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JULY, 2011
Greetings!
This month's theme is something most of us know nothing about: Freedom. Nirvana.
We're told the experience is beyond words, yet we try to capture its essence so we can better understand our goal. Ironically, it's merely an exercise in determination and perceived, mistaken comprehension. So, why dedicate an issue to something undefinable? Because it's not unattainable. We just don't yet understand what it is. But we can still try.
There are lots of things we've never experienced for ourselves. We rely on others' explanations to understand them. Extrapolations, theories, hypotheses. Yet, when it comes to Freedom, words prove inadequate: freedom is beyond words, beyond conceptions. Yet, until we reach Nirvana ourselves, words are all we have. So, we rely on words to refine our practice and help us figure out how we, individually, can attain freedom.
In this issue we asked a lot of people what freedom means to them. Some are Buddhist practitioners, some are not. We hope their insights and ideas will inspire you!
With love,
Anne Meyer
Stacey Fisher
Roy Toulan
Barbara Simundza
Stephanie Hobart
PS. We thank Stephanie Hobart for joining our staff in an editorial role.
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 SPIRITUAL MATTERS
"Freedom's just another word for ... nothing left to lose."
- Kris Kristofferson as sung by Janis Joplin
Freedom is an ideal - something that calls at all our hearts.
 | | Jesse Fallon |
Something that has in the past made the United States a place to be longed for by people in the world - because it claims to be the embodiment of freedom. Beings want freedom, yearn for it desperately, but what is it that we want?
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowedby their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
- United States Declaration of Independence
The goal of every living being is freedom from suffering and unhappiness - and the gaining of deep-seated happiness and joy. And thus, these are the goals of every spiritual and material path as well. But only the religious paths work. One philosopher, William Wollaston, even defines "natural religion" as being, "The pursuit of happiness by the practice of reason and truth," in his 1722 book The Religion of Nature Delineated. The causes for happiness and freedom from suffering cannot be found by attaining more material things or more relationships. We claim to know this, but we don't practice it.
According to one dictionary, freedom is defined as: "the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint", "the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved", and "the state of not being subject to or affected by (a particular undesirable thing)".
In Buddhist terms: freedom, liberation and nirvana are equated. From the ACI Formal Course 2, nirvana is defined as "The permanent cessation in which one has eliminated the mental-affliction obstacles, in their entirety, due to one's 'individual analysis'." "Individual analysis" here refers to a person's realization of the various individual details of the four realized (or noble) truths, after the direct perception of emptiness. These are:
1) The truth of suffering
2) The truth of the cause (of suffering)
3) The truth of the permanent end (of suffering)
4) The truth of the path (to the permanent end of suffering)
What this is saying is that suffering exists and permeates our life. And we have to get clear on that fact and to recognize suffering for what it is in order to move away from it. We hardly ever get what we want. We always lose everything we like. And we often get things we don't want.
Then we must recognize that this suffering has a cause, and that the cause of all of our suffering is our own mental afflictions, our own disturbing emotions, which are based on delusion. The cause is never what someone else did to us.
"Nobody can hurt me without my permission." - Mahatma Gandhi
"I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds." - Bob Marley This sounds problematical, to take the responsibility for ALL our own suffering and happiness, but in a way, it is really beautiful, because this means that the power to achieve our own liberation from all pain is in our own hands, and always has been. Next we recognize that if we removed all the causes of our own suffering, then we would be free. And finally, we must practice the path to freedom. We must actually do something to bring ourselves to happiness - not just wait around for it.
"We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it." - William Faulkner
So what is that we have to do to reach freedom from pain and find deep, lasting happiness? Let's go back to Kris and Janis. If freedom is really just another word for nothing left to lose, then what is it we have to lose?
We can break the process down into three main steps:
I. Renunciation - Giving up our attachments
II. The Wish for Enlightenment - Taking on the responsibility of helping all living beings
III. Wisdom - Correctly recognizing how the universe is working
I. Renunciation - Giving up our attachments
The first thing we have to lose is our attachment to painful thoughts. This is called renunciation. It's not that we are giving up the good things in life. We are going for freedom. So we need to give up our imprisoners. A gigantic amount of our suffering can be let go of if we could just stop certain painful thought patterns.
