Zoom: Meditation w/ Bhikkhu Bodhi (2/4)

TONIGHT: Wednesday, 7:00–8:00 pm (EDT) with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Dharma Students, please join us Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm (Eastern) for a meditation session over Zoom by clicking HERE.

Wednesday evening meditation program continues as usual. If there were any need to cancel, Bhante Bodhi would announce it.

There will be meditation on [Chinese Lunar] New Year's Eve at the usual time: 7:00-8:00 pm (ET). Each Wednesday evening, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi leads a meditation session over Zoom.

The session consists of a 15-minute vandana (chanting verses of homage), followed by a 45-minute guided meditation. All are welcome to join.

The texts recited are available. See class page on website for text of chants.

With metta (loving-kindness),

Chuang Yen Monastery/BAUS

(Buddhist Association of the United States)

• ZOOM Passcode: 368764

Note: This is a recurring meeting from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm (Eastern Time) on Wednesdays.

• Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/s/83540900862?pwd=V1VkL0NhVEVnbGU4RnByNVJGRUhNUT09#success
• Meeting ID: 835 4090 0862
• Passcode: 368764
• Find local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcYniDdmfU
• Donation

ADDRESS:

• BAUS (The Buddhist Association of the United States, 美國佛教會)
• 2020 Route 301 Carmel, NY 10512
• contact@baus.org

Receive class updates and reminders by email. Avoid it going to spam by adding contact@baus.org to email Contact List. To add, click on the sender "BAUS - Chuang Yen Monastery" and reply to "contact@baus.org" and click on "Add to Contact" on pop-up box.

New Year, New Mind: Cultural Reset (2/8)

JuBu Ven. Dr. Bodhi, PhD (Claremont Colleges)

BAUS is having an important New Year event (NEW YEAR, NEW MIND) at Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, Upstate New York. This is the home of our beloved venerable Theravada Buddhist scholar-monk teacher Bhikkhu Bodhi. It will be held on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026.

This cultural reset helps welcome in the Chinese (Lunar) New Year observed by most of Asia and nearly all Buddhist communities, ushering in the Year of the Horse: 2026 Lunar New Year.

• NEW YEAR, NEW MIND (Feb. 8, 2026)
• CYM, Carmel, NY: BAUS.org/en

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Dharma,

CYM has completed the first semester of the course Ancient Path, Modern Mind: Chinese Buddhism in a Changing World with Ven. You Min.

The Temple is pleased to announce that the second semester will begin in 2026, with the opportunity to explore three core themes under the guidance of Ven. You Min:

New Year, New Mind-Abbot Youmin

1. the foundational sutras and treatises that shaped Chinese [Mahayana] Buddhism
2. ⁠the cycle of Buddhist festivals and their rituals
3. ⁠the lived life of the monastic order in relation to society.

Students are invited to cultivate focus, compassion, and balance through study and shared practice. More: 2026 Ancient Path, Modern Mind: Chinese Buddhism in a Changing World, with Venerable You Min

• 2026 New Year, New Mind: A Cultural Reset For Inner Life (docs.google.com)
• Lunar New Year 2026 in Paris, France, 13th arrondissement: free program with parade, shows, exhibitions, and entertainment
• Abbot Ven. Youmin, Chuang Yen Monastery (baus.org); CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Diamond Sutra, BAUS class (10/6)

CLASS: The Various Aspects of Meditation Theory in the Diamond Sutra

Not Czech monk Ven. Dhammadipa (Xing Kong)

Ven. Dr. Dhammadipa Sak, Ph.D. (aka Fa Yao) is the abbot of the US Zen Institute in Germantown, Maryland, and the Amata Meditation Center in Boyds, Maryland.

He previously served as the abbot of Chuan Yen Monastery (BAUS' CYM) and the Temple of Enlightenment. He is currently a vice president of the Buddhist Association of the United States (BAUS).

The Diamond Sutra 

Wiki edit by Wisdom Quarterly

This Sanskrit discourse is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sutra (a kind of apocryphal sacred text) from the genre of "Perfection of Wisdom" (Prajñāpāramitā) literature.

