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MAY, 2011

Greetings!  

 

Welcome to the May issue of Exploring the Path. Our theme this month is beauty.   

 

In our culture, we tend to associate beauty with something perfect, rare, and fleeting: the sunset, a rose, the soft face of a newborn. We want to grasp the beautiful and hold it forever. And we suffer loss when a moment later it changes. But being on the Buddhist

Fading Roses_am

Oh, this is the joy of the rose:

That it blows,

And goes.

-Willa Cather

path leads us to rethink traditional views.

 

A mind so oriented can find beauty where it might be least

expected. To quote Gina Sharpe: "Beauty comes from having a mind that is capable of seeing things just as they are in the moment and being able to repose in that. And, of course, it's constantly changing.1"

 

You could say that change itself creates continuous opportunities to see beauty anew. In the 11th century, Izumi Skikibu wrote:

 

Although the wind

Blows terribly here,

the moonlight also leaks

between the roofplanks

of this ruined house.2

 

Our contributors remind us that one side of our practice is cultivating our minds to see beauty in what is. Another side is striving for perfection. Are these contradictory? Or are they just another expression for Lama Marut's advice: "work hard, and relax.?"   


Special thanks to our guest author, Eva Natanya for offering our Spiritual Matters column. 

 

With love,


Anne Meyer
Stacey Fisher 

Elizabeth Toulan
Barbara Simundza   

 

1.     The Beautiful Mind: A Conversation with Gina Sharpe. Tracey Cochran. Parabola: Winter 2010, page 27

2.     This Ruined House: A meditation on Beauty. Joyce Kornblatt, Parabola: Winter, 2010-2011, page 59


Back to Contents
ContentsContents

Welcome

Spiritual Matters

Dharma Arts

Taking It to the Street

In the Loop

Quick Lnks

ACI-Cape Ann

LamaMarut.org

2011 Summer Retreat 
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Wave AM

SpiritualMattersSPIRITUAL MATTERS

 

Beauty
 
 
A needle of light so bright

It will break your heart

As iridescent radiance strikes

The infinitesimal pathways

Of heaven's bouquet

 

The spray of a pine branch

In sunlight:

How could one simple shape

Be so beautiful?

 

The most ephemeral of philosophical categories, it seems to me, beauty is never so much "in the thing" as it is a state of mind. Throughout my life, the quest for beauty has been almost inseparable from the search for divinity -- insatiable longing for an ultimate answer to the question that any deep experience of beauty must eventually pose: Why?

 

Why do I see this sunset as beautiful? Why is it there at all? Why am I able to see it? Can the cows or the birds appreciate its magnificence? Is it suffering when it ends -- or when the perfect experience I wanted to have is marred by distraction, personal discomfort, or an argument following on its heels? Why does it hurt so much when I long for beauty to return and cannot find it anywhere?

 

If we can cultivate the state of mind that seeks beauty, and is able to appreciate it in all sorts of circumstances, such serious questions will naturally follow. And as we know, such inquiry becomes a perfect door to the path of spiritual growth. To learn to pursue the heavy philosophical questions like "What does it mean for something to be real?", "How does the eye see?" or "What makes my perceptions different from someone else's?" we need to have something we care about enough to want to analyze it in such a deep way. 

Nada_from Eva

From Nada Hermitage, Southern Colorado


Most of the time, people start along the spiritual path because of some raw experience of suffering, and it is that experience which becomes the catalyst for intense questioning. But it seems to me that unless we also have had some profound experience of beauty in our lives, it will be very hard to know what we are working towards when we say that we long for a perfect kind of existence -- enlightenment, or paradise. And once we are on the path, it will become crucial to understand how to cultivate or increase our capacity for tasting beauty, because it is precisely that kind of experience which we want to create more of in the world, both for ourselves and others. But if we don't understand how to experience it properly when it does arise, how can we hope to understand its true nature, much less know how to give it away to others in boundless quantities?

