Invite: Peace Mandala (4/19-20)

INVITATION TO THE PEACE MANDALA

But Jesus stressed inclusiveness and compassion!

The Compassionate Service Society hosts the World Peace Gathering and Peace Mandala on [Hitler's birthday and International Weed Day 4:20] April 20th, 2025, with the goal of bringing comfort and empathy to those suffering. How?

The practice of inner peace unfolds kindness and compassion (metta and karuna) in every heart that participates. California Buddhist monks and nuns are joining in the:

• 

  11 faces of Avalokiteśvara (Tibet)

  Peace Mandala
• Sunday, April 20, 2025
• 4:00 pm-9:00 pm
• Anaheim Convention Center
• 800 W. Katella Avenue
• Anaheim, Orange County 92802
• Registration World Peace
• Discover Peace and Joy | Compassionate Service Society
• Registration to become a temporary Left-Home Monk or Nun – World Peace Gathering (April 10-21, 2025)

White Avalokiteshvara

Participation brings about grace and faith (blessings and confidence) to the community and solace to the untold suffering the world is currently witnessing. Help us bring blessings to ALL.

[We can be the Buddhist Goddess of Compassion Kwan Yin that hears the cries of the world.]

Mandala Program

• 
  4:00-5:00 pm - Purification ceremony
• 5:00-5:30 pm - Refreshments and light dinner
• 5:30-6:00 pm - Line up to enter Mandala
• 6:00-8:00 pm - Peace Mandala
• 8:00-8:59 pm - Monastics receive offerings
• 9:00-9:01 pm - Program ends

Upcoming Events

April 10-April 21 (compassheart.com)

Discover Peace & Joy | Compassionate Service Society | Prayer Plaques and Urns

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The goddess who hears the cries of the world

Ulan Bator's Gandan Monastery Avalokiteśvara

Tibetan Chenrezig (Kwan Yin), Pelling, Sikkim

In Mahayana Buddhism, the term Ishvara is used as part of the compound Avalokiteśvara ("lord who hears the cries of the world"), the name of a bodhisattva revered for his compassion (who transformed into Goddess Kwan Yin). When referring to the divine feminine, particularly in Shaktism, Ishvari is often used. More

• 300 volunteers needed to help:
• Compassionate Service Society
• (714) 625-8966
• 420 South Brookhurst Street
• Anaheim, Orange County, CA 92804

MandyKahn.com via PRS.org

• Ven. Heng Der, Ven. Heng Chang (compassheart.com); Ven. Karunananda, Bodhi Mission Vihara, LBC; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Hungry Ghosts Outside the Walls

Wisdom Quarterly translation (Tirokudda Kanda, Petavatthu 1.5)

Beyond the walls they wait and at crossroads
They stand at doorposts returning to their old homes
Long forgotten when fine meals are laid out
The fruits of their karma being borne out

But who sympathizes with departed relatives
Timely offering of wholesome food gives:
"For our ancestors may this be!
May they be well and happy!"

Those ghosts who gather round,
Assembled from the village and town,
With gratitude exclaim "Well done!"

Bless and bring blessings on:

"May our kith and kin live long,
Who provide the gain we've won!
We have been remembered, honored
And donors also gain a great reward!"

From whence they hail there is no harvesting

No cattle, no commerce, no trading
They subsist on what is offered here,
These hungry ghosts who now live in fear

Rainwater rushing down sloping hills
Flows below until the valley fills,
Just so what is donated to the dead
Goes when offered to their benefit instead

As rivers full of water fill the ocean full,
Even so these donations pool
And benefit departed recipients

With great alacrity and expedience

"She gave to me! He acted on my behalf!
My kith, my kin, companions, friends!" --

Offerings should be given for those who've passed
When grateful one reflects on the past

For neither weeping, wailing, nor lament
Benefits those who came and went
Yet well-placed is an offering to the saffron-wreathed,
Which long serves to benefit the deceased

Our dharma, our duty, to them is shown
Greatly honored they we call our own
And the Order has been given strength
No small merit for what is spent

• The Wheel of Life: Suffering and Salvation (kheper.net)

Alternative translation at Hungry Shades Outside the Walls (accesstoinsight.org)

Obon: Utah Buddhists observe festival

Pamela Manson

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - For almost 100 years, Buddhism has been a part of Utah life. And on [7/11/09], the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple commemorated followers who have gone before with its annual Obon festival.

The temple, a Jodo Shinshu sect affiliated with the Buddhist Churches of America, displayed a small plaque for each member who had died in the past year. Flowers decorated the altar and incense was burned as an offering. The festival also included a Taiko drum performance, dancing, and food. The teachings of the sect, whose main temple is in Japan, are designed to help practitioners achieve enlightenment... More>>

Obon named plaques of the deceased displayed in a place of reverence near the "Onaijin" during the period of praying for the repose of the spirits of one's ancestors, 7/11/09 (Scott Sommerdorf/The Salt Lake Tribune).