Ram Dass: How to keep Heart open in Hell

 

Remember: Be Here Now (Ram Dass)

(After Skool) It's all perfect by Ram Dass (formerly Prof. Richard Alpert, Ph.D., Harvard University)

RAM DASS ("God's Servant or Slave") was born Richard Alpert on April 6, 1931 and lived until December 22, 2019) [1]. He became a hippie and is also known as Baba ["Father"] Ram Dass. He was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga [2], academic psychologist, and writer of Be Here Now, his best-selling [3] 1971 book, which has been described by as "seminal" [4, 5, 6].

Ram Dass perfectly describes "ego death"

Ram Dass (Dr. Richard Alpert)

With the help of his scandalous but loving sex guru Neem Karoli Baba, he helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West [7]. He authored or co-authored a dozen more books on spirituality over the next four decades, including Grist for the Mill (1977), How Can I Help? (1985), and Polishing the Mirror (2013).

• Is Ram Dass still here now?  An excerpt from Being Ram Dass (Tricycle)
• The Legacy of Be Here Now (RamDass.org)

Aren't you supposed to be a Jew?

Once when he was teaching with his long hair, beard, and linen garments, someone in the crowd asked him why he dressed like a guru from India when he was really a Jew from the U.S. Without missing a beat, his retort was, "I'm only Jewish on my parents' side." Ha ha ha, exactly!

We are born into a faith, and it's usually rammed down our throats before we have a chance to do anything but swallow. And most of us won't question it. But some of us vomit it up, leave or examine, sometimes even come back to it later.

Harvard professors Dr. Timothy Leary and Dr. Richard Alpert (cool squares rounding out)

Ram Dass, The Guru who studied LSD and wrote The Hippie Bible

 

However, it seems the job and duty of any human to question it, test it, attempt to validate it, argue against it, learn from it, grow from it, reject it all together, or make peace with it. There's a world of spirituality out there to explore. We usually need a floor, a ground, by which to test things. And almost all major religions have a mystic component or sect. That's a place to start.

Parents, what am I to do but follow my heart?

But question we must, and explore we will, and find? That remains to be seen. We are on a spiritual quest. And maybe the whole rest of the world can't be. But if Americans can't, what the F are you calling yourself an "American" for? Life, liberty, and the PURSUIT of happiness is all you were promised -- and you're not even going to pursue it? Truth means nothing? Just taking sides? Just being controlled by your government, schools, and parents, the "powers that be"? Pathetic. Human up, and get searching.

Hell: all the people Ram Dass hated

(My brother Comes) Love everyone and tell the Truth

Ram Dass' brothers and sisters with Baba

Ram Dass was personally and professionally associated with hippie Dr. Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s. Then known as Richard Alpert, he conducted research with Leary on the therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs.

In addition, Alpert assisted Harvard Divinity School graduate student Walter Pahnke in his 1962 "Good Friday Experiment" with theology students, the first controlled, double-blind study of drugs and the mystical experience [8, 9].

While legal at the time (and not yet criminalized), their research was controversial and led to Dr. Leary's and Dr. Alpert's firing from Harvard in 1963.

In 1967, Alpert traveled to India and became "Ram Dass," a disciple of Hindu Guru Neem Karoli Baba, who gave him the name Ram Dass, meaning "Servant of Ram," but usually rendered simply as "Servant of God" for Western audiences.

Hi, I'm Neem Karoli Baba (Sculpture in Ram Dass Library) sculpted to look like sweet Budai

 

In the following years, he co-founded the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. From the 1970s to the 1990s, he traveled extensively, giving talks and retreats and holding fundraisers for charitable causes.

Remember: Be Here Now (Ram Dass)

In 1997, he had a stroke, which left him with paralysis and expressive aphasia which would be better characterized as "fluent, anomic-like with hesitations and word finding difficulties at the conversational level with grossly intact auditory comprehension for high level, low-context information" [10, 11].