How can we prove to ourselves that our suffering comes mainly from our thoughts?
We can simply pay attention. Most of the time we are not losing our job, finding out our spouse has cancer, or losing a parent to death. When those things are happening, then there is obvious suffering. We call it "The suffering of suffering," in Buddha-dharma. OK, so you can argue that suffering like that isn't coming from our own thoughts, it's coming from some unpleasant circumstance that has come upon us or those we love. But all the rest of the time ... what about then?
All the rest of the time we are creating our own misery. We are either hashing and re-hashing how we are unhappy about something that happened in the past. Or hashing and re-hashing about how maybe things won't go our way in the future. Or we are just plain dissatisfied with the present because we aren't getting what we want.
I'll tell you a story. One time a few years ago I was driving in my car in Tucson, AZ in the summer. It was hot. Really hot. And I was suffering. But not because of the heat. I was suffering because a woman whom I had been in a relationship with had called it off, without a lot of explanation. And I was unhappy about it. Tortured in fact. My stomach hurt. I had trouble thinking about anything else. I would break in to crying spells in the middle of my work day (I hid them so that no one else would see). Whenever I saw a car of the same general make and model as the one she owned, driving anywhere, my stomach would hurt worse. Country songs by the dozen have been written about this sort of thing. It was extremely unpleasant.
Then one day, as I was driving in my car, I realized something. It had been months since she had ended the relationship. At least six months. And here I was, driving in my car, in pain. Who was causing me the pain? Was she here in the car with me saying mean things to me (not that she ever did)? No. My stomach felt like it was being stabbed, but was anyone else in the car with me here stabbing it? No.
The only one here was me.
So I was the only one possible to blame for the misery I was in.
The pain came from thinking certain thoughts. They basically went like this:
1. I WANT TO BE WITH SO-AND-SO!
2. I'M NOT WITH SO-AND-SO!
3. NOT GETTING WHAT I WANT HURTS!
4. (Repeat at Step A)
The problem wasn't that I wasn't with the woman. The problem was this thought pattern. Number 2 couldn't be changed - she didn't want to be with me. I wasn't into the whole stalking thing. So, once I realized that I was causing my own pain, I had to look at either number 1 or number 3. Here are some replacement thought patterns of happiness:
1. I'm not with so-and-so because she doesn't want to be with me.
2. I want her to be happy.
3. So I am happy not being with her.
4. I am fine by myself.
5. Not getting what I want happens all the time, so I might as well just be content with whatever happens, or I'll often be miserable.
Every disturbing emotion has an antidote. For example, for anger the antidote is patience. For ignorant desire - contentment. For jealousy - true love (which is wanting the other to be happy) and rejoicing for others' good fortune. For pride - humility. For stinginess - generosity.
It is useful to contemplate these antidotes in a formal daily practice of meditation, contemplation, or prayer, but it is also necessary to think these freedom-from-suffering producing thoughts in the car, at work, at home, and at the supermarket. We need to think about them all the time in order to overcome our habitual way of hurting ourselves with our thoughts. We need to renounce the suffering of constantly stabbing ourselves with discontent whether or not there is anyone else around.
II. The Wish for Enlightenment - Taking on the responsibility of helping all living beings
"I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom."
- Simone de Beauvoir
"Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility."
- Sigmund Freud
Once we have nothing left to lose of our attachments to painful ways of thinking, then we have the potential to reach a new level of freedom. At this point we have to lose our self-interestedness, our self-attachment, our selfishness. Once we have gotten some freedom from the suffering of negative thoughts, then we have a responsibility to not keep the keys to the kingdom of happiness to ourselves. We have a responsibility to teach and help others to reach freedom as well. This is the bodhisattva ideal: the wish to achieve a perfect state of being so as to be best able to serve others. By losing our selfishness and embracing the compassion that yearns and takes action to be the savior of all living beings, we will be able to achieve the highest of freedoms and goals.
