Study Group: Online Tendai Buddhism Class

There has been some interest in forming an informal study group that will take a free online class in Tendai Buddhism together. You can find more information on that here. Everyone's welcome to join in!

Retreat Photos...

I posted some photos of our recent retreat at the Tendai Buddhist Institute here, at our facebook page. Enjoy...

Contemplation: Harboring

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

With the mind harboring love and hatred,
and thoughts carrying flattery and crookedness,
one is full of confusion and perplexity,
and cannot enter the citadel of enlightenment.
To return to the realm of enlightenment,
desire, anger, and delusion must first be eliminated.
When attachment to the dharma [of nirvana]
no longer exists in the mind,
one can gradually reach accomplishment.

from The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment, p. 53

Introduction to Practice Night & Potluck: March 3, 2012

With the influx of new people we have had in recent months, it seems appropriate to offer a night of instruction and fellowship for beginners, and experienced people who would like a review.

You can find details on the wheres, whens, and what-to-do's at our Meetup page.

Here are some thoughts on why it matters to practice with others. It is, in our view, the heart of practice.

Contemplation: All Tasks Well Performed

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

When something has been planned and started on,
Attention should not drift to other things.
With thoughts fixed on the chosen target,
That and that alone should be pursued.

Behaving in this way, all tasks are well performed,
And nothing is achieved by doing otherwise.
Afflictions, the reverse of vigilance,
Can never multiply if this is how you act.

Santideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva, p. 68

Issues of Community, Continued

My rather utopian idea yesterday that it might be possible for Buddhist groups of different stripes to organize around a common space in order to build positive connections and save expenses and time in our region has sparked a conversation on cooperation and conversation among sanghas more broadly. Find it here on the DharmaWheel discussion board.

NoVA House of Dharma: It Just Might Work...

What follows is a set of speculations in response to a concrete problem in our region for Buddhists and Buddhist groups. I put it forward in the hope that some good may come of it.

Arlington, Virginia and its surrounding suburbs hosts many Buddhist groups. Several of them, including ours at the moment, rent space in one of three different Unitarian churches; others meet in private homes, or in yoga studios or dance halls or art galleries. We sometimes meet at Starbucks. This is OK as a stopgap measure, but does not offer the benefits of a long-term, stable location that people feel they can count on, and is often not supportive of meditative practice due to distraction and inconsistency. However, if you have fifteen groups of five or ten or twenty meeting once per week, you do not have a core around which building can be purchased or leased. This is where we are now: a thousand flowers are blooming but their future is uncertain in isolation.

One solution would be to organize several of these practice groups around one location, one building that is committed to hosting Dharma activities of many kinds. To give an example of what I am referring to, consider Ekoji in Richmond, Virginia: six or seven sanghas meet at different times under one roof, and share in the upkeep. Speaking practically, this means that a pan-Buddhist community can build up around the temple, there is less confusion in organizing Buddhist activities because people know where to go to find the Buddhists (instead of fussing over the Meetup site to find out if it really is 7:30pm on Tuesdays at the Unitarian Church or...?), and conditions and supports for practice can be improved. Sanghas would not need to compete for space with choir practice or stragglers from the previous yoga class. Instead, they would build the kinds of connections and habits that support Dharma activity. Call it a House of Dharma. The People's Dharma Hall.

So, what is needed? Oh, not much: just a big pot of money, a plan, a leader, a suitable location, and the cooperation of several Buddhist groups in the area. Can these conditions arise at once in a harmonious and productive way? It may not be likely, but it is possible: it can be done.

I would like to know from others if there is any interest in trying.