He eventually grew to interpret this event as an act of grace, learning to speak again and continuing to teach and write books. After becoming seriously ill during a trip to India in 2004, he gave up traveling and moved to Maui, Hawaii, where he hosted annual retreats with other spiritual teachers until his death in 2019. More

Early life of Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein

Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldsten (BHNN); Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds), Wisdom Quarterly

Young hippie meditators once surrounded a little enlightened woman in Calcutta: Dipa Ma

The Early Life of Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein

(Be Here Now Network) Metta Hour Podcast's Episode 199 premiered Feb. 1, 2023. Sharon Salzberg (whose Real Happiness Meditation Challenge runs all of February) is on the Metta Hour Podcast with her legendary friend Joseph Goldstein. Both are interviewed by Lily Cushman, recalling their early lives.

They each share what drew them to the Buddhist path of meditation in the late 1960s and early 1970s and their initial years of Buddhist practice in the exotic East.

This podcast is being released in tandem with the Joseph Goldstein's Insight Hour Podcast.

Joseph Goldstein has been teaching meditation since 1974. He and Salzberg are co-founders of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, located in Barre, Massachusetts.

Goldstein is the author of numerous books, including Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening and Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom.

Dan Harris calls Goldstein “a key architect of the rise of mindfulness in our modern [American] society.” In this conversation, Goldstein shares about:

• what it was like growing up in the Catskills
• early encounters with death and loss
• studying philosophy at Columbia University
• living in New York City during his college years
• joining the Peace Corps and living in Thailand
• his first encounters with Buddhist monks
• the resonance of finding the spiritual path
• the ups and downs of his initial years of practice
• finding his teacher Anagarika Munindra [who was the teacher of famous Bangladeshi Buddhist teacher Dipa Ma of Calcutta/Kolkata]
• meeting Salzberg at her first mindfulness retreat with S.N. Goenka
• his experiences as more Westerners arrived in India
• the community that emerged out of the Goenka retreats
• grappling with his “body of steel” for many years
• the parallels of the evolution of his and her path

Sharon Salzberg shares about:

• the difficulty of her childhood
• her first encounter with Buddhist philosophy in college
• creating a study abroad program to take her to India
• receiving Chögyam Trungpa’s advice on where to learn meditation
• searching for meditation instruction across India as a young woman
• the scene at her first retreat led S.N. Goenka
• the difficulty of her first instruction being a 10-day retreat
• some themes of her initial meditation experiences
• learning how to navigate her inner life
• meeting Goldstein for the first time
• her and Goldstein’s different practice needs in their early years
• crafting a spiritual path before there was a model for that life in the West.

To learn more about Joseph Goldstein’s work, visit dharma.org/joseph. His teachings can also be found on the Ten Percent Happier app, the Waking Up with Sam Harris app and on the Dharma Seed app.

• The Early Life of Sharon Salzberg & Joseph Goldstein (Metta Hour Podcast Ep. 199)
• The Early Life of Sharon Salzberg & Joseph Goldstein (Metta Hour Podcast Ep. 199, beherenownetwork.com)
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Be Here Now Network podcasts, courses, and articles help us live life in balance. It's heart-centered wisdom from Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Krishna Das, and many more. Get a free guided meditation from Sharon Salzberg when first signing up at: beherenownetwork.com

Woman reaches enlightenment, helps others

Amazon; Amy Schmidt; Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Ven. Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Once upon a time there was a tiny Indian woman leading an inconspicuous life in Calcutta, India.

No one would have ever guessed how profoundly she would influence Buddhism in America, its evolution, teaching, and practice. How could that be?

The impoverished title Knee Deep in Grace is very misleading. It is actually the life story of Dipa Ma Barua, along with the essential spiritual teachings that make her a towering figure in contemporary Buddhism.

The Insight Meditation Society extended retreat facility behind IMS (dharma.org)

Life of a Buddhist master

She was a student of Anagarika Munindra and a teacher of American luminaries Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and Sharon Salzberg, among others. She sent them back to the U.S. from India to teach, and they did as they were instructed, founding the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. 

