Rejoice: Flower Garlands of Merit (Subhuti)

Ven. Subhuti (Jeremy Glick), americanmonk.org, 3/10/24; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Making Garlands of Merit

Let's make merit with this bud. - Not smoke it?

(March 10, 2024) Recently, American Theravada Buddhist monk Venerable Subhuti has been making more videos rather than written posts. This enables him to put more into each presentation.

Here he shares personal stories along with the Dhamma, the Buddha's precious Teachings.

What can be done with flowers other than giving?

While most may be more interested in hearing about what the monastic life is like over learning the Dhamma, we will still hear about both.

Readers love personal information. This Dhamma talk explores Verse 53 of the Dhammapada and the different aspects of making merit (profitable karma) he thinks most will like.

Why would this make anyone smile? What human thing in us is moved?

Rejoice (anumodana)

Wisdom Library (wisdomlib.org) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Dana is sharing, letting go, giving, charity, caring, developing generosity, benefitting others.

It is very good karma (meritorious deeds known as punya) made even better by sharing word of it so that others may rejoice (anumodana) and make the rare good karma of rejoicing in good deeds others have done.

We are misguided in the West, always "hiding our light under a bushel," which is good advice as far as it goes. But it goes too far. We as a culture are not taught to be happy for others, to derive happiness from them being happy. Instead, we're taught to be competitive and selfish and actually to take delight in their lack of success, loss, ruin, and misery.

It's called schadenfreude. a German term imported into English, not because we're all genetically German but because our American culture is. We're very much painted by Germanic and Ashkenazi influences on our religions and ways to interpret and practice them.

In the East, we rejoice! Asians customarily help neighbors do good things. They delight that good things are being done for the whole community, even joining in to grow the good and partake of the merit. Such people spread word of others' good deeds, praising and rejoicing, rejoicing and praising.

DEFINITION

Anumodana (अनुमोदन) means “joy in the joy of others, in sympathy with others' joys.” It represents one of the “seven types of devotional practice” (pūjā), according to Buddhist teachings followed by the Buddhist Newah people in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, whose roots can be traced to the Licchavi period, 300-879 CE.

The connection that Vajrayāna (Himalayan Buddhism of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and parts of Kalmykia, Siberia, Mongolia, and Russia) has to the larger Mahāyāna ("Greater Vehicle") is expressed through the saptavidhānottara-pūjā, "the sevenfold supreme offering," a seven-step procedure for setting the intention to become a Buddha (samma-sam-buddha, pacceka-buddha, or personal-buddha called an arhat).

Anumodana (happiness derived from others' giving or other good deeds) refers to cultivating joy because others are joyful or, by having done good, in store for wished for and pleasant results. Big causes of joy are reflecting on the virtues of the buddhas (awakened ones), bodhisattvas (those intent on becoming buddhas), and arhats (fully enlightened ones).

An example of “anumodanā”

Feeding others is giving health and strength.

Someone is practicing to develop good qualities (generosity, virtue, skillfulness in meditation). A spectator rejoices in seeing those acts and congratulates that person, saying: “Good, good, good! Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu! In this impermanent world enveloped with shadows of ignorance, you are strengthening great mind [of bodhi or enlightenment] and are planting merit (puṇya)!’’

Imagine a devoted donor (dāyaka) and a beneficiary (pratigrāhaka) and a third person standing beside them. The third person is joyful at the sight of the good action. One rejoices with them. The other two lose nothing. Such is the characteristic of experiencing joy in others' joy (anumodanā).

Thus, just by having a mind of such joy, happy just because others are happy or doing deeds that will come to fruit as more happiness in the future, a Bodhisattva or practitioner surpasses the ordinary practitioners of the two Vehicles (Mahayana and Theravada).

How much more could be said if one actually practices the qualities over which one is rejoicing? Now there is not just happiness that they are doing good and that future good is coming to them. Now I am happy at the goodness I see and practicing for future happiness that is coming my way, which if I'm lucky others will be happy for. and we will all make more good for being happy.

It's a positive feedback loop by way of which one stores up a great deal of merit. More

TED: Doubt versus Belief (audio)

Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; NPR/TED Staff (NPR.org, 11-24-13); SCPR.org

Believers and Doubters

Why do some of us believe in something greater than ourselves, while others of us do not? Can our doubts bring our beliefs into sharper focus? Or what is the difference between belief and faith? TED speakers, courtesy of Guy Raz and National Public Radio, offer personal perspectives on belief from all ends of the spectrum, from ardent atheists to the devout faithful.