 

Actually, all the qualities that make us intensely attracted to beautiful things in our outer world are precisely the qualities that enable us to develop a strong state of focused concentration. When one of the senses (sight, hearing, taste, etc.) is drawn to an object it deems "beautiful," then almost invariably we will have a state of mind that is bright, sharp, clear, focused, and content - the very things we strive for on the meditation cushion! The trouble is that usually, in our untrained experience at least, those qualities don't last very long.

 

In fact, which usually wears out first, a really beautiful experience, or your capacity to concentrate on it fully enough to really enjoy it? Try watching yourself sometime when eating a delicious meal, or listening to beautiful music, or just walking outside on a gorgeous day: how long can you actually focus on the beauty in front of you before your mind flies off to some other set of thoughts, such as "What else is on the plate?" or "What other song does this remind me of?" or "Oh, and what do I have to do tomorrow?"

 

Yet we can easily learn to take our natural attraction to the things we enjoy the most, and intentionally cultivate some very high spiritual qualities with a minimum of effort. A consistent practice of sheer mindfulness can enable us to notice just how well we are able to savour the beautiful things we are already experiencing every day. The more we notice, the more we will want to pause and really take things in. And the longer we are able to sustain our experience of something magnificent, the more time we will have to start asking the profound questions I mentioned at the beginning.

 

And it happens that the more we start to wonder about what really makes something beautiful, then somehow it becomes even more exquisite, but at a much deeper, more genuinely spiritual level. Because in the very moment we start to notice that we cannot find the real beauty in any particular part of the vista, or the food, or the song, we somehow start to see that the capacity to envision beauty is pouring out of us. And that naturally makes us want to spread it further and wider -- giving it away, in a sense, even as we experience it. Our joy just builds on itself. Of course, as we know, the impulse to offer what we find to be truly good is the surest cause for creating more of it in the world. But perhaps we can only start to believe in that principle when we have some concrete experience of the process to base it on: and the magnification of sheer beauty in our world is a wonderful place to start.

 

So here are some suggestions that I have found over the years to help tremendously in sensitizing my mind and heart to the beauty available in all things, if only I can remember how to look.

- Beauty takes time. Understand that to be able to receive beauty there must be space in your schedule and in your heart. It's not that you need to schedule extra time to see beauty. That's not the point. It is that we must cultivate a state of mind that is ready to pause, if only for a moment of intense, focused receptivity, when the magnificence of nature -- or another person -- presents itself.

- Beauty takes longing. We have to hope for it enough to be able to notice it when it comes.

- Beauty takes love. Since the energy behind our perceptions is indeed coming from within us, it is ultimately the quality of our love for other people which will gradually set our world on fire, even to the most inanimate presentation of nature's shapes and colors.

- Beauty takes purity of heart. And as with the instructions for a good meditation practice, we must feel clean in our interactions with other beings, or we will be too distracted or tied up in knots for the perfection of a flower or a brilliant sky simply to capture us.

 

    Then, to increase the power of your experiences:

- Notice what you love, and rest with it long enough to wonder where the beauty is: this will lead you to understand emptiness.

-  Practice giving thanks to that mystery of reality, whenever you glimpse it.

- Offer everything you see, hear, taste, etc., to your Teachers and to holy Enlightened Beings.

- Don't double task: when looking at nature really look, and breathe deeply - then begin to break down your habitual labels, until there are no "trees" or "flowers" or "sky".

- Try seeing a world where the atoms are made of kindness: for this is how it is.

- Search for the origins of your perceptions as images: "Why does this remind me of something seen long ago?" It will show you the meaning of mental seeds.

 

- Eva Natanya

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Eva Natanya has been a professional ballet dancer, is a devout Roman Catholic and Buddhist, and is a Tibetan translator.   She has completed many solitary, deep retreats.  She has a Master's in Christian theology and is currently in a PhD program in Religious Studies at the University of Virginia.  She is a dear friend of Lama Jesse's from Diamond Mountain, and when he heard the requested Spiritual Matters theme of 'Beauty' for this month's newsletter, he immediately suggested that Eva would be the perfect person to ask to write this month's article.