"Compassion achieves all goals." - Arya Nagarjuna
III. Wisdom - Correctly recognizing how the universe is working
"Understanding liberates us." - Arya Nagarjuna
The final thing we have to lose in order to achieve freedom is our ignorance - our total non-recognition and denial of the way reality is working. And the ultimate antidote to all the causes of our bondage, is our wisdom - recognizing and accepting reality as it is. The last thing we have to lose our attachment to is our belief in a self and a world that don't even exist.
We believe in a self that is unchanging and inherently existing. A self that doesn't depend on anything else.
Example: I believe that I have nothing to do with how I treat others. I believe that I can lie, cheat, or steal from others and still be a happy and well-off person. And that is a lie. Happiness and freedom come from giving happiness and freedom to others.
"Giving brings the things we need;
An ethical life gives happiness." - Arya Nagarjuna
We believe in a world that we can do nothing to change - a world that is out there, in trouble, beyond our control. And that is a lie. We can change the world by changing ourselves. If we want to see a world free of violence and anger, then we need to eliminate violence and anger within our own heart - even against those who perpetrate violence. By hating those who perpetrate violence, we are taking part in violence ourselves, and continuing the cycle of pain (samsara in Sanskrit)
"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
- Albert Camus
"All you need is love." - John Lennon
How do we change?
We all already know many of the secrets to life, liberty, and happiness, but we don't do them. It takes practice. It is a struggle. Our minds are habituated - locked in - to thought patterns that are torturing us. It takes some joyful work to break these patterns and put in some new, better ones.
The way to do this is via meditation, of two different types: our formal meditation or contemplation practice, and our meditation practice throughout our day.
On one level, meditation just means: "getting used to". By meditating on something, we are getting used to that thought, that idea, or that thought process, by thinking about it in a continuum over a period of time. We burn in the new thought, idea, or process by repetition, concentration, clarity, and joyful effort.
If we want to overcome disturbing, harmful thought patterns - which are our true enemy to our happiness, our true demonic guards keeping us in a prison of our own making - then we need to think about the antidote thoughts - a lot. We have to think about love and compassion and patience and kindness and generosity and the rest - over and over.
So, as Kris and Janis say, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." We will be free when we have lost all our attachments. We will be free when we have lost all our selfishness. And we will be free when we have lost all our grasping to an idea of things that is totally wrong. When we have nothing left to lose, or said differently, when we realize that we never had anything that we could hold on to in the first place, and we come to accept that fact and be happy with it and because of it - then we will be free.
Our problem is that inside us there's a mind going, "Impossible, impossible, impossible. I can't, I can't, I can't." We have to banish that mind from this solar system. Anything is possible; everything is possible. Sometimes you feel that your dreams are impossible, but they're not. Human beings have great potential; they can do anything. The power of the mind is incredible, limitless.
~~ Lama Yeshe ~~
PS. If you want to learn about Freedom from a real Master, come to the Summer Retreat with my holy teacher, Lama Marut, as well as other excellent teachers, this August in Byfield, Massachusetts. The theme of the retreat is "Freedom. From what ... to what?"
www.thesummerretreat.com
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(C) Copyright 2011, Erik Johansson
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You live among illusions and in the world of apparitions. But there is a reality. You yourself are this reality, but you do not know this. If you awaken to this reality you will see that you are nothing and, being nothing, you are everything. ~ Kalu Rinpoche |
TAKING IT TO THE STREET
What is Freedom? Barbara Koen asked this question of a number of people, some in her store, The Dress Code, and some at the Vajramudra Center. Here are some of their ideas. If you would like to go to the page with all these videos plus a few more, click here.  
Stephen ETP: OK Here we are at The Dress Code asking people what they think freedom is. With a little bit of Christina Aguilera humming in the background. Your name. sir? S: Steven ETP: And what do you think freedom is? S: Freedom is the right to choose who you want to be and what you want to do in life. Freedom is the choices we make, and being able to make those choices. Freedom is learning to say yes or no. Freedom is love. and that's it! ETP: That sounds good to me Steven. Thank you sir. S: You're welcome. View Video
Lili ETP: Hi. Here we are asking another human being a question about freedom. This is Lily Koen . She's a student and works here at the dress code. Lily can you tell us what you think freedom is? LK: In the simplest of terms, I believe freedom is subjective, but, I would probably say it is the ability to do or be whatever you want without the threat of judgment or persecution for that. Yeah. Not much else to say.
