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 MARCH, 2011
Greetings!
With winter snow deep around us, it is tempting to settle into a sedentary mode. Lounging by the fire and losing ourselves in Lama Marut's now famous "couch potato contemplation," or envisioning a Buddha paradise, is a fine way to end the day. But we don't want to let winter send us into a complete slumber! It's time instead to set our practice on fire, to propel our bodies into motion. Welcome to the March issue of Exploring the Path. Our theme this month is sacred movement. Sacred movement such as yoga is often seen in Western culture as a purely physical practice, but in Buddhism it is deeply linked with meditation and spiritual progress on the path. But how does sacred movement really help us? Can we do yoga if we can't attain those challenging poses? And what about other kinds of physical practices such as Tai Chi, walking meditation, hand mudras, or even twirling on the debate ground? How do these relate to training our minds and making the teachings our own? In this issue we offer insights about working with inner and outer methods, using mind and body together to take our practice to a deeper level. Here you'll discover how to make sacred movement a part of your daily practice.
With love,
Elizabeth Toulan, Editor-in-Chief
Anne Meyer, Publisher
Stacey Fisher, Assistant Publisher
Barbara Simundza, Creative Director
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SPIRITUAL MATTERS
YOU HAVE TO MOVE SOME ENERGY IF YOU WANT TO GET ENLIGHTENED! Based on an interview with Dr. Pat O'Brien
Director, ACI-Cape Ann Yoga Program
Yoga is the end game: the evolution of our consciousness to pure
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Lama Patti O'Brien
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awareness. Most people don't realize that physical yoga (Hatha yoga) was created by the forest dwellers of ancient India to allow them to sit in meditation (Raja Yoga) for extended periods of time. These saintly forest dwellers, known as Rishis, discovered that sitting for long periods without the benefit of a physical practice blocked the flow of energy, allowed toxins to build up, and made their bodies stiff and uncomfortable. So, the Rishis developed asanas, or physical yoga poses, to purify and release toxins and move energy. The reason so many yoga poses are named for animals is that the Rishis studied closely the movement of animals in the forest to create their poses.
In order to purify the mind, the body must be purified. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a classic Sanskrit manual on Hatha Yoga, explains that Hatha Yoga was created for the purpose of Raja yoga, or meditation, and describes how to move energy and purify the body during asana and meditation practice, explaining in detail the movement of energy and the purification of nadis (channels) using kriyas, pranayama, bandhas and mudras. Practicing Hatha yoga can create absolute balance of the physical body, mind and energy, by moving energy.
The most comprehensive text on yoga, the Yoga Sutras, was compiled by the great Hindu author Master Pantanjali over five thousand years ago. In the Yoga Sutras, Master Pantanjali describes the eight limbs or steps of yoga. The first two steps concern ethics, or how we use our energy in relation to others and ourselves. These practices are called the yamas and niyamas. The yamas are non-violence, honesty, non-covetousness, sexual purity, and non-possessiveness; the niyamas are cleanliness of body and mind, contentment, austerity of body and mind, study of scripture and surrender to the divine. The third step of yoga is our physical or asana practice, the fourth, controlling the breath, and the fifth, withdrawing the senses from external objects. The first five steps allow us to quiet the mind for the last three, all of which focus on increasingly deeper levels of meditation. We can move a lot of energy in meditation. If we don't understand the power of these practices, we can get into trouble. We have to learn how our subtle body works. For these reasons, instructors at the Vajramudra Center carefully incorporate yoga philosophy and techniques in the poses we teach in all of our classes, including those for beginners.
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Lama Pat's Yoga Class
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To arrive at yoga or pure awareness requires that we practice the eight steps of yoga as outlined by Master Pantanjali. By practicing the eight steps we can move stuck energy. We can clear and purify our channels, remove obstacles and eventually get energy or prana into the central channel, which is necessary to reach enlightenment. To move our energy into the central channel we need to move it out of our side channels, where we store all ignorant liking and disliking. Using certain breathing techniques (prana yama) while holding our bandhas (uddiyanna or belly in and up; mulabandha or pelvic floor up; and jhalandara or throat) we can move energy into our central channel or sushumna. When our prana is in sushumna, when the left, right and middle channels are all together, kundlini shakti (energy) is released, travels up sushumna, through the chakras, and to the ajna (middle eye) chakra. Once the shakti moves from the ajna chakra to sahasrara chakra (top of the head) that's yoga, that's enlightenment, pure consciousness.
