Rev. Danny Fisher

Just a Buddhist Minister Trying to Benefit Beings

Month: March, 2011

March 28, 2011

A Gift of Dharma for 3.28.11

Sarah HardingToday’s quote is from our friend and former Naropa University prof Lama Sarah Harding. Sarah is a lama in the Shangpa Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, who in 1980, under the supervision of H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, completed the very first three-year retreat ever for westerners. Her published translations include Creation & Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation,Machik’s Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chöd, and the brand new Niguma, Lady of Illusion. She’s also a complete delight, the bee’s knees — one of my favorite people. This is it — from Sarah’s introduction to her translation of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé’s Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of Meditation in Vajrayana, pg. 17:

Esoteric Buddhism is the precious crown jewel of spiritual practice in Tibet, a land once distinguished as a repository of all levels and approaches of Buddhism. The multi-layered complex of philosophical and contemplative practice opens up into a distinct spiritual path for everyone. The vast wealth of eclectic knowledge is the context that supports the profound teaching of tantra, or esoteric Buddhism. These teachings are said to offer a quick and easy way to discover one’s own nature through a variety of curiously effective techniques. The esoteric or secret quality of the tantras, however, is only revealed by direct contact with masters who embody an awakened state of mind. Then the practitioner sees directly the living teaching, and is in turn seen by the guru in his or her unique capacities and needs. It is this relationship that powers the development of spiritual growth. For that reason the direct instructions transmitted within such relationships are the most prized of all the Buddha’s doctrines.

March 28, 2011

Tell Congress to Oppose School Vouchers

This from The Interfaith Alliance:

The House of Representatives will vote this Wednesday on legislation that (if passed) would resurrect the failed Washington, D.C. private school vouchers program — Please take a moment now to ask your Representative to vote against the Scholarships for Opportunity Results (SOAR) Act (H.R. 471)and ensure that federal funds aren’t used to support religious education.

Multiple government studies conducted over the last five years have shown that the program failed to improve the academic achievement of students, and many schools getting funds do not meet basic accountability standards like employing teachers who have at minimum, a bachelor’s degree.

As if the measured lack of success and accountability weren’t enough, roughly 80% of the students receiving the voucher use it to attend religious schools, creating unnecessary entanglement between institutions of religion and government. While there is no doubt that religious schools provide an important service to students and families, they should continue to do so only with private dollars.

Thanks to a compromise worked out last year between President Obama and leaders in Congress, the voucher program is set to be phased out, limiting the funding to cover only the education of students currently receiving vouchers, so that their education would not be disrupted by having to transfer to a new school. But the SOAR Act would negate this compromise and open the program again to receive new students and even moe federal dollars.

This will likely be a very close vote so it is crucial that your Representative in Congress hears from you. Please ask your Representative to oppose the SOAR Act and any other attempts to funnel public tax payer dollars to private religious schools.

Send a message to your representative in Congress here.

2 comments
March 28, 2011

What Meditation Really Is: Khandro Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and More!

Via the fabulous Tanya McGinnity at Full Contact Enlightenment:

Find more at www.youtube.com/user/WhatMeditationIs.

1 comment
March 27, 2011

Association of Soto Zen Buddhists’ Relief Fund for Japan

"A Memorial Ceremony and a Prayer for a Quick Recovery from the Disaster" at Little Tokyo's Zenshuji Soto Mission, Los Angeles, CA, March 20th, 2011. Photo by the author.

This past Sunday, I attended the memorial service at Little Tokyo’s Zenshuji Soto Mission for the victims of the Japanese earthquake and Pacific tsunami. As part of the service, the ministers mentioned efforts to raise money for both relief efforts and devastated Soto temples connected to Zenshuji. Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online printed that appeal today:

Dear Dharma Friends,

There has been an outpouring of support from people around the globe for the victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami disaster that hit northeastern Japan. As you know, this catastrophic disaster has caused untold misery including thousands of deaths and billions of dollars of destruction, including the problem of nuclear radiation escaping from reactors in Fukushima.

We are collecting relief funds at our office in Los Angeles. This money will be sent directly to the Sotoshu Shumucho, the administrative headquarters of the Soto Zen sect in Tokyo. 70% of the money will be given to the Japanese Red Cross Society to aid people who were harmed in the disaster and 30% will be used to aid Soto Zen temples that were destroyed.

We have set up an online payment option through the generous help of the San Francisco Zen Center.  If it is more convenient to pay online, we welcome your support that way.

DONATE

It is still possible to mail checks to us, payable to “Association of Soto Zen Buddhists,” care of our office at:

Soto Zen Buddhism North America Office
123 S. Hewitt St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

All donations are tax deductible.

Many thanks to all the generous people who have donated!

Gassho,

Daigaku Rummé
Director
Soto Zen Buddhism North America Office

March 27, 2011

A Gift of Dharma for 3.27.11

Today’s quote is from our friend and former Naropa University prof Lama Sarah Harding. Sarah is a lama in the Shangpa Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, who in 1980, under the supervision of H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, completed the very first three-year retreat ever for westerners. Her published translations include Creation & Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation, Machik’s Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chöd, and the brand new Niguma, Lady of Illusion. She’s also a complete delight, the bee’s knees — one of my favorite people. This is it — from the introduction to Machik’s Complete Explanation, pg. 22-3.:

It is hard to find the point in time or myth when a regular struggling spiritual aspirant makes the leap over into legend. For women this was an especially rare feat. In Tibetan society, once a woman catapults over the social limitations of gender and comes to occupy a position of strength, the transformation is radical, and she is equally respected without reservation by males and females as the paradigm of enlightenment. We might say that the ideal feminine principle so esteemed in the theoretical underpinnings of Tibetan Buddhism and the real life of women line up, for a change, if only posthumously.

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