 

"In my view, Eva has thought deeply on this topic of beauty in spiritual, professional, and personal contexts for many years.  She knows beauty." - Jesse

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For lack of attention a thousand forms of loveliness elude us every day.   

- Evelyn Underhill

DharmaArtsDHARMA ARTS

A CONVERSATION WITH BEN WICKEY

ETP: The theme of our May newsletter is "beauty." As an artist, what are you thoughts on beauty?
BW: The phrase, "beauty in the eye of the beholder," I do believe in, due to how you perceive something as beautiful or not.  Sometimes someone will do a drawing or a painting that's not really meant to be beautiful or awful, but just how they feel. They will leave it to their audience, hoping that they might provide the answer to what their art is all about. When I'm drawing, I draw for me. And if I like it, then I assume it is ready to be utilized in the process of affecting others in any way they receive it.
Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell was a bank of information on the mysterious, the mystical, the divine... a crusty old guy with a mind full of lovely sparks. I put in the circle behind him to represent the universe.


ETP: What kinds of things do you find beautiful?
BW: I have many tastes, so whenever I'm traveling in certain places, strange, illusive images blossom. They deal with seasons, genre, time periods, music, anything. I have a good idea of what I like and what I don't like, taste-wise, but that has nothing to do with these categorized images. They are what they are, and they taunt me brutally when it comes time to picking out wallpaper or something. Just picking a house to live in would be hell for me.

ETP: So the things you find beautiful might not be the same as what the majority of people would see that way?
BW: I try not to pay attention to what the majority of people think, since I know it's all empty. I find the tool company beautiful. I find rusty, broken down stuff beautiful. I'm odd, but I like that.

ETP: Do you see a relationship between art and Buddhism?
BW: Art has done so much for religion, because without art how would people know how the Buddha, from 2500 years ago, looked? Or Jesus, or Mohamed? People need images to help them understand the ideas of religion. They can't just understand it from words, "God looks like this, take my word for it." People are designed to have visual ideas about things, it's just the way we are programed, even the visually impaired. Here we have Manjushri who is said to transcend all visual understanding, yet it is art that gives at least an idea of what he represents. People want to see who is hearing their prayers. Therefore, although empty of course, art has, in my opinion, aided religion on a level of understanding, and has helped gain more followers in the process.

His Holiness 

His Holiness is the essence of everything beautiful. His big smiling face radiates pure, unbridled happiness. Why cant some people see that the way we all do? I cannot perceive even having a problem with the man. What's not to love? NOTHING!


ETP: Does Buddhism play a part when you are drawing or painting?
BW: Art is how I meditate because I am giving my time and my brain, my creative work to express something for others. The knowledge that what I'm drawing is empty works wonders! Once you realize, through Buddhism, that no matter what you do will be seen differently by anyone who sees it, why worry about what your doing?

ETP: So tell me about your caricatures.
BW: When I draw caricatures, I might see a lot of photographs, or mostly footage of that person, so I can see how they move and talk, and get an idea of what that person is all about. So when I draw, I just have all that in mind and I can create an image that emphasizes the most important things. 
ETP: Thank you Ben. It has been great talking to you! I am sure we will be checking in with you often.
Fantastigorey

Illustration from Ben's winning entry to the Edward Gorey House children's book competition, Fantasigorey





   

 






- Ben Wickey, age 16

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THE PERFECTIONIZER
tara2
Tara
During the winter I was fortunate to be able to study drawing the Buddha with Pema Rinzin, a master teacher,  in Brooklyn, NY.   Under his direction, we strove, by trying over and over again, to draw the perfect Buddha perfectly. A grid of exact proportions supported the drawing, helping us discipline our hand movements in the effort to describe, visually, the ultimate beauty of a holy being. The drawing process becomes very much a spiritual practice for getting in touch with the divine.

This practice resembles daily work with the six perfections, or perfectionizers as Lama Marut says. We are here in samsara and we can see our imperfections all too well. The instructions for attaining the perfections of generosity, ethics, patience, joyful effort, meditative concentration, and wisdom are the perfect grid or scaffold to help us reach for the divine in us and in those around us.