Whether we're on the cushion or the mat, whether we're practicing asanas or meditating, as long as we are present, we are moving toward enlightenment - and it's all sacred. The more we are able to focus on the sacred in our practice, the more sacred it is. Any time we're practicing mindfulness, any time we're practicing "just being," rather than "doing," we're engaged in sacred activity. And any activity we do while being mindful is sacred movement. It is being in the joy of the moment, accepting all that is with compassion. Just be here, accept what comes up. Be aware and awake in the moment.
When we start practicing mindfulness, our awareness grows. Eventually, the mind becomes like the lens of a camera; as we focus it, our awareness becomes clearer. We are able to see how the mind itself causes us anguish and suffering. Most of us are really shocked to discover that the way we perceive the world comes from our minds and that our own minds, therefore, cause us so much suffering. This discovery gives us a lot of responsibility, but also makes life easier since we are in control and can change our minds! Modern science affirms this.
As we practice physical yoga and meditation we can allow ourselves to surrender ultimately to our higher selves, our inner divinity, the potential Buddha within, to arrive at pure awareness.
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IN THE LOOP
DHARMA FLICK: In Search of Kundun  with Martin Scorsese
Saturday, March 19th at 6:30pm Vajramudra Center Rick Blue will host a screening of the film followed by a Q&A session. Rick edited this powerful documentary based on Martin Scorsese's film about His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. For further information about "In Search of Kundun," please visit buddhistfilmfoundation.org ________
LECTURE, Photography and Fundraising Thursday, March 10 at 7pm the Bookstore of Gloucester  | |
Charlee at Tibetan Transit School, Dharamsal
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Charliee Bianchini, fourth generation Gloucester resident, graduate of Skidmore college and scholar of Tibetan studies and Buddhism, is trying to create a school in Dharamsala, India, that will offer alternative learning skills to those who cannot receive a full education. The school(s)will have a technology center so that workshops can take place over SKYPE, allowing students to have access to teachers all over the world. Charlee's goal is to begin work withthe Tibetan Transit School (TTS) and Tibet Children's Village (TCV). Her team consists of Americans and Tibetans, one of whom, Tenzin Choeying, was in charge of Students for a Free Tibet, India chapter. To raise money for the Centers, Charlee is selling a series of photographs she took in Tibet, India, and Bhutan. The photos will be on display at the Bookstore of Gloucester, 61 Main St, until the end of March. A lecture by her at the Bookstore will include a brief history of Tibet and Tibetans in Exile, a look at their situation today, and a description of her project. The lecture will be held at 7pm on March 10th, the anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight from the Chinese army. ________
FILM SCREENING: Race To Nowhere Tuesday, March 8, 7-9 PM Rose Performance Hall, Endicott College, Beverly, MA $10.00 in advance, $15.00 at the door http://rtnconsone.eventbrite.com or by calling 925.310.4242 As we care for the welfare of others, we open our hearts and guide ourselves toward true, lasting happiness. Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren't developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what's best for their kids, "Race to Nowhere" points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. "Race to Nowhere" is a call to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens. "We all have to get off this treadmill together," says the author and adolescent-medicine specialist Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg. For further information about "Race to Nowhere," please visit racetonowhere.com
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TAKING IT TO THE STREET
SACRED MOVEMENT  | |
Lama Bob Teaching
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Sacred movement is any movement that helps to make you happier and to bring you closer to the goal of being permanently free of your mental afflictions. Amental affliction, klesha in Sanskrit, is anything that disturbs your peace of mind.
That may sound like a lot to expect from twisting into a pose on a Yoga mat, gently swaying around in a tai chi class, doing ballet, or jogging, to name a few of the forms we may be familiar with. Right away we see some apparent discrepancies between this definition and what we see many practitioners doing. Often we see people pushing themselves to the point where their faces are grimaced, their bodies ache, and their breath is heaving and coming in fits. And they certainly don't look happier. It is said that how happy we are is a good gauge of how well we are doing with our spiritual practice.
If our only motivation is to get more limber or have a good cardio workout then... yes, stopping our kleshas would be too much to expect. In fact, Lama Marut says that if we go to a yoga class without a good mental attitude, after being in class for an hour-and-a-half we will only be an hour-and-a-half older. And that's the best-case scenario.
When we talk about sacred movement we are really talking about a subtle body practice. There is a lot more happening with the subtle body than most people are aware of. It's a lot like playing with fire and it can be very easy to get burned if we are not careful. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, yoga-related injuries reported in 2007 resulted in costs of approximately $108 million. How can a practice we undertake to make us feel better and healthier cause so much pain?
