I have a review of Gregg Eller’s newish documentary Recalling a Buddha: Memories of the Sixteenth Karmapa in the latest issue of The Journal of Religion and Film. You can read it online here. The trailer is below.
Today’s quote is from Geshe Gedün Lodrö, about whom Snow Lion Publications writes:
Geshe Gedün Lodrö (1924-1979) entered Drepung Monastic University near Lhasa at the age of nine as a novice monk. He gained the degree of geshe in 1961 in exile in India as the first among three scholars who were awarded the number one ranking in the highest class. A scholar of prodigious intellect, he was famous for his wide learning and ability in debate. In 1967 the Dalai Lama sent him to teach at the University of Hamburg, where he learned to speak Greman fluently and become a tenured member of the faculty. He served as Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia in 1979.
This is it — one of Snow Lion Publications’ recent Dharma Quotes of the Week:
There is both a reason and a purpose for cultivating the meditative stabilization observing exhalation and inhalation of the breath. The reason is mainly to purify impure motivations. What exactly is to be purified? The main of these are the three poisons–desire, hatred, and obscuration. Even though we have these at all times and even though the meditator will still retain them, she or he is seeking to suppress their manifest functioning at that time. The specific purpose for cleansing impure motivations before meditation is to dispel bad motivations connected with this lifetime, such as having hatred toward enemies, attachment to friends, and so forth.
In terms of the practice I am explaining here, even the thought of a religious practitioner of small capacity is included within impure motivations; such a person engages in practice mainly for the sake of a good future lifetime. Similarly, if on this occasion one has the motivation of a religious practitioner of middling capacity–that of only oneself escaping from cyclic existence, this is also impure.
What is a pure motivation? To take as one’s aim the welfare of all sentient beings. This is the motivation of a religious practitioner of great capacity. Meditators should imagine or manifest their own impure motivation in the form of smoke, and with the exhalation of breath should expel all bad motivation. When inhaling, they should imagine that all the blessings and good qualities of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in the form of bright light, are inhaled into them. This practice is called purification by way of the descent of ambrosia. There are many forms of this purification, but the essence of the practice is as just indicated.
The editors of The New York Times published an editorial recently about President Obama’s executive order to revamp rules and regulations for federally-funded projects involving faith-based and neighborhood organizations. It’s pithy and excellent, pointing out “a glaring omission” that remains to be fixed:
Ignoring one of Mr. Obama’s own important campaign promises, and a large coalition of religious, education and civil rights groups, the new decree fails to draw a firm line barring employment discrimination on the basis of religion. The order leaves untouched a 2007 Justice Department memo that dubiously concluded that the government cannot order religious groups not to discriminate as a condition of federal financing. That memo should have been withdrawn long ago by this administration.
Missing, too, from the new decree are any standards to govern the Justice Department’s promised “case-by-case” review of employment practices by religiously affiliated grantees. It remains unclear how many such reviews have been conducted since Mr. Obama took office, and whether groups that engage in religion-based discrimination are in any real jeopardy of losing money.
Read the rest here.
Many of the changes that were made came as a result of recommendations from the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Regular readers of this blog might remember that a while back, I published an article at the popular website Religion Dispatches about my own concerns with the Council. You can read it here.
This from the European Parliament:
In three resolutions adopted in Strasbourg on Thursday, the European Parliament welcomes the recent release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, strongly condemns the recent attacks on Christian communities in Iraq and urges the Chinese authorities to support a genuine bilingual language policy in Tibet.
Read more here.
The Menris Tradition of Tibetan Thangka Art
Traditional Paintings by the New Generation in ExileThe Menris tradition of thangka art survived in Tibet for centuries until its interruption by the Chinese Communist invasion. Ven. Sangye Yeshi, who fled to India in 1959, revived the tradition at the request of His Holiness Dalai Lama.
Ven. Yeshi passed away in 2009. This long and rich tradition continues through his students and school – the Institute of Tibetan Thangka Art (ITTA) in Dharamsala.
Tibet House US is pleased to display works from Ven. Yeshi’s students, including Tashi Dhargyal – who helped him found the ITTA to ensure a high standard of training for future Menris painters.
The Menris tradition is characterized by clear outlines, strong colors, fine shadings, and its accentuations in gold. This exhibition offers a glimpse of classical thangka art persevered by a new generation of students.
