, the table, the utensils and the water container. Another bike trailer was loaded with donated bread, maybe a day or so old, but the kind that I cannot afford to buy. While they bicycled to Boston Common, I caught buses and the subway to get there. Unfortunately, the spot on a church's steps where we served last Friday was blocked with a rope and marked with a “No Trespassing” sign. Undaunted, the kids set up on the sidewalk on that side of Boston Common which was easily wide enough.
From our place on the sidewalk, we served soup and rice and green beans to whoever wanted it. It was free as was the bread that anyone could take as much as they desired. There was a container for donations, but none were expected nor even requested. Furthermore, everyone was treated with equal courtesy and respect, no matter what their circumstances or appearance might be. Moreover, not only did I recognize some of our guests from last Friday, but also the kids very obviously knew many of them quite well.
I describe these young people as “Anarchists,” but there is a diversity of views within the spectrum of that category. There are probably some who have as little use for Marxist doctrine as they do for the Tea Party agenda. While they have great respect for everyone seeing them as equals, they might have a little trouble maintaining equanimity toward those who gave us obviously disapproving looks. At my age and with my training especially as a Buddhist, I can see all of these people as equal in their suffering even if it is of different kinds.
Nevertheless, I plan to continue volunteering with these kids to cook and serve free food. I am truly sad that there are places where this is not possible, either because there is not a functioning group or because it is being actively persecuted. At this time when the fortunes of so many have suffered a reversal, how can we not show compassion by feeding the hungry? Don't we all realize that it could so easily be us who are needing to be fed? Indeed from my point of view as a Buddhist IT IS US!

Journey Through Cancer - Chapter 89 – Not The End Really, But Another Beginning

Over the past couple of months I have gone through an interesting, exciting and dramatic progression of ceremonies, each building on the other and with a definite spiritual direction. Since the series was not planned, it would seem that it bears signs of positive Karmic seeds reaching fruition. As I wrote previously, I was able to attend a teaching with Garchen Rinpoche in Philadelphia where I took Bodhisattva vows very simply. Later I was able to attend the Drikung Kagyu Great Bodhicitta Empowerment with Nubpa Rinpoche at Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick, Maryland. That I described as Bodhisattva vows “long form.”

In July I was most fortunate to attend the Kalachakra for World Peace 2011 with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Since the Kalachakra Empowerment is very powerful and the Kalachakra practice is seen as a very effective means toward Buddhahood, vows are part of the preparation for it. Upasika (householder) vows were given, because it represents a higher level of commitment than being nominally Buddhist. Bodhisattva vows were given, because “without compassion there is no enlightenment.” Tantric vows were given, because the Kalachakra practice is a higher tantric practice although not highest tantric practice.

The first day of the event was actually the celebration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 76 ^th birthday. Then the prayers of the next five days were preparatory for the empowerment with His Holiness teaching in the afternoons of the latter three days. He taught us about meditation and about the life of a bodhisattva. Not coincidentally, I was able to attend a screening of “For the Benefit of All Beings,” the life story of His Eminence Garchen Triptul Rinpoche, a genuine mahasiddha. Furthermore, I was fortunate to be sitting only two rows back from Rinpoche at the Kalachakra event for the first few days until he was invited to be among the monastics on the stage. The Kalachakra Empowerment was only Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the second week. At that, each of those days began with the “ self generation prayers” of His Holiness and the monks from his monastery and Wednesday was called “Preliminary Empowerment of Students.” Nevertheless, for a preliminary, it was very powerful and nature seemed to echo the energy with a thunderstorm, perhaps because serious commitments were being made as vows were taken. The next two afternoons were likewise dramatic and profoundly moving.

Furthermore, the logistical task of distributing saffron water and other needs for the ceremonies to so large a crowd was handled so well that it seemed no great feat at all. Words cannot express properly my feelings as I sought by intention and attention to participate as fully as possible in the empowerment especially when the monastics on stage stood in for the rest of us when it would have been impossible for us to touch or be touched by a ritual object. On such occasions, space and time are not limiting factors to such spiritual practices.

