There's an amusing anti-Dalai Lama sect of Buddhism in Los Angeles. It seems impossible. Could anyone not love the puppy eyes and playful laugh of the Laughing Monk, the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso?
Yes, lots. The New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) movement is not mad at him lately from the States. It's mad at him from old Tibet and it's been going on a while. See the Dorje Shugden controversy.
As the "pope" of at least one sect of Vajrayana Buddhism, the Dalai Lama has incurred the anger of the other colored hats in Tibet/China. The Dalai Lama blames them for worship of an entity, the result of which was invasion by China and the loss of His throne as "pope-king," the spiritual and temporal leader of the massive former Tibetan Empire (the land area of which amounts to 25% of modern China).
What they do is very bad. Suck my tongue, Boy.
The NKT founder, His Holiness Kelsang Gyatso (1931-2022), was a nice monk we got to see, whom followers are sure was fully enlightened and for decades never got angry. They deny anything they did or anything (Dorje Shugden) they worshiped brought on the Chinese onslaught and loss of Tibet as a sovereign nation.
The NKT used to have a nice nunnery/monastery near Dodger Stadium, which is in Chavez Ravine to the west of DTLA, close to Glassell Park. They have their main center in Hollywood on Franklin. But there may now be a satellite temple in Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Catalina Island.
One criticism we have of this feelgood sect (possible "cult") in Los Angeles is its capitalist (spiritual materialism) inclination with its tendency to angle its message as if spirituality were an ordinary Western consumer item to buy.
Each one of us has the potential to experience true peace, happiness, and fulfillment in our life. Yet, in a world of distraction and stimulation, societal chaos and conflict, many people are struggling with their mental health and feel spiritually lost, without purpose or meaning.
In this inspiring talk, Gen Rigpa will share practical tools for generating peace, both within our own hearts and also as a contribution to peace in society at large. Everyone is welcome. Learn:
The true causes of inner peace
How to create both inner and outer peace
Why meditation is good for everyone.
Ticket Prices: Zone 1- $35 ($28 through Sept. 25th) | Zone 2 & 3- $25 ($20 through Sept. 25th). Special 20% discount extended through Sept. 25th! See seating chart below for zone details. Seating assigned within zone in order of purchase. Seat will be assigned after registration. To sit next to someone, please inform at time of purchase. Each ticket includes free admission to the new Monday night Pasadena Meditation Class on Oct. 14th at the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena. Peace is Possible - Public Talk
NKT monk Gen Rigpa Kelsan (meditateinla.org); CC Liu, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Join a group of like-minded individuals for an annual New Year's Eve celebration! Ring in 2018 in a meaningful and positive way, with compassion and beneficial intentions! Kadampa will enjoy hors d’oeuvres and non-alcoholic beverages from 9:30 to 10:45 pm. Then Gen Kelsang Rigpa will give an introduction to the New Kadampa Tradition's practice of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, which is a beautiful arrangement of prayers and mantras, then engage in the practice itself. As midnight approaches, Gen Rigpa will guide participants in a meditation into 2018. Cost: $15. Register. More info.
This event is FREE after 9:00 PM. To pay for dinner, which starts at 7:00 PM, go here: paypal.me/veganogkitchen/25.
Dave the Organizer of Los Angeles Roaming Vegan Potlucks (Facebook) says if we want to come to the vegan dinner portion (7:00-9:00 PM), the deadline to pre-pay for the discounted $25 price to guarantee a ticket is Saturday (12/30/17) at 11:59 PM. A limited number of dinner tickets will be available at the door for $40.
Rose Bowl pre-parade party (Pasadena)
There is the biggest free party in L.A. going on in Pasadena, Colorado Blvd. pre-parade
Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (FPMT/New Kadampa Tradition) What are the essential facts regarding the Law of Cause and Effect? Let's explore
ways of dealing with life more effectively and take control of our future!
What
continues to be ignored is that the US is directly responsible for
unimaginable carnage and suffering, first directly and now with
lingering contamination of the country.
As citizens of the Empire, are we complicit with our military-industrial complex for our silence, cheer leading, paying federal taxes (largely used to support war and service debt that enriches banks that engineer more wars, arms trades, and propaganda campaigns) or sending our children to kill others?
George Bush, Sr.
The death of more than 1,000,000
civilians, most of them Iraqi children, began with Pres. Bush I (George, Sr.) launched
"sanctions," illegally blockading food and medicine to the people and causing internal strife of an unimaginable scale. Intrusions and secret operations and overt campaigns followed, setting up the Carlyle Group to ensure his Dynasty's riches, which actually began their participation with his Nazi (literally) forbear, Prescott Bush.