A real yoga practice has eight main components. In the Yoga Sutra they are called the eight limbs. This is where we get the Sanskrit word ashtanga: ashta (eight) + anga (limb). Only one of the limbs, asana, is related to the poses. The other seven are related to meditation, wisdom, and how we treat others. Only by understanding and practicing what Lama Marut calls "the whole enchilada yoga" can we truly protect ourselves from injury and achieve lasting happiness. And by understanding and practicing real yoga we can in turn make any movement we do sacred movement.
Just as we accept that electricity flows to a lamp, even though we have never seen it, we can come to understand the subtle energy flowing inside our bodies, called the inner winds, even though we cannot see them. These winds are also known as prana (Sanskrit), lung (Tibetan), chi (Chinese). And as we use wires to direct the flow of the electricity within them, we learn to use our outer physical body to help direct the flow of the inner winds. By understanding how to direct these winds we can effect powerful changes in how we understand and see the world around us.
In Tibetan there is a saying: "CHI NANG TABLA TSOWAR BE," which means we must use both inner and outer methods to reach our goal. When we practice spiritual movement and we twist our body we are literally twisting our ignorance out. This is why we feel better after doing sacred movement.
- Bob Arnold
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Tai Chi Class
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HOW WE MOVE
Years ago at Shakespeare & Company I took a dance class with the choreographer John Broome. "I suppose you think," he said to the twenty or so of us, "that the corps de ballet stands on stage counting down to the moment when they all turn. They don't. They just all turn together, the way birds or fish do. I want you all to stand in a line, and then I want you all to turn right at the same time." We did.
Why are we able to survive on our highways? Is it because we make good, or at least adequate, decisions about how fast to drive or where to turn, when to pass or which lane we should be in? Then of course there are the other drivers on the road who make the wrong decisions and I have to be extra alert to stay out of their way. What if on the contrary we are like buffalo or mustangs, sweeping across the plains and never, or almost never, tripping each other up no matter the terrain, the speed, or the crowds?
My grandson Chief and I have spent many hours at the New England Aquarium watching the fish swim around the big central tank. We also visited the Virtual FishTank® at the Museum of Science where "a few simple choices result in complex behaviors and patterns for a whole group of fish." Is this ability we have to move together, to play complex games, to survive - most of the time - on our highways a result of our living in complex systems in which patterns of movement emerge while most of the time we have our eyes open only to the linear patterns in front of us? When I move, without planning or deciding or figuring out, I find myself in a dance with others around me, with the creatures around me, at times even, it seems, with all of creation.
- Beebe Nelson
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Northern Exposure Oil on Canvas by Anna Vojtech
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CATCHING UP WITH GAVIN
Exploring the Path Interviews a Happiness Hour Regular, almost age 6
ETP: Gavin, our readers would like to know about the cool moves you get to do at Happiness Hour on Sundays. What's your favorite?
Gavin: The shoulder stand. It's a yoga pose.
ETP: Wow! How do you do that?
Gavin: You sit down, go backwards ... you're not gonna flip over ... then you hold the back of your hips, and you stick your feet up in the air, that's how you really do it.
ETP: So, can you hold the shoulder stand without any help, without leaning against the wall?
Gavin: Yes!
ETP: Wow! Way to go! Who taught you how to do the shoulder stand?
Gavin: Lama Bob. I sometimes get to stand right next to Lama Bob to show other people the moves I know.
ETP: That's cool. What other poses do you like to practice? Gavin: The crow!  | |
Gavin doing crow pose
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ETP: Can you describe how you get into the crow pose?
Gavin: You hold yourself with your hands, you bend your knees and balance on your hands. Lama Bob is better than me at the crow, because he does more practice.I can only do the crow for like a second and then I fall!
ETP: What helps you with your crow pose?
Gavin: Lama Bob says squeeze your arms to your knees, to your legs.
ETP: What other exercises do you know from Happiness Hour?
Gavin: If your neck hurts, or you need to loosen it up, you can let your head go around your shoulders and stuff.
ETP: Thanks Gavin. I'm going to remember that move the next time my neck hurts. So, Gavin, what's your favorite activity at Happiness Hour?
Gavin: Snack time, because we have yummy snacks and stuff, and the kids get to play.
ETP: Well, before we sign off, is there anything else you want to share about Happiness Hour?
Gavin: One time Lama Jesse wrote a star on the board because I was doing so well. It's fun. Sometimes I don't want to go and other times I do.I really like it when the Meyers go, I really like them. The biggest brother is Oliver and the big sister is Delilah, and the youngest brother is Carl. Carl is in kindergarten with me.