Translated into a variety of languages over a broad geographic range, the Diamond Sūtra is one of the most influential Mahayana sutras in East Asia, particularly prominent within the Chan (or Zen) tradition [1] alongside the Heart Sutra.

A copy of the Chinese Tang Dynasty version of the Diamond Sūtra was found among the Dunhuang manuscripts in 1900 by Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu and sold to Aurel Stein in 1907 [2]. They are dated back to May 11, 868 [3]. It is, in the words of the British Library, "the earliest dated printed book" [4].

It is also the first known creative work with an explicit public domain dedication, as its colophon at the end states that it was created "for universal free distribution" [5], a tradition carried on today by many Mahayana publishers given that the Buddha's Dharma is priceless.

Title

I did it, Batman! - There's no I. Keep meditating!

The Sanskrit title for this work is the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, which may be translated roughly as the "Vajra Cutter Perfection of Wisdom Discourse" or "The Perfection of Wisdom Text that Cuts Like a Thunderbolt" [1].

In English, shortened forms such as Diamond Sūtra and Vajra Sūtra are common. The title relies on the power of the vajra (diamond or thunderbolt and also an abstract term for a powerful adamantine weapon) to cut things as a metaphor for the type of wisdom that cuts through illusions to get at ultimate reality [1], which is what the Abhidhamma literature of the Pali canon aims to do.

This sutra is also called Triśatikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra ("300 lines on the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra").

The Diamond Sūtra is highly regarded in East Asian countries with historical traditions of Mahayana Buddhism [1]. [It is not considered an actual "sutra," a discourse by the Buddha or his immediate disciples, in the Theravada tradition of South and Southeast Asia.]

Translations of this title into the languages of some of these countries include... More

ABOUT THE TEACHER: Born in Taiwan and raised in Malaysia, Ven. Dhammadipa received his ordination in Sri Lanka in 1987. He earned a Ph.D. in theology and religious studies from the University of Bristol, UK, in 2005.

Ven. Dhammadipa has also been a visiting lecturer at the University of Chicago School of Divinity. His primary interests include Abhidhamma and meditation practices, and he frequently emphasizes the importance of meditation in society.

He is fluent in Chinese, Cantonese, Hakka, and English and is literate in several other languages including Pali, Sanskrit, Japanese, French, and German for his academic pursuits.

• Chaung Yen Monastery (BAUS)
• Home of Bhikkhu Bodhi
• Sunday, October 6, 2024
• 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
• Please click here to register

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

• 9:00 am – Check-in
• 9:30 am – Meditation unguided
• 9:40 am – Greet teacher/bow to the Buddha
• 9:45 am – Introduction to the day’s master and class
• 9:50 am – Morning Class 1
• 10:35 am – Tea break and cookies
• 10:45 am – Morning Class 2
• 11:30 am – Lunch and break
• 12:50 pm – Meditation
• 1:00 pm – Afternoon Class 1
• 1:45 pm – Tea break and cookies
• 2:00 pm – Afternoon Class 2
• 2:45 pm – Share the merits, bow to the Buddha and teacher, and group photo
• 3:00 pm – Clean up

Celebrating BAUS’s 60th anniversary and the new Dr. C.T. Shen & Mrs. Woo Ju Shen Memorial Hall

• Diamond Sutra Study Retreat Series 3 • Ven. Dhammadipa Fa Yao • 10/6/24
• BAUS, Chaung Yen Monastery, Carmel, Upstate New York; CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Ven. Bodhi: Enlightenment for Laypeople

ONLINE: four days, from Friday evening, Aug. 30, through Monday, aftertoon, Sept. 2, 2024

American Theravada scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi from New York is holding a retreat.

.

What did the Buddha teach laypeople?

During the Buddha’s time, tens of thousands of people left the household life to take up the monastic life of wandering ascetics.

The Buddha also had hundreds of thousands of lay disciples who continued to live at home.