Devil vs. Super Devil ("Family Guy")

First, the daughter of the Christian televangelist Billy Graham, Anne Graham Lotz, speaking for her elderly father on the difference between (rational) belief and (emotional) faith. Lesley Hazleton asks, Is doubt essential to faith? Former Catholic and SNL comedienne Julia Sweeny explores the journey, How does a person go from believer to atheist? Then Alain de Botton asks, What can atheism learn from religion? Finally, Indian Hindu intellectual Devdutt Pattanaik wants to know, Are there any universal beliefs and truths? LISTEN

• Contribute your story to The Moth radio hour (PRX)

Kimberly Reed (themoth.org, 11-12-13)

A high school quarterback leaves Montana as a promising son and returns years later to reveal a shocking secret; a boy from Sierra Leone describes his transformation from innocent child to cold-hearted soldier; a teenage girl discovers how to control her errant parrot; and a construction worker discovers the up-side of his girlfriend’s one-year prison sentence. LISTEN

Storytelling with a Beat

(SnapJudgment.org) American life is much richer and diverse than we usually get to hear on NPR. Host Glynn Washington is doing something, bringing us Snap Judgment's amazing array of stories with extras only available to the podcast audience and the story-behind-the-stories on Facebook.

 

This American Life

(512: House Rules, 11-22-13) Where we live is important. It can dictate the quality of the schools and hospitals we have access to, as well as things we will experience -- like cancer rates, unemployment statistics, or whether the city repairs roads in our neighborhood. On this week's show, stories about "destiny by geography." Much of this story is told to Nancy Updike by ProPublica reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose series on the Fair Housing laws in modern America -- with more stories, research, and interviews — is here.

 

More comedy, more stories:

• WITS: Margaret Cho with Josh Ritter
• RadioLab (startling stories)
• Science Friday (top science news)
• BBC Newshour (a UK look at America)
• BBC World Service (a UK look at the world)
• The World (a BBC-American look)
  
• The Story
• Fresh Air (interviews by Terry Gross)
• Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! (news as comedy)
• Ask Me Another (northern comedy)
• Car Talk (Harvard and MIT car fixers)
• Off-Ramp (local Los Angeles stories)
• A Prairie Home Companion (Garrison Keillor)
• The Splendid Table (foodie gluttony)
• On the Media (incisive look into the medium)
• Latino USA (news with a Latin twist)
• On Being (formerly "Speaking of Faith")
• Take Two Evenings (California stories)
• Bullseye

Daydreaming: Where do we go? (audio)

Terrence McNally, Dec. 2, 2012 (aWorldThatJustMightWork.com); Wisdom Quarterly

The power of story -- even in Japanese (English below) -- transports us. Where do we go when we go off in our heads full of wonder, or bored, in search of the next story to learn from?

Story taught to monkey, Java (Mararie/flickr)

This week’s show is about story and narrative with Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal. Although this is not about Obama or politics, Barry  reveals the overwhelming importance of story in our lives:

In a July 2012 interview with Charlie Rose, Obama said that “the mistake” of the early years of his presidency was his failure to be a better storyteller:

 

The Buddha, master storyteller of Jataka Tales

“The mistake of my first couple of years was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. And that’s important. But the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.” If given a second term he says he will “spend more time with the American people, listening to them, but also being in a conversation with them about where do we go as a country?”

The late evolutionary biologist Steven Jay Gould called humans “the primate who tells stories…” And it’s not just Gould. Anthropologists have found societies that have existed for millennia without the wheel, but they’ve never found one that doesn’t tell stories.

 

Siddhartha daydreaming about what it would be like to be free (Nitin_Paul/flickr.com)

 

A World That Just Might Work, the website, leads with: “On the radio, I tell stories of a world that just might work. As a consultant, I help you tell yours.” Building on time as a teacher, two decades in the entertainment industry, and 15 years of radio interviews, I help non-profits, foundations, public agencies, and businesses tell better stories and build better narratives.

 

What does Gottschall have to say about the latest science on the subject? Why is narrative so powerful? What is its evolutionary value? And can what we’re learning help us get even better at tapping its power?

The Pregnant Nun

"Octomom" Nadya Suleman, Halloween costume as pregnant nun with babies dressed as devils (dailymail.co.uk)

THERE WAS ONCE A YOUNG WOMAN who had only been married for a short time when she realized that her true calling was to be a nun (bhikkhuni) rather than a wife. Her good husband’s heart broke to hear her ask permission to leave him. But because he loved her dearly, he allowed her to go and fulfill her wish.