In samsara we see beauty all around us, we project it onto a world we see as imperfect through the lens of our own imperfect being. But we sense that ultimate, perfect beauty exists and we try, through art and through acts of body, speech and mind, to reach it. Keats, in his Ode on a Grecian Urn, made the link:

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
  Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.*

- Barbara Simundza

 *Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250-1900, http://www.bartleby.com/101/625.html

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Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them. - David Hume


TakeToStreetTAKING IT TO THE STREET

BETWEEN

One sunny afternoon in October, 2004 I stopped to photograph the Cape Ann Tool Company.  I had been drawn to the beautiful colors and the play of light and shadow on the building many times over the years. Finally I had my camera and the light was right.

 

The building's appeal was not just visual. When I was little the foundry was in full operation and driving past it was an adventure. The whole bottom story was open to the air, filled with sweating men, massive furnaces and drop forges. Bars of steel glowed bright red; multi-ton hammers flew down again and again, tripped by the hammer-men to pound red-hot steel into molds. Trimmers and grinders worked alongside, sparks flying; the whole creating a deafening, roasting roar. It was a fearsome and fascinating place.  We called it the "Bingity Bang."

Foundry

Cape Ann Tool Company, October 2004

Some 50 years later at what I thought of then as the same place, I stopped that October afternoon, filled with childhood memories. Approaching closer, I peered through the broken siding into the cavernous space, now quiet. The sun illuminated the rusty sides almost as though the flame was still alive. Was it?

totem

Totem

 

Sangha Shadow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From across the street I was struck by the stark shadow cast by the convenience store I had never been inside. How could I know this would became the Vajramudra Center, our spiritual community, where  our understanding of the world, ourselves, and others would be reshaped at the forge of the dharma?   

 

The Bingity Bang lives. It just moved across the street. 

   

- Anne Meyer

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LETTER FROM A FRIEND

 

I would like to express my gratitude for the wonderful newsletter.  It has been delightful from the first issue.


First a big THANK YOU! to everyone that's worked on formatting, editing and organizing the mailing.  Second another big THANK YOU! to the contributors for sharing your lives and stories.  As a foreign correspondent (New Mexico), I deeply, deeply appreciate having such an open- hearted and personal connection to my Sangha.

 

The recent issue on interfaith teaching/learning was particularly welcome.  I feel fortunate to have access to the beautiful, intricate and devout teachings of Buddhism.  But i have often felt like a pretender when I've been unable to keep up the practices or am assailed by doubts. The April issue put it into perspective:  I have never been to a Tibetan monastery, never sat in meditation for more than an hour, and get confused when I try to breathe in one nostril and out the other.

 

Nonetheless, as I read the sweet dialogue between Lama Jesse and Pastor Anne I felt encouraged to recognize and honor who I am and the spiritual and cultural threads woven into my life so far.  It seemed a reminder to not "throw out the baby with the bathwater", but rather to seize the hard-earned beliefs that hold true and see how they overlap and ring, harmonically, with my new teachings.

 

Again, thank you all.

 

Blessings,

- Mary Kanda  

 

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"I adore wearing gems, but not because they are mine.
You can't possess radiance, you can only admire it." - Elizabeth Taylor

InTheLoopIN THE LOOP

Summer Retreat Needs Flyering Volunteers

 

The Summer Retreat will be here before you know it-- a very exciting event, and something that benefits many, every year.  

 

We need your help distributing flyers for the Summer Retreat. Because of the enormous benefit that the Summer Retreat brings, we intend to increase the ground we cover with this year's flyering effort. Please respond if you can help--- the more towns and venues we cover, the more people may benefit. We are looking for help on Cape Ann and surrounding North Shore communities and Boston.

 

I met Lama Marut and was introduced to the Cape Ann sangha at the Summer Retreat in 2007. As a result of the teachings and support, I took responsibility- for the first time- in my close relationships, and  stopped blaming my romantic partner for difficulties. We remain friends even after the romance ended, another first in my life.  