While Dipa Ma (lit., "Dipa's mother" or figurately, "motherly light, island, or refuge") experienced fame in her lifetime. She had a following of many American, Indian, Burmese, and Bangladeshi students.

She was like the female saints of the Vedas, "remarkable women...from the dawn of history...who achieved realization while cleaning their homes and raising their children" (Daughters of the Goddess: Women Saints of India).

She was remarkable in her ordinariness, astounding in her natural grounding in the reality of the present moment.

Author Amy "Amita" Schmidt

Dipa Ma was a primary teacher of Salzberg, Kornfield, and Goldstein, who have been among the most influential "importers" of Theravada Buddhism to America.

Through the centers they founded -- Spirit Rock, IMS, and many related centers they encourage and support like Insight LA -- and the teachers trained in them (the author, Amy Schmidt, among them), Dipa Ma continue to touch countless lives.

Jack Kornfield described the power of Dipa Ma's influence: "Without anything said or done, just the impact of meeting a person so developed can be enough to change one's whole way of life."

Story of a Buddhist "saint"

Knee Deep in Grace is filled with intimate stories collected over a period of ten years, both from prominent Western meditation teachers and from Dipa Ma's enlightened daughter and grandson and her Calcutta students.

Dipa Ma addressed her teaching to ordinary people in her apartment complex and her extended family. Her iconoclastic style of daily-life "immersion" practice brought many of her students to awakening.

And as this small book testifies, her long time students as well as new ones find that she continues to guide and inspire their meditation practice. The book also goes into Dipa Ma's attainment of magical powers (iddhi). More

• AUTHOR: Amy "Amita" Schmidt is a LCSW who for six years was a resident teacher at Insight Meditation Society. She continues to offer spiritual support to meditators by phone and teaches insight meditation (vipassana) nationally. Info: amitaschmidt.com.

Buddhist Summer School: Lesson 10 (audio)

Bhikkhu Bodhi (BM/BAUS); Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist hall, Thrangu Monastery, Richmond, BC, Canada (nathanbauman.com)

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Wisdom Quarterly's Buddhist Summer School started Monday, June 20, 2016. It is open to all and taught by our principal teacher, American monk Bhikkhu Bodhi. Place a note in the comments section.
  

How can I learn Buddhism in one summer?

American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi is the famous translator of many Buddhist sutra collections into English.

He created a series of ten recordings on the fundamentals of what the Buddha taught. Those audio lessons are linked below.
  

The series, "The Buddha's Teaching: As It Is," can also be streamed online HERE (free).
  

TEN AUDIO LECTURES

1. The Buddha
2. The Four Noble Truths
3. The True Nature of Existence
4. Dependent Origination
5. Rebirth and Karma
6. Nirvana
7. The Noble Eightfold Path
8. Meditation
9. Social Teachings of the Buddha
10. The Sangha

Lesson 10: The Sangha [Monastic Community]

"The Buddha's Teaching As It Is" by Bhikkhu Bodhi (BodhiMonastery.org)

Why would anyone become a monastic?

Bhikkhu Bodhi (BAUS, Bodhi Monastery), Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist wat or temple, Benjamabopit, Bangkok, Thailand (Krunja Photography/flickr.com)

Lay vs monastic practice under the bodhi tree (Tapas Ghosh/tapasphotography/flickr.com)

Burmese "novice monk" or samanera, training for ordination at age 20 (Silvia Pasqual)

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Thai novices (Valerio Allasla)

There is a long and esteemed monastic tradition in popular, Hindu-influenced Mahayana Buddhism. But it is even stronger in the ancient Theravada tradition prevalent in Southeast Asian. The question is, Why would anyone want to become a fully ordained monk, nun, temporarily ordained novice, or anagarika (aspirant who has left home)?

The Buddha gave the best explanation in answer to just such a question. In a discourse entitled "The Fruits of Recluseship" (Samana-phala Sutra), the Enlightened One lists some of the benefits that worldly people can hardly comprehend or imagine.