ETP: Thank Gavin! I'll look forward to seeing you and all the other kids at Happiness Hour soon. Maybe you can teach me how to do the crow pose! |
EVENTS
The Links of Dependent Origination
With special guest teacher Camilo Cerro
Friday, March 4, 7 - 10pm; Saturday, March 5, 7 - 10pm; Sunday, March 6, 12:30 - 3pm
Meditation Classes with Camilo:
Friday, March 4, 5:30 - 6:30pm & Saturday, March 5, 3:30 - 4:30pm
--------- Freedom Vows, Refuge Commitments and The Book with Mary Kay Dyer Sundays, March 13 & 20, 1 - 3pm --------- One + Three = Two · The Magic Of Third-Party Karma With Lindsay Crouse & Rick Blue Friday, March 18 and Sunday, March 20, 7 - 9:30pm --------- Dharma Flick and Q&A Session with the film's editor Rick Blue "In Search of Kundun with Martin Scorsese" Saturday, March 19, 6:30pm, at the Vajramudra Center --------- Mahamudra - A Meditation Course with Jesse Fallon Weekly class. March 23 - May 18. Please visit aci-capeann.org for details and registration info. --------- Je Tsongkapa Retreat with Jesse Fallon Friday, April 1st at 7pm through Sunday, April 3rd at 4pm ---------
Buddhist Refuge: ACI 2 with Mary Kay Dyer Mondays, 7:30 - 9:30pm: Jan. 31 - April 4 ---------- The Great Ideas of Buddhism, Part 3: Asian Classics Formal Review Course 18 with Jesse Fallon Wednesdays, 7 - 9pm: Feb. 9, 16, 23; March 2, 9 Saturdays 1 - 3pm: Feb. 12, 19, 26; March 5, 12 ---------- Weekly Meditation, Yoga, Discussion, Debate and Family Offerings with a variety of wonderful teachers. Visit aci-capeann.org for more information.
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REBOOT...RETREAT
JE TSONGKAPA RETREAT WITH JESSE FALLON Friday, April 1st at 7pm through Sunday, April 3rd at 4pm
A Friday night through Sunday afternoon silent retreat to:
- learn how to do solitary retreats on your own
- learn the Thousand Angels of the Heaven of Bliss (ganden hlagyama) Guru Yoga practice of Je Tsongkapa
- receive teachings on the 6 Perfections of Mahayana Buddhism
Participants will all stay overnight, on-site at ACI-Cape Ann's retreat house in Rockport, from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon in a silent retreat setting, with teachings by Jesse Fallon. The retreat is open to all who are interested in coming.
Participants are required to attend a preparatory meeting at the Vajramudra Center on Sunday, March 27, 6:30 - 8:30pm.
Registration and attendance at the preparatory meeting are both mandatory. Email register@aci-capeann.org or call (978) 381-9224 by March 13. Please let us know when you register whether or not you have done a guided Je Tsongkapa retreat before.
There will be a per person charge for retreat lodging and food. After your registration is confirmed, you will be contacted with details of how to make payment. If someone would like to come but honestly cannot afford the retreat, please contact the teacher at jessefallon@aci-capeann.org. Texts will be provided by the teacher.
A second retreat weekend may be held on April 15 - 17, if there is sufficient demand and interest. For more information on ACI-Cape Ann classes and events, visit aci-capeann.org
LOOK AHEAD TO THE SUMMER RETREAT August 16-21, 2011  | | Lamas Rick Blue and Lindsay Crouse |
The subject of this year's retreat is freedom, and Lama Marut asks:
FREEDOM - from what to what?
What does he mean by "freedom from"?
Not freedom from domination, but freedom from doing harm. Not freedom from constant stress, but freedom from being driven. Not freedom from bad people, but freedom from what we imagine. Not freedom from outside pressure, but freedom from getting our way. If we could ever be free from these, we'd have peace of mind.
What is "freedom to"?
Not freedom to harden and escape but freedom to open and let go. Not freedom to struggle and compete, but freedom to admire and accept. Not freedom to conquer and crush, but freedom to honor and serve. Not freedom to tear apart, but freedom to make whole. If we were free to think this way, we'd be supremely happy.
- Lindsay Crouse
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DHARMA ARTS
POEM WRITTEN AT THE SILENCE RETREAT, August 2010
A diamond sparkled on the grass
Near where I sat. I wondered
Should I pick it up, put it in my pocket, make it mine
Or leave it for another?
Looking away, I supposed the sun
Would have dried my diamond. But no.
As I looked back there were now four,
Sparkling in rays of white, blue, gold
And all over the field I saw diamonds by the hundred
As my birds flew up and over
Making perfect arcs of triumph
Above the sparkling green.