To guide these lay disciples, the Buddha offered a rich body of teachings to enable them to live the best life — a truly noble life — while fulfilling their household duties.

Venerable Bodhi, scholar-monk

Over four days, from Friday evening, Aug. 30, through Monday mid-afternoon, Sept. 2, Bhante (Bhikkhu Bodhi, the most prolific English translator of early Buddhist texts in the world) will lead a retreat focused on the Buddha’s teachings for laypeople.

The retreat will be based primarily on the Maha Mangala Sutta ("Great Blessings Discourse"), but Bhante will gather a vast number of [Pali canon] sutras and other texts that show how a lay disciple can walk the path to liberation while dwelling amid “the dust of the world.”

The sprawling grounds of BAUS, New York

The retreat will include:

• Dhamma talks,
• discussion periods, and
• five sessions of meditation each day.

It will also provide the opportunity for those who haven’t yet “gone for guidance” (sarana) to go for guidance to the Three Jewels, the first decisive step to formally becoming a follower of the Buddha-Dharma, the Path taught by the Buddha.

This retreat will be in hybrid mode, onsite and online. The teachings will be in English only. Those who wish to join in person can come to BAUS.org (Chuang Yen Monastery, Carmel, NY) and stay from Friday until Monday afternoon.

Attend live, over Zoom, or on YouTube

Those who cannot attend in person can practice at home, participating online over Zoom or YouTube.

The monastery can accept only 50 onsite practitioners. If one applies after the 50 spaces have been filled, one will be put on a waiting list and accepted if prior applicants drop out.

If not joining in person, please join from home via Zoom or YouTube. Register to participate onsite only if making a commitment to stay for all of it until Monday afternoon. If participating only part time, please join through the online channels.

• The Buddhist Association of the U.S. (BAUS)
• 美國佛教會
• 2020 Route 301
• Carmel, New York 10512
• contact@baus.org

World's oldest forest 100s of millions-y-o

The world's oldest forest dating hundreds of millions of years old has been found

What garden existed in ancient New York state?

The world's oldest forest, which dates back hundreds of millions of years, has been found.

Scientists have unearthed the world's oldest known forest in upstate New York, USA.

This 386-million-year-old woodland predates the dinosaurs by over 100 million years. Researchers mapped 3,000 square meters of the ancient forest in Cairo, New York. What other prehistoric wonders might lie hidden beneath our feet?

Archaeopteris tree reconstruction (wiki)

No more woodlands left in NYC, just this patch

Primordial flora: Meet earth's early arboreal pioneers (oldest.org). This ancient forest contains primitive plants called cladoxylopsids and Archaeopteris trees.

These early species reproduced using spores rather than seeds. Archaeopteris, reaching heights of 30 meters, was among the first plants to develop leaves. How did these ancient trees shape the world we know today?

More: The world's oldest forest dating hundreds of millions of years old has been found

• Krishna Bora, ScreenGawk (News18 via MSN.com); Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Arctic Blast: 70 in LA, -70 in Montana today

Heat Miser, ABC 7 News; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Brutal Arctic blast sweeping across the country

(ABC News) Jan. 14, 2024: More than 100,000,000 (one hundred million) Americans are on alert for extremely dangerous winter weather, with blizzard conditions making roads barely visible in parts of western New York. #news #blizzard #winter

[Buffalo and Upstate New York is being pounded with snow. Iowa is a block of ice. It's so bad that football is being delayed, and the Iowa Caucus is going to be thinned out, insuring Trump an embarrassing win. It must be God's will to get His candidate into the White House, like He did last time when Genocide Joe was installed, right Midwest? The US is so ]

WATCH FULL EPISODES OF WORLD NEWS TONIGHT: abc.com/shows/world-news-tonight

World's oldest forest found in United States

Green Matters via msn.com, 1/6/24; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Is NY the Garden State? No. Why? There aren't many gardens, just one big Central Park.

Science finds the world's oldest forest and its radical impact on life (science.org)

.