An anagarika, April 2016

The American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi delivers a great expose on the Monastic Community or Sangha, one of the three precious jewels in Buddhism alongside the Buddha and the Dharma. As Wisdom Quarterly is fond of saying, these Three Jewels translate as:

1. the Teacher,
2. the Teaching, and
3. the Taught.

It might be clearer to say:

1. the Enlightened One,
2. the Path to Enlightenment, and
3. the Enlightened.

• 

  Kung fu monks, Shaolin temple, China*

  Sangha has two distinct meanings, one being the general Buddhist community, particularly the monastic community, and the more important being the Noble Community composed of laypeople and monastics who have attained at least the first stage of enlightenment. Mahayana likes to talk about the sangha as all Buddhists, whereas Theravada reserves the word for monastics, both forgetting that it is the Ariya Sangha, the "Community of Noble Ones" that is the real jewel over and above any other community.
• *PHOTO: Shaolin monastery, Hunan Province, China (Ana Paola Pineda/flickr.com).

Bhikkhu Bodhi explains The Sangha

The Honey Moon Offering Ceremony (LA)

Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha being served by a monkey and elepphant in the forest (ebay.com). He received offerings of honey and service from an elated monkey and a forlorn elephant in Parileyya forest. These events are now celebrated annually in Los Angeles.

• 2011 Honey Full Moon Observance
  
• California Bodhi Vihara
• 1461 Lemon Ave., Long Beach, CA 90813
• (562) 218-8160

KOSAMBI, India - The Buddha once retreated into Parileyya (Parileyyaka) Forest in a peaceful attempt to reunite two monastic factions who were locked in a heated debate about disciplinary rules. (The minor question being disputed was, Should water pots be left unemptied?)

The intransigent disciples could not be reasoned with. So the Buddha went into solitary retreat as subtle encouragement for them to work out their differences.

While in the wilderness alone, a monkey offered him a honeycomb. It was so elated that the Buddha accepted it that it jumped around wildly and, falling on a tree stump, accidentally died.

It was, according to tradition, immediately reborn in the World of the Thirty-Three as a fruit of its sharing.

It may seem a disproportionate result for such a small act of generosity. But the power of karma is conditioned by more than intention and the size of the gift or deed. Its weight has a great deal to do with the virtue of the recipient. Karmic resultants and fruit will depend on the state of mind of the giver; being happy looking forward to a deed, while performing it, and afterward when reflecting on what was done also magnifies its power.

During the same retreat the Buddha was also offered fruit and attended to by an elephant who, tired of communal life, had abandoned its herd. The monastics soon settled their differences and together with Ananda went into the forest to ask the Buddha to return.

The Buddha receives an offering of honey from a monkey at Parileyyaka (wikimedia).

When the Buddha agreed, the elephant, Parileyyaka, is said to have died of a broken heart. It was also reborn in the happy space (celestial) World of the Thirty-Three. (It is interesting to not that Siddhartha's white horse, Kanthaka, similarly died of heartbreak when Siddhartha left him to renounce the world and enter a quest for enlightenment).

• At Parileyyaka Sutra (SN 22.81)
  

Honey Moon Offering Celebrations

Buddhists from India and Bangladesh (ancient Vanga, a province with Buddhist traditions going back to the time of the Buddha, which until 1947 was part of India) celebrate a special full-moon observance called Madhu Purnima in honor of these extraordinary events.

Celebrations occur in the Indian state of West Bengal state, particularly Calcutta, and in Bangladesh, formerly the Indian state of East Bengal -- in Chittagong for Barua Bangladeshi Buddhists and in the Hill Tracts for Chakma Bangladeshi Buddhists.

Bangladesh has Buddhists?
Bangladeshi Buddhists trace their original homeland to the region surrounding the Buddha's enlightenment, Bodh Gaya, India. A Honey Offering Full Moon Observance is held every year in the month of Bhadro (August/September on the Asian lunar calendar).