G.W. Bush, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney (BBC)
Pres. Bush II (W.) intensified efforts, broke more
international laws, and created more war criminals within a single
administration (Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, and many others) than has been seen since the US wars on
peaceful Buddhist countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos -- following
our nuclear atrocities in Japan and the invasions we yet hope to wage on
Iran and eventually China. He and many holdovers from former administrations followed in step with
targeted bombing of water purification systems and civilian water
supplies, deploying an underhanded biological weapon of sorts by
spreading cholera and other waterborne illnesses through the population.
Pres. Bush III (Obama) not only inherited multiple wars that he promised to end, he enhanced and expanded them for the glory of empire -- and the enrichment of massive corporations like Blackwater, KBR, and other Cheney and Rumsfeld related projects. The Carlyle Group continues to grow rich. The Bush Dynasty could not have asked for a better foundling, Pygmalion-style. The munitions factories have more work than ever and, not coincidentally, more people are being killed in our name.
Are we complicit by our silence or bandwagon-patriotism or willful ignorance?
A "royal" bloodline of biological relatives symbolicallyrules America for the MIC
The US War on Iraq in Anbar Province was a counter-"insurgency" (a self-protective act by locals resisting military occupation by an invading foreign army) campaign in theUS's Iraq War.
It was waged by US aggressors in the Al Anbar Governorate in western Iraq from 2003 to 2011. It was fought primarily between the United States Marine Corps and Iraqi federalis against alleged "insurgents" (invasion resisters) led by a make believe enemy the CIA and other clandestine Western agencies call Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) to prop up an "enemy" for US forces to fight thereby prolonging a privately profitable (and devastatingly debt-producing) war for oil and strategic dominance in the geopolitical Middle East.
Almost 9,000 Iraqis and 1,335 Americans were killed during the war in Anbar, mostly between April 2004 and September 2007. Savage fighting occurred in the province in 2004, including the First and Second Battles of Fallujah. Though the fighting initially featured heavy urban warfare, in later years agents of the US military-industrial complex focused on arming and exploiting ambushes of American and Iraqi "security" forces with improvised explosive devices.
US soldiers and others committed multiple human rights violations in Fallujah and Haditha. In August 2006, several tribes located near Ramadi and led bysheikh formed the Anbar Awakening and revolted against AQI. US and Iraqi tribal forces working for the US regained control of Anbar Province in 2007 and turned it over to the US occupied government in 2008. American fighters changed their titles to "advisers" in this and other Iraqi provinces on Dec. 7th, 2011. (Full article)
A definition and purpose for meditation, how to sit, how to set
up a meditation session, different meditation techniques, and how to
deal with obstacles. Follow this course FREE at the FPMT Online Learning Center and learn more about Discovering Buddhism.
Time, which contracts and expands at will, is short -- whereas "life" (samsara) is long, endless on its own, except that it's always ending. But it renews again the next moment.
Each moment divides into three sub-moments, an arising phasing, turning, and falling. This is the incessant "rise and fall" the breath mimics at a much slower speed. Moments pass too quickly to discern -- as showers of particles and mind-moments rise, turn, and fall -- just on the inhale, to say nothing of the retention phase and exhalation.
This becomes much clearer as consciousness sharpens and intensifies and the invisible becomes visible. Mind is superior to phenomena, which can be discerned directly IF only the mind were purified and serene, lucid, and made wieldy by mindful application.
Western Theravada monk explains Thai forest approach (VY)
We are here. How will we get there? Every journey begins with a footstep, every meditation with an inhalation.
Another name for nirvana is "the beyond" or more literally the beyond-beyond, the "farther shore." We are here on this shore with all its dangers and fearful states. And we look beyond the flood, the body of water, the deluge. And we see on that side a farther shore, safe, free of fear, without danger. How to go from here to there, how to "cross over"?
Partially-enlightened former monk current lay teacher Jack Kornfield
A strong person, the metaphor continues, might flex a stretched arm or
stretch a flexed arm and be there in the twinkling of an eye. We must
sit, settle, remain attentive, and thereby be transported by effort to
see things just as they are.
The major Buddhist schools -- Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana (a large Mahayana subschool) -- have their methods. Here a Western lama in the banned New Kadampa Tradition (Tibetan Vajrayana not affiliated with the current Dalai Lama) offers advice on how to meditate.
Bruce Fenton* (2012rising.com); edited by Wisdom Quarterly
(LINK) Mayan calendars point at Dec. 21st, 2012, suggesting the end of the world as we know it -- another Dark Age or a new Golden Age? Who was the blue eyed, white haired Kukulcan (asura)? What is the great pyramid at Chichen Itza? When will feathered serpents (nagas) plunge into our hollow Earth?
