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A Great Bodhi Day (Rohatsu) Message.

One of the reasons that I refer to the month of December as, "the holidays" in America is because it's so much more than Christmas. The Jews celebrate Chanukkah, the Muslims Ashura and many African-Americans celebrate Kwanzaa. And, for Buddhists we celebrate the enlightenment of Buddha on this day, December 8th. In honor of his endeavor, many Buddhists spend the day or month in meditation and honor his memory through acts of kindness. Often meat eating Buddhists will buy and release an animal that was in captivity--usually fish.

For this year, I found a great little piece by Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara. It is a great angle on how modern day, average Buddhists can take a moment to celebrate/honor the day despite a hectic schedule and life:

The legend says that as he gazed at the morning star, he said, "How marvelous, I, the great earth, and all beings are naturally and simultaneously awakened." This phrase teaches us the great lesson of interdependence, that we are not separate from all that is, but rather we are interconnected, a piece of the grand whole of the universe. And at the same time, this very piece, this "I" sitting here is an integral and vital component of the whole. When we take care of this "I", we can take care of the whole universe. So, even if we cannot devote a week or a full night but are only able to meditate for a few minutes on Bodhi Day, it can be a reminder of the wisdom that is naturally available to us, the wisdom of cultivating our minds and recognizing our relation to the whole.

James: Each year, on Bodhi day, I sit and picture all the Buddhists in the world and imagine us all together in one place, sitting united to awaken to peace in oneself, and peace in the world as Thich Nhat Hanh says. Then I broaden that picture to include the world and imagine people seeing us all sitting. Then watching them gravitate toward that peaceful energy to just sit with us, regardless of religion; to simply enjoy that moment--together, as a world, as a species, as a planet. It always makes me smile and recharges me for the new year. So, to you, dear reader; I wish you a peaceful Bodhi day and Happy New Year.

~Peace to all beings~

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The Buddhist Blog Honored with Award Nominations.

Wow. The 2010 Blogisattva Award nominations have been announced and The Buddhist Blog has been honored. The blog was nominated in three categories: Best Engage-the-World Blog, Best Achievement in Kind and Compassionate Blogging and Best "Life" Blog. The blog also received honorable mentions in other, categories: Best Achievement Blogging Opinion Pieces or Political Issues, Best Blogging on Matters Philosophical, Psychological or Scientific and Best Blog of the Year!!

I know that some of you nominated the blog for these nominations and I am humbled by your appreciation. You, and the Blogisattva Awards committee honor the blog greatly and I will use this positive energy toward keeping the voice of the reclusive Buddhist alive. Perhaps the boring side of the blog is that I write mainly because it aids my practice but it also is a labor of love in honor of the Dharma. It is a testament of how amazingly beneficial Buddha's teachings are to humanity. I credit the Dharma in being the catalyst to helping me emerge from a very dark, angry and self-destructive life-pattern that I was on before.

It is fitting perhaps that these honors come on a day when we recognize the enlightenment of Buddha (Bodhi Day) and the priceless gift that he bestowed upon all humanity. None of us would be benefiting from the Dharma without his self-sacrifice. After his great awakening (or, enlightenment), he could have wandered off into the mountains to live out the rest of his last incarnation before merging into parinirvana. Instead he chose to share the path he realized with the world and we are his heirs.

But I digress. Buddhism has been a great help in reducing the symptoms of my psychiatric condition and that is another reason that I write. To show others that Buddhism can be of great benefit to the restless mind wrapped up in psychiatric turmoil. The Dharma has been like another medication but one without negative side effects. So, any recognition that I am honored with must be given back to Buddha and those who honored me with these nominations. I cherish my readers as friends and family. It is my hope that this new year will bring greater acceptance of online interaction in the Buddhism community at-large.