It is celebrated as a joyous day of unity and charity to temples emphasizing the giving of honey and fruit.

9/11/11 Commemoration
Bangladeshi-American Buddhists in Los Angeles will observed the full-moon day on Sunday, 9/11. Monks, nuns, lay Buddhists, and guests will gather for celebrations, ancient Buddhist chanting, and the offering of sweets. Honey is symbolic of love, altruistic loving-kindness, amity, compassion, and affection.

It also reminds us of our interdependence with the animal world.

In the last year Ven. Karunananda, Ph.D. has successfully established the first Indian Buddhist temple in Los Angeles. A permanent location in urban Long Beach is now home to the California Bodhi Vihara at 1023 E. 21st Street.

The new abbot, who for many years resided in Pasadena's Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara (a Sri Lankan Theravada tradition monastery), has made a home for expats and American seekers in coastal Los Angeles.

The temple/monastic residence (vihara) now holds events that uniquely express Bengali Buddhist traditions -- such as the honey moon offering in an area with various Cambodian Buddhist temples and an American Zen Center (Yokoji).

Help maintain this Indian-Buddhist treasure in Los Angeles by volunteering or donating to its maintenance and the spread of the Dharma:

• California Bodhi Vihara a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization
• bodhimission@yahoo.com
• (562) 290-2876 or (562) 218-8160

The Full-Moon Honey Offering

The Buddha receives a honeycomb from elated monkey in Parileyya forest (wikipedia.org).

KOSAMBI, Ancient India - The Buddha once retreated into Parileyya Forest to reunite two monastic factions who were locked in a heated debate about rules. (Should water pots be left unemptied?) The intransigent disciples could not be reasoned with. So the Buddha went into solitary retreat as subtle encouragement for them to work out their differences.

While in the wilderness, a monkey offered him a honeycomb. The monkey was so elated that the Buddha had accepted the offering, it jumped around and, falling on a tree stump, accidentally passed away. He was immediately reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three (Tavatimsa) as a fruit of his generous sharing. (Such is the power of karma that its fruit depends not only on the gift, and the state of mind of the giver, but also the virtue of the recipient).

The Buddha was also offered fruit and attended to by an elephant who, tired of communal life, had left his herd. The monastics settled their differences and together with Ananda came to the forest to ask the Buddha to return. The elephant (named Parileyyaka) is said to have died of a broken heart when the Buddha left the forest and was reborn in Tavatimsa. Interestingly Siddhartha's horse, Kanthaka, also died of heartbreak when Siddhartha renounced the world.

Honey Offering Celebrations

Buddhists from India and Bangladesh (which up until 1947 was part of India) celebrate a special full-moon observance, Madhu Purnima, in honor of these events. Celebrations occur in West Bengal, India (particularly Calcutta) and Chittagong (Barua Buddhists) and the Hill Tracts (Chakma Buddhists) in Bangladesh (formerly the Indian state of East Bengal).

Buddhists from these parts trace their original homeland to the area surrounding the Buddha's enlightenment place: Bodh Gaya, India. The Honey Offering Full-Moon observance is held in of the month of August/September (Bhadro on the Asian lunar calendar). It is celebrated as a joyous day of unity and charity to temples with the giving of honey and fruit.

Wisdom Quarterly was present as Bangladeshi-American Buddhists observed the full-moon day today. Ten monks assembled and led celebrants through ancient Buddhist chants, while in a distant land Indian Buddhists flooded temples to offer sweets such as honey. Honey is symbolic of love (metta), amity, compassion, and affection, reminding us of our interdependence with the animal world.

One monk is attempting to establish the first Indian Buddhist temple in Los Angeles. A temporary location, a rental in a somewhat seedy area in suburban Long Beach, houses California Bodhi Vihara. A permanent home is now in escrow at 1023 E. 21st St., Long Beach, CA 90806.