 

So you see, this retreat is a life changing opportunity. Spreading the word is a great kindness and any help you can offer is a tremendous good deed. Contact [email protected] to volunteer.  

 

Thank you,

 

-Larry Wolf

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Generosity:  The Gateway to Compassion and Wisdom

 

"Generosity brings happiness at every stage of its expression.

We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous.

We experience joy in the actual act of giving something.

And we experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given."

 

- The Buddha

  

ACI-Cape Ann joyfully offers the dharma freely to all who wish to receive it. Our website calendar is filled to capacity with ACI classes, yoga, tai chi, meditation, debate, happiness hour, movies, and more, all offered free of charge.

 

ACI-Cape Ann depends on consistent pledges to keep our doors open. If you have already pledged your support to ACI-Cape Ann, we thank you and urge you to dedicate all that good karma.  If you have not started pledging, you will reap great rewards by beginning this important practice of the first Perfection. Pledging joyfully is the cause for good karma. Even if you don't feel you can pledge much, pledging a little on a regular basis is good for you and the sangha.

 

Plant the seeds for compassion and wisdom by giving joyfully to ACI-Cape Ann 

 

Thank you.

 

ACI-Cape Ann  

   

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 Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of
strength that will endure as long as life lasts. - Rachel Carson
UpcomingEventsEVENTS

Applied Meditation: ACI 3 with Phil Salzman

Mondays, 7 - 9pm: April 11 - June 13

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The Bodhisattva Vows: Dharma Essentials 7 with Margaret Redington

Sundays, 1 - 3pm: May 1, 8, 15, 29

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Lam Rim Teachings: Cultivating Ethical Behavior with Camilo Cerro and Mysore Style Ashtanga Yoga with Renee McNamara

May 20 - 22. (details tba)  

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Bok Jinpa 3 with Julie Upton

Wednesdays, 7:30 - 9:30pm, May 25 - July 13 and Friday, July 15.  No drop-ins.   

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New Weekly Classes: Tibetan Heart Yoga and Lady Niguma's Yoga with Julie Upton

Mondays and Wednesdays, 8 - 9:30am 

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The Summer Retreat - FREEDOM from what...to what

with Lama Marut, Cindy Lee, Rick Blue and Lindsay Crouse

Aug 16-21

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Weekly Meditation, Yoga, Discussion, Debate and family offerings with a variety of wonderful teachers.  Info: www.aci-capeann.org

 

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Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

- A. Schopenhauer


RebootRetreatREBOOT...RETREAT

TIME TO VOLUNTEER TO HELP SUPPORT THE SUMMER RETREAT!  

August 16-21, 2011

Lama Marut and Cindy Lee
Lama Marut and Cindy Lee - Summer Retreat 2010

It's right around the corner - FREEDOM from what ... to what.  This year's silent summer retreat will return to Governor's Academy in Byfield MA, August 16-21, with Lama Marut, and Cindy Lee, Rick Blue and Lindsay Crouse.  Now is the time to offer your time and joyful effort to ensure that the teachings help as many people as possible.

Here is a listing of volunteer opportunities!

�    Publicity/Outreach/Flyering
�    Merchandising
�    Hospitality
�    Home Stay
�    Transportation
�    Retreat Scholarships
�    Set-Up and Break Down
�    Information Table

If you are interested in helping in one of these areas please email us as soon as possible at [email protected] and we will put you in contact with the proper committee.

- Alison Landoni

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It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine
than she was ten years before  - Jane Austen

senditinSEND 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:
    June:      Family and Friends
    July:        Freedom/Nirvana
    August:   Meditation

Please send your submissions for the June issue to: [email protected]
by May 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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It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.

- Rachel Carson


THANK YOU FOR VIEWING OUR NEWSLETTER!

Questions or comments on our newsletter? Send them to [email protected]

For more information about activities at the Vajramudra Center, please visit aci-capeann.org

If you have questions of a spiritual nature or want to request a meeting with our Spiritual Advisor, Jesse Fallon, please email him at [email protected]



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 !