What is the world's oldest forest? (TLRjewelry/X)

Scientists uncovered a fossil forest in upstate New York, USA, that offers clues to its nearly 400-million-year-old history, making it the oldest known forest in the world.

According to Science, "dozens" of fossilized ancient tree roots exist at the 385-million-year-old site.

This includes what scientists believe to be Archaeopteris, which is about 20-25 million years older than what scientists previously thought to be the oldest of its kind in the world, per a 1999 report shared by ScienceDaily.

• Buddhism began as a forest tradition revived in Thailand

• 

  Oldest tree roots, Archaeopteris, from above

  (Science.org) Scientists have discovered the world's oldest forest in an abandoned quarry near Cairo, New York, USA. The 385-million-year-old rocks contain the fossilized woody roots of dozens of ancient trees. The find marks a turning point in Earth's history. When trees evolved these roots, they helped pull carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and lock it away, radically shifting the planet's climate and leading to the atmosphere we know today.
• "The Cairo site is very special," says team member Prof. Christopher Berry, a paleobotanist at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. The quarry floor, about half the size of a U.S. football field, represents a horizontal slice through the soil just below the surface of the ancient forest.
• "You are walking through the roots of ancient trees," Prof. Berry says. "Standing on the quarry surface we can reconstruct the living forest around us in our imagination." More

About an hour's drive from the Catskill Mountains sits an abandoned quarry where the site resides and has been carefully protected from outside interference that would disturb the ongoing research. Here's what we know about the fascinating geological discoveries.

Under the old Bodhi tree

The world's oldest forest that we know of has been identified by a team of paleobotanists and other scientists and researchers near Cairo, N.Y., a region beside the Catskill Mountain range.

According to Science, the site was first found in 2009 and has given researchers clues into how forests develop, what ancient CO2 levels were like, and how the oxygen levels at the time may have contributed to the gigantic growth of various animals and insects.

The oldest forest in the world sits about a 40-minute drive from another fossil forest in Gilboa, N.Y., the remains of which are estimated to be just a few million years younger than the more recent discovery in Cairo.

The Gilboa fossil forest was previously thought to be the world's oldest forest, according to Science and BingUNews, which gives rise to skepticism from some in the field when record-setting assertions are made.

"I'm usually skeptical when folks use absolutes in their science language because our understanding is constantly evolving," explains Oklahoma Geological Survey Field Geologist Dr. Carla Eichler tells Green Matters exclusively.

"So, what's the 'oldest' has truly yet to be proven to be the oldest." Record-setting titles notwithstanding, the Catskill region is thought to be fertile ground, so to speak, for additional research, per BingUNews, that will provide scientists clues into ancient trees and land animals that paint a more complete picture of the evolution [or devolution, as Buddhism's Agganna Sutta explains] of the earth.

What is the oldest living forest?

What's older, fossils in NY or a rainforest in Australia? (WTEN/YouTube © Green Matters)

.

While the Cairo site has been bereft of public activity as scientists and researchers continue exploring its fossilized remains in private, outdoor enthusiasts may be wondering what the oldest living forest in the world is and where they can find it.

The 180-million-year-old Daintree Rainforest in Australia takes the cake as the oldest living forest in the world, according to an oldest.org article. The area is home to a thriving, rich diversity of reptiles, amphibians, and insect species and is the site of nearly a half-million tourists annually.

The rainforest is also home to 80 percent of all fern species in the world, and according to Australia's tourism website, the great British historian Sir David Attenborough called it “the most extraordinary place on Earth.” Source: A 385-million-year-old forest in NY is the oldest in the world (msn.com)

• VIDEO: Oldest fortress in the world discovered by archaeologists (Newsweek)
• Things to do in Greenville, North Carolina for a sustainable weekend (greenmatters.com)

Bhikkhu Bodhi: Paths to Liberation (6/24)

Bhikkhu Bodhi, Chaung Yen Monastery (BAUS.org); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi

This year (2023) American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi resumes his monthly Dharma talks for speakers of Russian.