She thus entered the nunhood and became a disciple of Devadatta, little knowing that she was already pregnant at the time. As the months rolled by, her condition became obvious. The other nuns took her to see Devadatta, who demanded that she disrobe. However, she refused to do so.

“Why should I disrobe,” she asked, “if I have not broken any monastic rule?” Instead, she went to the Buddha and became one of his disciples. While the Buddha knew that she had not violated any of the monastic precepts, for the sake of her good name as well as that of the Order, the Buddha requested a public hearing of her case in the presence of the king. The aim of doing so was to prove the blamelessness of this nun once and for all and to remove the last traces of doubt that anyone might have concerning her condition.

The expectant mother was then thoroughly questioned by one of the Buddha’s female followers who was able to establish that the nun had indeed become pregnant while she was still a lay woman and not after having entered the nunhood. A monk appointed by the Buddha to oversee the case then made a public declaration of the nun's blamelessness. Everyone gathered to hear the proceedings, including the king, returned home satisfied.

When the nun gave birth to a baby boy, the king adopted him as his very own son. However, at the age of seven, upon learning that his mother was a nun, the little boy left the palace and became a novice. At the age of 20, he underwent full ordination and became a monk. Proceeding to the forest, after diligent practice consisting of balanced-effort (both calm and consistent, rather than straining and striving) he attained complete enlightenment (arhantship). Thereafter, he continued to live in the forest alone for more than twelve years.

When his mother finally got to see him again, she could not contain her excitement. She ran up to him with tears of joy in her eyes. The son, however, remained equanimous saying to her, “You are acting like a worldly mother and not as one who has entered the Order. Have you not learned the joy of restraint?” Then to emphasize his point, he walked away -- knowing full well that if he had greeted his mother otherwise, she would have remained emotionally attached to him and her own spiritual and meditative progress would have been hampered.

But unaware of her son’s deeply compassionate motives, the mother at first could not get over how harshly he had treated her. She was heartbroken. Later, however, she began to understand that her son was trying to help her. With her new understanding in mind, she practiced more diligently and consistently and began to realize the futility of all emotional attachment. Letting go of such attachment, she too became an arahant (arhat, saint, completely enlightened disciple).

The monastics who knew the story of the pregnant nun and her son remarked that if the mother had been foolish enough to disrobe as Devadatta had bid her, she and her son would not have become saints. “They were lucky, Venerable Sir,” they added, “to have come to you for their guide (sarana).” The Buddha replied, “In trying to attain arahantship, you must strive diligently and depend on yourself rather than anyone else.”

One indeed is one’s own refuge (sarana). What other refuge can
there be? With oneself thoroughly controlled, one can
attain a refuge which is difficult to attain.
Dhammapada 160

COMMENT

Some American Buddhists might argue that monasticism should be condemned. It's unnatural, it's outdated, it's severe asceticism. But Wisdom Quarterly asks the question, What is the point of renunciation, celibacy, a peaceful life, and meditation? It is not an end in itself, not something to be undertaken because workaday life is too hard or painful.

Monasticism -- at least temporary ordination -- is wisely undertaken to achieve the goals that otherwise elude us. If one's meditation is not going well, renounce. And not so mysteriously, the mind will rest on its object and lead to remarkable attainments in virtue, concentration, and insight. These goals are both excellent mundane karma and phenomenal supramundane karma.

Buddhist temples in the US and in Buddhist countries encourage temporary ordination. Such ordinations are not binding commitments to chanting, chastity, and poverty. Rather, grasped correctly, they are extraordinarily rare opportunities to make merit, meditate, and experience a tremendous amount of freedom -- freedom from the cramped dustiness of household life with its debts, obligations, and worries. It is a remarkable thing that Buddhism was the first world religion to establish nunneries to give women the same opportunities as men for their education, participation in society, and enlightenment. And Wisdom Quarterly backs these goals 100%. The Buddha's dispensation would be incomplete without a Bhikkhuni Sangha.

Buddhist News Wrap Up

Ashley Wells (Guest Editor)

SFGate: Day in Pictures

(San Francisco Chronicle)‎ - Soul food: In Katmandu, Nepal an exiled Tibetan Buddhist offers prayers and snacks to the Swayambhunath Buddhist stupa and a hungry attendant.

Explore Emei Shan, one of the most sacred Buddhist Mountains
Examiner.com - ‎It is also considered the Western Sacred Buddhist Mountain and a recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site for both its natural beauty and cultural relevance.