- Beebe Nelson
WATERCOLOR  | | En route to Montezuma · Watercolor · Jillian Demeri |
I am trying to capture this woman walking along the road and do not want to miss the chance. I rely upon the brush, using its very edge for the lined detail and its breadth for broad areas of color and form. I approach watercolors as calligraphy moving from left to right. I find the beauty of making art to be the feeling that something beyond my limited self is directing me. All I need to do is give my fullest attention, listen to the cues I hear, and trust in the flow.
- Jillian Demeri (ACI-Cape Ann's newest yoga teacher)
BOOK REVIEW Cave in the Snow: Tenzin Palmo's Quest for Enlightenment
by Vicki Mackenzie
Tenzin Palmo, brought up with weekly séances, saw people levitating and flying around the room. Meeting a Buddhist, she finds the Buddhist Society, founded by Christmas Humphrey, in a London telephone book. It is the time of Carl Jung and Suzuki.
Palmo reads the life of Milarepa, involved with black arts; and first known as a thief and murderer. His Master instructs him to build a stone tower, which he built and tore down fifteen times until it was right. Becoming a great Buddhist master, Milarepa's lineage continues with Tilopa, Marpa, Naropa and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who became Tenzin's first teacher, until he left to found the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Palmo then studies with Sogyal Rinpoche, who wrote The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Told to go to India, she is introduced to Khamtrul Rinpoche, knowing immediately that he is her Heart Lama, instructing her, and finally directing her, to Lahoul, in the Himalayas. Palmo finds the Nun's monastery noisy, with chatter and rooftop gatherings. She asks for a place of quiet; the nuns know of a cave, so at age thirty-three Palmo takes up residence in a cave where she studies and meditates for twelve years. Her garden: flowers; her food: potatoes and turnips.
Anguished by the patriarchal monks, who pray so as not to be born in a female body, Palmo is reinforced by the female deity Tara, and Yeshe Tzogyel, 757 A.D. , (spiritual partner to Padham Sambava who brought Tibetan Buddhism to Tibet), Vajrayogini independent (without a consort) and fifty female deities. Palmo endures winter conditions in a cold, harsh, remote, rock-strewn part of the world, digging her way out of the Snow Cave three times with a pot cover. This is Palmo - searching for nirvana and enlightenment for herself as well as for other living beings. Her experience is a limitless conquest of her mind and body, achieving the non-dual emptiness of her essence and true nature.
Out of her cave, when asked what she likes to do, Tenzin says: "I like to sit and meditate. There is nothing else!"
My favorite quote: "The more you realize, the more you realize there is nothing to realize. The idea that there's somewhere we have to get to, and something we have to attain is our basic delusion; who is there to attain it anyway!"
What is enlightenment but the heart knowing!
- Elizabeth Enfield
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DID YOU KNOW?
Eight Limbs of Yoga - Ashtanga Yoga 1) Yama - Self-control, restraint 2) Niyama - Commitments 3) Asana - Physical poses 4) Pranayama - Controlling the breath 5) Pratyahara - Withdrawal of the senses 6) Dharana - Focus 7) Dhyana - Fixation 8) Samadhi - Perfect meditation All translations are from Yoga Studies Institute, Classics of Yoga Course 2, Answer Key, Class Six, except for the second translation for (1) "restraint" which comes from Lama Marut's "Foundations of Yoga" Reading.
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SEND IT IN!
This newsletter is by and for our community. We welcome submissions - art work, movie or book reviews, dharma quotes, experiences on the cushion and on the street, dharma in the media, insights and ideas. We encounter teachers and opportunities to practice in the most unlikely places! So share it!
Upcoming Exploring the Path Themes! To encourage all of you to create content for our upcoming newsletters, we are letting you in on the secret! Here are the themes for the next few months:
April: Interfaith Teachings
May: Beauty
June: Family and Friends
Please send your submissions for the April issue to: explorethepath@aci-capeann.org by March 15, 2011.
Please provide full citations if submitting any copyrighted material (including the URL for graphics licensed under Creative Commons) and obtain permissions if using anything requiring permissions.
By submitting your work and your ideas you are giving EXPLORING THE PATH permission to publish them in this newsletter.
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THANK YOU FOR VIEWING OUR NEWSLETTER!
Questions or comments on our newsletter? Send them to explorethepath@aci-capeann.org
For more information about activities at the Vajramudra Center, please visit aci-capeann.orgIf you have questions of a spiritual nature or want to request a meeting with our Spiritual Advisor, Jesse Fallon, please email him at spiritualquestions@aci-capeann.org |
n o s t o p p i n g u n t i l e v e r y o n e i s h a p p y !
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