Whether the blog actually "wins" any awards is secondary to what I have gained through interacting with all of you. You have truly enriched my life and I look forward to our interactions each day. May this next year be a wonderful year for Buddhist blogging. There are a lot of great blogs out there that keep the online Buddhist community going and I am forever honored to be mentioned alongside them all. Be sure to check them out!! Thank-you, again for the humbling honor that you have shown. Here's to a new year!!

P.S. - It's hard to sound honored without coming across as cliche but I really, really mean what I wrote. Every word. Thanks again to the judges and everyone else at The Blogisattva Awards.

~Peace to all beings~

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Samsara: In a Bag!!

As a guy who breaks out in hives at the very thought of shopping, I don't have a problem equating samsara with handbags/purses and/or shopping!! However, I think the makers of Samsara handbags weren't thinking of torment and suffering when they set out to market their product. Sadly, their research department left them, "holding the bag" so to speak (Sorry, about the pun; I couldn't resist. If you're wondering what "holding the bag" means, just click here for an explanation). That's because according to the products website, "Matt and Nat" the phrase samsara is Sanskrit for "rebirth."

This, however, is only partially true. I'm not an expert on Sanskrit but what I believe the term Samsara means something along the lines of "perpetual flow." Meaning, the cycle of life, death, rebirth. Taken by itself, the idea of "renewal" after death can sound appealing but Buddhist teachings go deeper with the concept by showing that this cycle isn't something to desire. It's like a roller coaster that looks like a good time at an amusement park but once you get on it you find out that the coaster has no brakes!! The fun would disappear like a fart in the wind after about the 3rd, 4th or 10th time you vomited from the endless looping. And by the 1 millionth time it would become full-blown torture right out of the Medieval period.

That's, true samsara. Yes, rebirth is apart of it but rebirth isn't the ideal because it's only a brief respite. Once you are born again you're plopped right back into the same mess of greed, desire, delusion and suffering that was there in the last lifetime. So, rebirth is less of a goal than it is a "do-over" card. It's like the teacher saying you failed a course but the good news is that you get to retake it. It's nice that you get another chance, but do you really want to spend the rest of eternity retaking that same course? So, in Buddhism samsara is something to free ourselves from--not desire. We practice Buddhism to liberate ourselves from the consequences of our past karma that keeps us locked into the incessant cycle.

As with many fashion products, the makers of this handbag are looking to cash in on the latest fad in pop-culture; to incorporate anything Buddhist into marketing a product. I'm sure they mean well but the cynic in me has to chuckle a bit at the idea of using the phrase "samsara" to sell products that don't bring lasting happiness; and thus, keep us locked in samsara!!

At least they are donating some of the money to charity; and it is made from non-leather products. But, overall this handbag is a good reminder to how the desiring mind feeds off of marketing signals in our modern consumer culture. How many times have we bought something that just sounded essential to our wardrobe or lifestyle, yet realized a bit later that the product no longer satisfies us? The longer time passes we realize that we have too much stuff!! At that point the mind feels frustration on how to get rid of it!! Thus, the cycle of suffering from materialism continues. I'm certainly no saint when it comes to materialism. I try to be conscious in my purchases but I don't always resist that urge to splurge. Still, it's worth trying because over-consumption can lead to a nasty hangover.

P.S. - Yes, I do see the irony that in raising this topic I'm giving this company free advertising and thus propelling consumerism. However, the only people that can avoid total consumption are monks in monasteries. Yet, even then they still have to buy things for up-keep of the monastery. So, I think the key is to be conscious of what we buy and learn not to attach to those products; because clearly we can't live in this world and never buy anything.

PHOTO CREDIT: Matt and Nat

~Peace to all beings~

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Irony.

James: I know karma doesn't necessarily work this way, but this sure is ironic:

Bernard Matthews, known in Britain as the 'turkey tycoon,' died on Thursday [Thanksgiving, when many Americans eat turkey and give thanks for things in their life] at the age of 80, his company said. "He is the man who effectively put turkey on the plates of everyday working families."

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