Dalai Lama begins Taiwan visit
(ABC News/Aljazeera.net) - The Tibetan Buddhist leader landed in Taiwan on Monday for what he called a "purely humanitarian" trip aimed at comforting victims of...

Dalai Lama leads thousands in prayers for disaster victims (eTaiwan News)
The importance of the Dalai Lama's Taiwan visit (Rediff)
Tibet not seeking independence from China: Dalai Lama (Indian Express)

Sen. Jim Webb woefully unaware of Burma's problems
(Huffington Post) - He wrote about the demonstrations, which took place in Burma in 2007 led by Buddhist monks such as myself. "If Westerners had remained in the country this...

Calls to remove Buddhist statue from Bridge on the River Kwai
(Telegraph.co.uk) - The Bridge on the River Kwai in Thailand – the monument to the suffering of Allied troops in Japanese hands – has been overshadowed by a controversial new Buddhist...

Best Buddhism and Meditation Website...Ever!
(Beliefnet.com) - ‎That's like saying Buddhism is the World's Best Religion. Who would ever make such a claim? But the new Interdependence Project website is pretty great.

American Casino - Interdependence and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
(Beliefnet.com) - I'm a Buddhist. I read the Wall Street Journal as often as I can. I don't see how anyone interested in interdependence can ignore the WSJ.

Tibetan Buddhist teacher to host retreat in Bellingham
(Bellingham Herald) - Tibetan Buddhist teacher Drimed Dorje will host a retreat from 10 am to 3 pm Sunday, Sept. 6, at Red Cedar Dharma Hall, 1021 N. Forest St.

Sangha Confidential: Allison Felus, Final Installment
(Examiner.com) - This week brings our final installment of my interview with writer and editor Allison Felus, who took Buddhist precepts at the Buddhist Society for...

Buddhist temple burns in northwest Fort Worth
(Fort Worth Star Telegram) - Buddhist monk Kommana Vonghakdy said Tuesday that he was watching television late Monday when he heard a noise at the temple complex.

Blaze damages Buddhist temple in northwest Fort Worth 33 KDAF-TV
Fire damages Laotian temple in Fort Worth Houston Chronicle
Fort Worth Buddhist temple badly damaged in fire Pegasus News

Car bomb wounds 42 in south Thailand: army
(AFP) - Most of the wounded were Buddhist government officials, who are often targeted by the Islamist militants in the region. Police and rescue workers were...

Car bomb injures 42 in restive Thai south (Reuters)
Bomb attack wounds 26 in southern Thailand (AP)
Three Muslims killed in Thailand's troubled south (Reuters India)

City's search for profit puts province's precious Buddhist caves...
(Shanghai Daily) - The 1500-year-old Buddhist caves in Shanxi Province, one of the world's precious heritages, are being encroached...

Palo Alto faith groups organize event on teen mental health
(San Jose Mercury News) - Six local religious leaders from Buddhist, Christian Scientist, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, and Roman Catholic places of worship will speak at "Supporting...

Interfaith panel to address concerns about youth (Examiner.com)
Supporting teens subject of Monday forum (Los Altos Town Crier)

At the Apex of Chinese Culture
(The Epoch Times) - Another painter, Wu Daozi, made over 400 Buddhist and Taoist mural paintings in temples at Chang'an and Luoyang. Each Buddhist and Taoist figure was unique...

Preview of Week 36: Aug. 31 - Sept. 6
(Examiner.com) - The Jewel in the Lotus will present a course on basic Buddhist concepts at Christ Unity Church. It will meet on eight successive Thursdays...

Arthur Ashe: A life dedicated to the welfare of others
(New York Times) - Lately, Ashe's widow has come to think of him as a bodhisattva — “a beautiful Buddhist term for a person who is dedicated to the ultimate welfare of others...

Peace celebration
(Honolulu Star-Bulletin) - Hawaii's largest Buddhist denomination will take its anniversary celebration out of the temple and into the community next week.

Cursed Mountain Review (Wii)
(GamersDailyNews) - ...it looks like they're trying to get you to duplicate Buddhist ritual motions using the Wiimote and Nunchuk, which works to varying degrees.

Buddhist week of honoring ancestors draws to a close
(Whittier Daily News) - The observance is part of an ancient Buddhist tradition known as Ullambana. The seventh month of the Chinese calendar, which this year runs from mid-August...

Workplace chaplains care for unchurched
(ChristianExaminer) - "They don't have a Buddhist monk or a Muslim imam. They have nobody that marries them and buries them." A growing number of chaplains are finding a niche in...