The new series [presented in English with Russian translation] is on the theme of “Models of the Path to Liberation in Early Buddhism.”

In the sutras we see that the Buddha presented the Dharma (Teachings) on the Path to Enlightenment in a variety of ways designed to meet the needs of his audience.

What did the historical Buddha teach?

Some models are more comprehensive and general, others narrower, intended for particular individuals.

In this series, Ven. Bodhi explores four comprehensive models of the path:

1. the Noble Eightfold Path
2. the sequential training of the monastic
3. the Seven Factors of Enlightenment
4. the Seven Stages of Purification.

Schedule

• May 20: The Noble Eightfold Path (SN 45:8)
• June 24: The Sequential Training–1 (MN 27)
• July 22: The Sequential Training–2 (MN 27)
• August 26: The Sequential Training–3 (MN 27)
• September 23: The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (selections from SN Chapter 46)
• October 21: The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (selections from SN Chapter 46)
• November 18: The Seven Stages of Purification (MN 24)
• December 30: The Seven Stages of Purification (MN 24)

The talks will be based on the discourses (sutras) of the Buddha. A file with the text material can be found HERE.

Bhante will present the talks in English, with alternating translation into Russian. Those who do not speak Russian are welcome to join.

There are Buddhists in Russia?

The talks are given online at 9:30 am ET (4:30 pm–6:20 pm Moscow time).

Those in other time zones who want to join should check for the corresponding time in their own zone at this site. To join the program and obtain the Zoom link, register here.

• Models of the Path to Liberation in Early Buddhism 5-12/23 (BAUS)

Those already registered for Bhante’s regular Saturday classes need not register again.

Bhikkhu Bodhi's Compassion in Action

Bhikkhu Bodhi (buddhistglobalrelief.org); Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma BM), Wisdom Quarterly

Bhikkhu Bodhi made a choice to first help girls in the developing world (Buddhist Global Relief)

Can a scholar and hermit care about people?

Who says Theravada Buddhist monastics are just in it for themselves -- pursuing their own salvation (realization, enlightenment/awakening, and final nirvana)? They're mistaken.

There's no contradiction in saving oneself -- the only person we can save -- and helping others in every way we can.

Help females first, and thereby help everyone.

It's not only the Bodhisattva Ideal claimed by Mahayana, it's the expression of friendliness, compassion, positive empathy, and equanimity, the Four "Divine Abidings" (Brahma Viharas). Just ask Jewish-American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, our beloved teacher, the translator (and organizer of many translations) of the classic texts. He saw the need and went beyond the meditation mat, the editorial desk, and the monastic cell to establish Buddhist Global Relief to help alleviate "real world" problems pressing on the needy simply to exist on the human plane.

The Buddha Gautama

We certainly need what the historical Buddha offered, liberation, but he offered much more than most realize. Not only the Dharma (the Path to Freedom, the Middle Way to Liberation, the road to the end of all suffering), he accounted for the present needs of all kinds of beings.

Not everyone is interested in nirvana, nor spirituality, nor the unseen. Most want a better life here and now, a better rebirth hereafter, rearising in the heavens, and he pointed the way to those goals. For the wise, he set out a path of complete liberation (nirodha-moksha), for reaching nirvana in this very life. Perhaps if beings had the necessities of life -- food, shelter, clean water, medicinal products, care, and purpose -- the loftier ideal of spiritual liberation would become very attractive.

Bhikkhu Bodhi: Session 12 (video)

Bhikkhu Bodhi, CYM, Carmel, NY (BAUS.org); Dhr. Seven, Sayalay Aloka, Wisdom Quarterly

American Theravada Buddhist scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi teaches at the Buddhist Association of the United States (BAUS), Chuang Yen Monastery, in Carmel, Upstate New York: This retreat is being streamed live (and stored). This is Session 12: "Exploring Dependent Origination," Abhidharma Study and Meditation Retreat, Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, 2:10 PM.

• INFO: Bhikkhu Bodhi study retreat (Aug. 30-Sept. 3)