However not all the experiences that made this event so special and life-changing happened inside the Verizon Center as part of the scheduled activities. For one thing, from the start I found myself receiving honors above my place including from monastics very much senior to me. Indeed I realized that I have to go beyond my joking about being “a baby monk in an old body” to consciously dedicating the honors to monks who deserve such honor and may not receive it. For an example of deep humility I had before me daily His Holiness the Dalai Lama who says so often, “I am just a simple monk.” As if that were not enough, there was also Garchen Rinpoche who says, “I have no special qualities.” Indeed, it is his example that keeps me reminding myself that this phenomenon which you know as Konchok Jangchup Dorje or any other name is but the product of certain causes under certain conditions and anything which may seem praiseworthy is just the result of that.

I was most fortunate to stay at Chua Hoa Nghiem, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The generosity, kindness and hospitality not only of the couple who arranged it but also of the abbot and the other guests staying there was overwhelming. To that I have to add the very great generosity of so many toward the ordained was so great that it felt like my heart would burst from the profound gratitude that I felt and continue to feel. However, when I spoke of this to a friend, she pointed out to me the obligation that I bear on my side of this relationship to practice for these generous donors, indeed to be the best monk that I can be for them. As another friend put it, I am a monk for him, because he knows he cannot be one. Once again, just as in my ordination, it is not about me, but rather about how I may benefit others.

Since I was a teenager, people have seemed to instinctively find me someone in whom they can confide in spite of not being all that mature at the time. Throughout many years this has continued and indeed was part of my service as a Christian clergyman. My robes naturally add to this and I find myself talking with people who might not approach me in “civilian clothes.” Now maybe I have a little more to give them when I can share a little bit of the Dharma with them. This same phenomenon occurred as I traveled about the DC area whether walking, riding the train or doing business in an office or store. Indeed, I think that something about the whole experience of the Kalachakra event increased it. Here again it is not about me, but rather about being of benefit to sentient beings.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as an emanation of the bodhisattva of compassion, Chenrezig, often talks about compassion and loving-kindness. He has even stated that compassion and altruism are practical and make good sense. However, there are many who are skeptical of that view. Nevertheless, I had an experience which showed at least one way that it is clearly true. On the second Thursday of the event, after the “Preliminary Empowerment of Students,” the Vietnamese abbot and I and a couple of other people headed to the subway station to make our way back to the temple. As we approached the platform we encountered a “ human traffic jam,” a great mass of people pushing and shoving but not going anywhere. I do not do well with crowds, too many people too close together. Normally I experience serious anxiety. On this occasion, as usual I began to feel anxious. However, another person and I conceived to make a path for the abbot and set out to make a way in the crowd and eventually got through. At that point I realized that I was not anxious nor did I become so afterward. Completely focused on the wellbeing of the abbot, no anxiety arose at all. Here again it is not about me, but rather about being of benefit to sentient beings.

With about 850 monastics attending the Kalachakra for World Peace 2011, it seems strange that I should be among the few that non-Buddhists and very new Buddhists found to be particularly approachable. Nevertheless, I was repeatedly asked questions and sought out to explain things. Whatever the reason behind it, I was able so often to share a little of the Dharma with some people who may not get another chance to encounter it. In that I am including those whom I met on the streets, in stores and on trains and buses which seems to be the norm in my life. Here again it is not about me, but rather about being of benefit to sentient beings.

Having spent time around Garchen Rinpoche and also having seen the documentary film of his life, it is clear that he sees the reason for his existence as being of benefit to all beings. Indeed, he was born yet another time for no other purpose in his view and in the view of others. While I am not on the same level as a realized being, I have long maintained, “I exist to serve.” This was a seed that sprouted during my time as Christian clergy and grew during my period of Native American and Pagan spirituality and now is beginning to mature in my life as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. This isn't some dull, dreary and drab mode of existence, but an exciting, rewarding, satisfying, fulfilling way to live, to truly live. Here again it is not about me, but rather about being of benefit to sentient beings.