One of the most interesting calendar coincidences in relation to the Mayan2012 information is the similarity between the start dates of the last long count cycle of the Mayan system and Hinduism’s Kali Yuga (the cyclical Dark or Decadent Age).
Yugas are vast periods of time, epochs that relate to the Earth's journey around a cosmos' central sun. The four yugas (Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga) together make up an entire world age (aeon, kalpa) between formation and disintegration events, calculated to be about 4,320,000 years in total duration.
The Hari Krishna movement derived this view of the Kali Yuga from the Vedanta. Why are disparate cultures telling essentially the same tale? It is because extraterrestrial visitors seeded imperial cultures across the globe. But the ancient astronauts are now mythologies of "gods," angels, and demons.
While most Dec. 21, 2012 researchers are aware of the 3114 BCE start date of the current long count cycle, few are aware that the Kali Yuga -- a predicted era of moral decline and spiritual bleakness -- began in the year 3102 BCE.
It is startling that there are only 12 years difference between systems on different sides of the planet. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana Sutra from ancient (Vedic) India depicts a period which has many of the failings visible in our modern society. Such is the backdrop of the spiritual decline in the Kali Yuga.
It is, however, a mistake for people to seek a link between the Mayan 2012 end-date and the closing of the Kali Yuga. Although their starts may be similar, their ends do not. (Although some suggest this is an error). Buddhism The Kali Yuga is set to continue for a vast period, at least 432,000 years, well eclipsing the 5126 years of the Mayan long count calendar. Scholars from Eastern philosophies such as Buddhism and from religions such as Brahmanism (Vedic Hinduism), often suggest that ages are many millions of years long, vast kalpas (aeons, of which there are a variety of differing spans).
There is an excellent Buddhist parable that attempts to explain the staggering length of a kalpa. The Buddha said it was hard to say in terms of years, centuries, of millenia but that nevertheless an idea could be conveyed: The vivid description of an aeon is far more effective than a string of numbers.
It can be likened to a mass of flawless marble the size of mythical Mount Meru (Sumeru). And once every a bird whets its beak on top of the mountain with a fine Varanasi cloth. Carrying on in this way, that mountain of stone would sooner be completely worn away and yet a single kalpa would not have elapsed.
It is worth noting that Buddhist philosophy does not tend to hold to the idea that a time of any great universal significance will happen in our near future. Every moment carries the same inherent flaws and their solution is present, even if it is only revealed very rarely by universal teachers (buddhas) who rediscover and make known the Dharma.
The only significant events predicted or prophesied are the ending of vast epochs and the extremely rare and intermittent arising of new buddhas. There have been suggestions in relation to 2012 that the next Buddha (Maitreya) will arise at this time in a Judeo-Christian (Messiah) end of days scenario.
Unfortunately, anyone familiar with Buddhist lore will recognize that it is made clear that fully enlightened teaching buddhas only arise millions of years apart -- not on a regular interval or when needed but after vast stretches of geological time.
(ShiftOfTheAge) "Shift of the Ages" film is an authentic story of the Maya, the Mayan Calendar, 2012, and the turbulent times in which we are living told through living Grand Elder Wandering Wolf, who is also known as Don Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj. It will be Maya's first official discourse to the world (shiftoftheAges.com),
Buddhism (the Dharma) is prophesied to completely disappear during the Kali Yuga. And during that time it will be virtually impossible for seekers to find any opportunity for spiritual realization (breakthrough to the stages of enlightenment) at all by any system now available.
Only when such utter darkness has shrouded the world will another being become fully realized wholly by unprompted effort and without any guidance to become the next supremely enlightened teacher, the Buddha Maitreya.
The most notable discussion on the Kali Yuga by Buddhist teachers actually refers to how lucky a living being is to be reborn as a human at any time when the Dharma still exists and how much rarer to ever see a buddha or even an enlightened individual (arhat).
To quote the Tibetan teacher Pabongka Rimpoche, “Most important of all through this physical rebirth you are able to achieve the state of Vajradhara [unification of the illusory body and great bliss] within one short lifetime in this degenerate age; otherwise it would take thee countless great aeons to achieve. Thus this rebirth is worth more than one thousand billion precious jewels.” Dec. 21, 2012 may close a cycle... More
[OMBC is a controversial, money-savvy New Kadampa Tradition or Shugden Tibetan temple opposed by the Dalai Lama.] Buddhists have karma in the bag. If we do not give the gift of meditation (conscious, intentional evolution), we may rue the day. Or not.