Ven. Dr. Karunananda, who resided in Pasadena's Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara (a Sri Lankan monastery) for many years, was pressed by expats and devotees in Los Angeles to open a temple/monastic residence (vihara) for the unique expression of Bengali traditions -- such as the Full-Moon Honey Offering.

To help establish the first Indian-Buddhist temple in Los Angeles by volunteering or sending donations ($31,923 is still needed), contact:

• California Bodhi Vihara a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization
• 1461 Lemon Avenue, CA 90813
• bodhimission@yahoo.com
• Ven. Karunananda (562) 290-2876 or (562) 218-8160

Los Angeles is unique in that it is home to Buddhist temples from nearly every originally Buddhist country in the world except Bangladesh (ancient Vanga), which became Buddhist during the time of the Buddha.

First Generation Buddhism in America

“Theravada Buddhism has never gotten proper attention in the literature devoted to Buddhism in the West. Wendy Cadge here observes two Theravada communities in the U.S. to reveal how American Buddhists actually live out their religions. She also offers new and important input into how we think about the role of religion in American society during times of globalization. Heartwood [by Wendy Cadge] will add tremendously to our understanding of the Buddhist tradition in America” — Charles Prebish, Penn State University.

The origin of Theravada Buddhism in America can be traced to a speech made by Anagarika Dharmapala at the World Parliament of Religions meeting in 1893. Born in 1864 in Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon), Don David Hewavitharne became a celibate layman and adopted the title Anagarika Dharmapala, meaning “homeless one,” “guardian of the Dharma.”

Heavily influenced by [Colonel] Olcott (1832–1907) and [Madame] Blavatsky (1831–1891), Theosophists who first visited India and Ceylon from America in 1878 and 1880, Dharmapala spent his life spreading Buddhism around the world. At the Parliament, Dharmapala spoke about how Buddhism, Christianity, and scientific approaches to the world overlap, saying that the “Buddha inculcated the necessity of self-reliance and independent thought,” and “accepted the doctrine of evolution as the only true one.”

Theosophists and others in the United States were influenced by elements of Theravada Buddhism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Groups of Burmese and Sri Lankan monks visited the United States before the first Theravada Buddhist organization was formed in Washington, D.C., in 1966. The Washington Buddhist Vihara and the Buddhist Study Center in New York, the first two Theravada Buddhist organizations in the United States, were... More>>

• Heartwood: The First Generation of Theravada in America

Dipa Ma with Mahasi Sayadaw

FULL LENGTH VIDEO (Google)
Buddhist Meditation Masters (18:07)
Dipa Ma, Anagarika Munindra, Mahasi Sayadaw

VIDEO: Dipa Ma (Buddhist Saint)

"Sainthood" (enlightenment) in Buddhism simply means someone who has attained one of the paths and fruits (magga-phala) as a stream-enterer, once returner, non-returner, or Arhat. These are the progressive stages of enlightenment. One may, or may not, in addition possess magical powers or any ability to teach whatsoever; these are separate attainments.

Magical powers do not indicate enlightenment as it is quite possible to develop them with samadhi (concentration defined in terms of the jhanas) devoid of liberating insight (as exemplified by many Hindu sages). Dipa Ma was liberated, developed the powers through the scholarship and guidance of Anagarika Munindra, and was able to teach meditation as well. The following video shows her in 19800 in San Francisco, California.

Dipa Ma, a Buddhist meditation teacher from Bangladesh and Calcutta, India visits the American vipassana teacher Sujata in his San Francisco apartment. Joseph Goldstein (Insight Meditation Society and the Forest Refuge retreat center in Barre, MA where she also visited) accompanied her. In this short video she tours the kitchen, has lunch, and conducts an interview with a small group of students.

This is rare footage. Anagarika Munindra was her main teacher in India and Burma. And the entire DVD with additional footage may be found at http://www.begintosee.com/. Download or watch the full length (40 minutes) of this video on Google Video. Footage of Dipa Ma as well as films by Jack Kornfield have now been posted.