Amherst Insider: Zen Buddhist teacher lays down rules of engagement
(Amherst Bulletin) - Zen Buddhism, a religion based on meditation and right-living with a goal of enlightenment, historically eschewed activity in the world until one's...

Young. Black. Buddhist. Woman... In Kansas?

(Beliefnet.com)

Hill country harmony: Meditation is life work of local Tibetan monk (Advocate Weekly)

Panel supports permit for temple (Arizona Republic)

Buddhism 101: Flora of the Buddha - the Bodhi tree
(Examiner.com) - The tree at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka is thought to be the oldest documented sapling of the original Bodhi tree in the world, planted by the Buddhist nun Sanghamitta in...

Senior monks to advise Justice Ministry
(Ceylon Daily News) - Justice and Law Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda has appointed a group of eminent senior Buddhist Monks of all Nikayas as honorary advisors to the Ministry...

Buddhist doctrine in encyclopedic form
(Ceylon Daily News) - Completion of 2500 years of the Buddhist era (Buddha Jayanti) fell on Vesak in 1956. To commemorate this unique event, Buddhists all over the world drew up...

Buddhists look ahead to new temple
(Fresno Bee) - There's a sense of excitement in the Buddhist community over the new Family Dharma Center taking shape on East Alluvial Avenue in Clovis.

Epicanthus: Asian US News

Epicanthus.net is an Asian news aggregator site. This ambitious project pulls together top stories of particular interest to Asian American communities. More>>

AFP: News Direct

Int'l News • Wires • Photos • Contact • Top Stories • Video • About

Democratic Voice of Burma

SEARCH • NEWS • PHOTOS • FEATURES • INTERVIEWS

TOP NEWS TODAY

• US looks for better way to sway Burma: Clinton
• Nobel laureates launch appeal for Aung San Suu Kyi
• Burma extends detention of opposition leader
• Myanmar asks for Thai help with ethnic rebels
• ASEAN suffers blow on human rights
• Malaysian PM: send Muslim boat people back
• UN envoy meets opposition leader

Monks protest against banning of ceremony
Mar 27, 2009 (DVB)–Buddhist monks in central Burma have launched a petition to protest against government restrictions that prevent them from freely conducting a traditional Burmese Buddhist ceremony. - more

Burma leader warns on democracy at parade
Mar 27, 2009 (AFP)—Burma junta chief Than Shwe urged political parties to shun foreign ideologies if they want democracy as the military put on a show of might at its annual parade today. - more

One dead in Rangoon blast
Mar 27, 2009 (AFP)–One person was killed and two others injured in a suspected bomb blast in Burma's commercial hub Rangoon today, on the eve of the country's annual military parade, official sources said. - more

Poet Kyi Aung dies
Mar 27, 2009 (DVB)-Renowned poet and active supporter of National League for Democracy, Kyi Aung died of heart disease at Mandalay general hospital today. - more

Doctor warns tuberculosis is a greater threat than HIV/AIDS
Mar 26, 2009 (DVB)–A doctor from a leading medical fund has claimed that an over-emphasis on HIV/AIDS in Burma has ignored the threat posed by tuberculosis. - more

Authorities destroy memorial for deceased opposition member
Mar 26, 2009 (DVB)–A stone monument built in memory of a former National League for Democracy chair was demolished by local government authorities on Tuesday, according to his family. - more

Under military rule, even the internet is behind bars
Htet Aung KyawMar 26, 2009 (DVB)–Earlier this month, the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters without Borders published a report entitled "Enemies of the Internet.’ in which Burma was named. - more

Opposition party hails US direct approach
Mar 26, 2009 (DVB)–The National League for Democracy yesterday spoke of their support for the United States’ direct approach to engaging with the Burmese government during a meeting between NLD members and a senior US official. - more

• MORE>>

US Campaign for Burma .org

Affairs, Debt, War

On the verge of an affair
Watch for these signs that a flirtatious friendship has turned into something less innocent.

Gestures, thoughts
Debunking top myths about infidelity
Secrets couples should keep or spill

World's most indebted nation
This island playground for the rich has incurred enough debt to equal its entire economy.

Bankrupt paradise
U.S. jobless claims set new record
Looking for a job? Try these cities

WAR

• Sri Lanka military says it pushes back rebels

• North Korea positions rocket for April liftoff

• Japan OKs deployment of missile defense system

• Thai PM rejects calls for his resignation

• Dam bursts near Indonesian capital, killing 50

• Interviews support Israeli army misconduct in Gaza