The beautiful thing about Buddhism, arguably, is that by and large, it seems to willingly allow for adaptation -- welcomes it, encourages it, in the full understanding that so long as clear, wholesome intent is in place, there can be no real threat to the Four Noble Truths along the honest Path. (There is no shortage of strict sects who believe their version is the one and only way.)
Maybe we wouldn't be "doomed." But the gift of well protected meditation can only help in the long run. So consider membership at the nearest Buddhist center and set the heart-mind right for the New Year.
Giving it is really giving relaxation, lasting inner-peace, contentment, and the ability to resolve daily problems and find happiness as it wells up from within. Membership or supportive donations provide access to classes, advice, and special events. Americans will be surprised to find how many informal sitting groups and formal Buddhist centers exist in nearly every part of the country.
Maggie Downs • The Desert Sun • Dec. 31, 2009 Looking for a unique, positive way to ring in the new year? A new local Buddhist center has just the event for you: The “Prayers for World Peace” celebration is scheduled for 9 p.m. to midnight tonight at the Dharmachakra Buddhist Center in Palm Springs, California. The event features guided meditation, silent prayers, and Dharma teachings. Make new friends, enjoy snacks, and nonalcoholic drinks and get totally blissed out for New Year's. Best of all, this party is free and open to everyone. No registration or experience is necessary — just bring yourself.
What is African Buddhism? Engaged Buddhists discussion (2/21/08)
And what is African Pureland Buddhism? These two questions tackle a delicate subject that cannot be answered straightforwardly. So it remains much of an open question. What we ask viewers and participants is to give their opinion/position/critique on:
What is African Buddhism?
What is African Pureland?
Is there, or should there be, such a thing as African Buddhism?
What would it entail?
Who decides what African Buddhism is?
It is important to keep ethical principles in mind. Buddhism should not be propagated as a power structure seeking converts. The Dharma is shared as a mutual means of guidance to help end suffering. Share your ideas and suggestions on the topic for the benefit of the African socio-spiritual-cultural Continent at:
BhanteBuddharakkhita (Uganda), a Theravada Buddhist monk born in Uganda, East Africa. He became interested in Buddhism while he was a student in India in 1990. He was ordained by the late Sayadaw U Silananda. In 2005, he founded the Uganda Buddhist Centre in Kampala, Uganda, the first Buddhist Center in Uganda. He is the author of Planting Dhamma Seeds: The emerging Buddhism in Africa. He is also a resident monk in West Virginia (USA) at the Bhavana Society Forest monastery. VenerableBuddharakkhita'sVipassana Foundation profile can be found here (scroll down to the end).
South Africa(Wikipedia, WQ edit)
Buddhism has been gaining ground in South Africa. The country now comprises the largest Buddhist community in Africa. South Africa is also the base for organizations aiming to spread Buddhism in Africa, such as the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. History Apart from various Buddhist groups brought to the Cape Colony from Southeast Asia during the 1680s, and the many indentured laborers brought to Natal from India during the latter part of the 19th Century (some of whom were Buddhist, and some of whom were Hindu who later converted to Buddhism once in South Africa), most Buddhists in South Africa are non-Asian converts.
Various Buddhist groups grew up in the major cities since the 1970s. There has been a proliferation of distinct Buddhist traditions since the mid-1980s. These include Theravada, Zen, Nichiren, and Tibetan schools. The FoGuangShan Buddhist order has erected Nan Hua Temple (pictured above), the largest Buddhist temple and monastery in Africa, in the town of Bronkhorstspruit near Pretoria.
Another notable Buddhist center in the country is the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal. The Nichiren Buddhist lay group SokaGakkai International also has a community center in Parkwood, Johannesburg.
A community of lay and ordained Buddhist practitioners live in the modern and tranquil setting in the peaceful and beautiful suburb of Blairgowrie/Randburg/Johannesburg. Classes open to the general public as well as structured study classes are held at the Vajrapani Buddhist Centre and various other venues in Gauteng. The center is run by the resident teacher Gen KelsangLegden, who was ordained in the UK in 1997 by the spiritual director, Venerable GesheKelsangGyatsoRinpoche, of the New Kadampa Tradition - International Kadampa Buddhist Union.
A 2003 study estimated that in the late 1990s there were a total of 6,000 Buddhists in South Africa (3,000 of Asian ancestry) out of a total population of 42 million (or 0.01% of the total population). [Ref] Notable South African Buddhists & Organizations
Rob Nairn - Buddhist teacher, author, and popularizer
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