When I decided to take monastic ordination as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, I resigned myself to the “ facts” that I could never be a lama and that I could never spend very long in a monastery in India or Nepal. Since my source of health care is the Veterans Administration system, I cannot go longer than six months and still receive my regular medications. This has seemed to be immutable truth. However, now that I have survived cancer and not only by conventional medical treatments but also by utilizing alternatives that have included herbs, nutrition, and spiritual practices, it seems entirely possible that there might be a path to better health. Indeed I might be able to follow a course which would get me to a sufficiently good state of health that three year retreat or an extended stay in an overseas monastery might be possible. Either of those possibilities could give me greater means to be of service to others, perhaps even having more than the little bit of Dharma that I have active in my life at present. Here again it is not about me, but rather about being of benefit to sentient beings.

When I reflect on my life as I have lived it up to the present moment, I have tried many things, not all of them successfully. Indeed there are a lot that would fall into the category of nonvirtue, but at least not into the category of heinous acts. However, there is nothing that I have ever done that is totally wasted, no matter how much I may regret having done it, as long as it may be turned to the benefit of others. Indeed, those very things are among the causes and conditions that have resulted in the phenomenon we know as Konchok Jangchup Dorje who hopes now to be of benefit to all sentient beings.

Journey Through Cancer - Chapter 88 – On the Road for the Dharma - continued

The time now comes for my first “snow bird” summer in Boston. While most people prefer to fly, because it is the fastest mode of travel, my preferred mode of travel is by train. Therefore, I choose the train whenever I can, and I booked this trip on Amtrak.

As I travel on the train, I am keenly aware of my responsibility to all other Buddhists, especially Tibetan Buddhist monks. Even as a getsul and a "young monk in an old body," I know that I am nothing special but just the phenomenon that results from certain causes under certain conditions. Nevertheless, the time spent talking to two inebriated young men with compassion, loving-kindness, and complete acceptance is also the result of those same causes and conditions. Out of it, perhaps they may gain something toward spiritual growth.

Inevitably, almost every aspect of a trip like this is an act of sharing the Dharma. Many people I meet as I travel by train or bus have never met any kind of monk, much less a Tibetan Buddhist monk. While I know I am not the ideal monk and I know I am a "baby" Buddhist and "baby" monk, nevertheless I share the Dharma as well as I can and do not hesitate to say, "I don't know."

This morning a situation developed which seemed appropriate for the practice of tonglen. A condition of conflict arose between a small group of passengers and a member of the train staff. It was clearly a matter of misunderstanding and misperception, especially considering that the group had been drinking. Nevertheless, there was nothing I could do directly. Therefore, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to practice tonglen to provide concrete help.

After quietly saying a few opening prayers, I began meditating on taking away their suffering and giving them peace. At the same time, I was turning my prayer wheel. I am not particularly experienced in the practice of tonglen. Therefore when the level of tension subsided and peace prevailed, I am inclined to attribute it to the blessings Chenrezig through the prayer wheel. About all that I supplied was the good intention, the opening prayers, the turning of the prayer wheel, and the dedication.

This is like the benefit my fellow train passengers receive from seeing me, because I am wearing the "Liberation through Seeing" pin that H.E. Garchen Rinpoche gave away. One passenger may have given himself even more benefit by photographing me with it visible. Furthermore, spinning my prayer wheel spreads so many blessings.

I keep reminding myself that I have taken Bodhisattva vows. Therefore, in addition to my concept that I exist to serve, I have made the commitment not only to follow the path to Buddhahood but also to lead every sentient being along the same path.

While on the train on the night before I am to arrive in Boston, after turning my cell phone off for the night, I received a call that I would have a place to stay in Washington, DC, for the entire Kalachakra for Peace event. Furthermore, upon arriving at the center in Arlington, MA, I find out that the group will be driving to DC. However, before these developments came to fruition, I had reached the decision that, having been chosen for a ticket, I would attend even though I might not have lodgings or a better way to travel. In that case I planned that I would take a Greyhound bus to arrive early on July 6 ^th, that I would attend only the birthday celebration for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and that I would take the bus back to Boston that same night. As I told someone after I got to Boston, I had concluded that, if I had to make that Greyhound ride, it would likely have been that someone on those buses needed exposure to the Dharma and perhaps the blessings from the prayer wheel.

As we say in the second half of our prayer “ Taking the Bodhisattva Vow,” “ As the previous Buddhas cultivated the enlightened mind and progressed on the bodhisattva's path, I too, for the benefit of all sentient beings, give birth to Bodhicitta and Apply myself to accomplish the stages of the path.”