I’ve made some changes to the blog, and I hope you’ll look around and let us know what you think. There are little tweaks everywhere, but make sure to check out the newly expanded “Bio” page and the brand new “Teachers” page.
Today’s quote comes to us from the much-beloved Tibetan yogi Shabkar Tsodruk Rangdrol (1781-1851).
Born in Tibet’s Amdo province, the vivacious young Shabkar received instuction at a young age from a lama who encouraged him to emulate the example of the Tibetan saint Jetsun Milarepa. Shabkar subsequently undertook retreat as well as traditional study in a monastery. He was ordained at age twenty, but, after visiting with an illustrious teacher in Mongolia, was encouraged again toward hermit life.
First a hermit, and then later a wandering ascetic with disciples, Shabkar is renowned for his dohas (or, songs of realization) as well as his reverence for all life. Often compared to Saint Francis, he was a rare vegetarian in the pantheon of Tibet’s greatest Buddhist teachers.
Some of Shabkar’s teachings have been translated into English, including Matthieu Ricard’s translations of The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin and Rainbows Appear: Tibetan Poems of Shabkar, and the Padmakara Translation Group’s Food of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings on Abstaining from Meat.
Shabkar’s life and teachings have also inspired the non-profit Shabkar.Org, which is “dedicated to [promoting] vegetarianism as a Buddhist way of life.” Speaking about their namesake, the organizers quote the Padmakara Translation Group, “Shabkar’s attitude toward the different schools of Tibetan Buddhism was unclouded by even the slightest trace of sectarian bias. No doubt this was due primarily to his free and independent lifestyle, uncomplicated by institutional allegiances or dependence on benefactors… The Dharma was for him a matter of personal insight and training, not of allegiance to a school. He loved the Buddha’s teaching in all its manifestations, and his attitude to all traditions was one of unfeigned devotion.”
Here’s the quote, from Ricard’s Rainbows Appear: Tibetan Poems of Shabkar:
See how, shaped by the excellence of the path,
I walk now without effort
toward the Buddha state.
I dance, I sing, I play!
This from our dear friend Alisa Roadcup at the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions: As part of a series of articles in preparation for the upcoming Parliament in Melbourne, the Council is currently featuring a piece by our other dear friend and past interviewee, Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D. The article, entitled “Commitment and Openness: A Contemplative Approach to Pluralism”, can be found online here. Give it a read–you’ll be glad you did. Here’s one pearl from Judith that stood out to me:
Frankly, engaging with pluralism is necessary for our very path, for spiritual development for ourselves and for the world. The contemplative path cannot be insular. We must be open to all the varieties of the world, to be touched by what we encounter, and to be transformed. When we draw a rigid boundary around ourselves, our contemplative development is over. When we encounter the “other,” that which we have ignored, excluded, or just not known, we have the capacity to question our conventional minds, to expand our horizons, and to go deep. The “other” is our greatest teacher, our guru. The contemplative, I would submit, needs pluralism in order to remain authentic.
For more goodies and other things Parliament-related, keep a close eye on http://www.parliamentofreligions.org.
Be sure to check out Tricycle: The Buddhist Review‘s cool new webpage on resources for Shin Buddhism, and suggest some of your own!
