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| Ancient stupa (reliquary), Thailand (Andyzart) |
We
filed in early in the afternoon, returning from a Dharma meeting at the
doctor's house where we were looking at the Dalai Lama's book Beyond Religion. Whoever is ghostwriting is doing a great job, or Tibet's spiritual leader is making great progress in his English. Who needs religious labels? All we need are... ethics? We're still on the part where India is being exalted for its religious diversity and tolerance.
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| Relics (shariras) resemble pearls and glass beads with new growths (mahastupa.org) |
Last Sunday was the August full-moon observance day (
uposatha). All of the white-clad Sinhalese devotees observing the Eight
Precepts at the Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara filed in behind us. The Sri Lankan Theravada abbot, Ven. Dhammarama Mahathera, was
at their head. And the abbot of Lu Mountain Monastery, author and sacred
relic custodian Ven. Master YongHua (author of
The Chan Handbook: The Learner's Guide to Meditation), was overjoyed to explain the evidence.
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| Joyful child plays with monk in Ladakhi temple, Buddhist India (Vincenzo Rossi/flickr) |
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| Fragrant tooth relic (BLI) |
When the fragrant (and still
growing) sacred tooth relic was placed under the nose of American Zen teacher Jeff
Albrizze, he fell into a reverie re-experiencing past lives, seeing
himself back as a monk stirring a great pot. It seemed to be the heat,
but he later explained he was powerfully shaken. Dr. Rei, with psychic abilities, felt a
purifying presence and joyful light beings. The rest of us were convinced by the Abbot Master YongHua's
impromptu presentation. Wrongly harboring doubt and vening pessimistic
views that lead others to wrongly doubt is serious demerit (unwholesome
karma) with the potential of leading one to worlds of misery.
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| Crystal tray of colorful shariras |
A
healthy skepticism
leads one to investigate rather than doubt. The abbot went on to say
how fortunate we all were: With the relics at hand, they will be
videotaped multiplying to help us overcome our skeptical doubt, one of
the most serious and harmful
hindrances on the path to enlightenment.
Why I beleeb in Justin Beiber!
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