ETP: Sounds good. Thank you.View Video
 Emily EJ: Hi. My name is Emily Jingress. I'm a special-education teacher. And I believe that freedom is getting what you deserve, not necessarily what everyone else gets, but what you deserve. ETP: Sounds good. Thank you Emily. View Video
Alison 
AL: Hi my name is Alison. Freedom? I'm not quite sure what freedom is. But when I find out I'll let you know. (laughter) ETP: Thanks. Stay tuned! AL: (walking from parking lot into Vajramudra Center) Check it out! (Walking through to the altar, pause, still frame of altar with images of our holy lamas) Yeah, that's freedom. View Video
Barbara BK: Freedom to me is the absence of me. View Video
Dave ETP: What do you think freedom is? DK: Reality... a myth. View Video
 Amanda ETP: So what's your name, beautiful girl? AD: Amanda DeKarrow ETP: So Amanda can I ask you a question? AD: Yeah ETP: What do you think freedom is? AD: When you're by yourself. ETP: When you're by yourself? Yeah. That's kind of nice, I like that. View Video
 Tyler TK: Hi my name is Tyler Kinny. I am a costume and scenic designer. Freedom for me is the ability to work hard and accomplish whatever I want to do. ETP: Sounds good to me. Thank you! View Video
 Laura ETP: What is freedom? LD: Freedom is the right to think freely, to live freely to respect other people's freedom, to have respect and a consciousness about the earth and how we take care of the earth. View Video
 Karen K: Freedom is being able to be whoever you want to be, without anybody telling you how you should be, or how to act and just living your life the way you see fit. And that's it. View Video
 Christina ETP: What is Freedom? CM: Wow, that's a big question. I think lately for me its been freedom from my past, freedom from stuff that hangs out in my head that doesn't serve me anymore, and no one can make you not free if you choose to be. Freedom is ultimately a choice, a spiritual condition and a blessing, and I believe it comes from the inside. View Video
Charlene CL: Freedom is just being in the flow in the body, out of the head, and just being. That's freedom to me. View Video
MargaretMR: For me, freedom is recognizing everthing you see of the teachings, everything you hear and think of the teachings, and finding a perfect balance between the two wings of a Buddhist practice, the method and wisdom wings, so that you can fly free to lead all beings to freedom. Freedom is having a perfect understanding of both the Two Truths and not seeing them as two disparate things. View Video
 Karen KA: Freedom is a feeling of confidence that what I am saying or doing is good. And it is usually something that I realize right after, that it's the right thing. It is that feeling, that, "Yeah, that sounds good. I handled that in a good way. View Video
WHAT IS LIBERATION? I don't know. Something about the minister's eyes when they look into mine when I am five and immerse me in quarries of calm. You lead me beside still waters, you restore my soul.[1] Something about the moment the white man in red robes asks us to place a holy being on our heads and let the light flow down like nectar. Sweeter far than honey on the comb.[2] Something about the moment I take vows. How my whole life swings swiftly on its axis, spiraling me up and out of the free fall into the black hole. He who drinks from my mouth will become like me, and I will become like him, and the hidden things will be revealed to him.[3] When, on a foul day, every cell of my being feels weighted with mud. But one drop on a blade of grass glistens. Soon the whole field at the side of the gritty road bows and glows. I understand happiness is a choice. It has always been a choice. If you have gained this within you, what you have will save you. If you do not have this in [you] what you do not have in you [will kill] you.[4] When I wake up and think I don't want to. But I do. I sit on my cushion before I get the children ready for school because how else shall I live? How else can I help? If they ask you: What is the sign of your father in you? Say to them: it is movement and rest.[5] Our thoughts and what they bring-- movement, our watching-- rest. Our breath-- movement, the pause between-- the rest. When my teacher suggests I take the hard path, the path that is for others. And I try, in awkward bits, like a child learning to swim, getting water up the nose and crying in fits. In time I learn a few strokes in the shallow end from those who finesse the butterfly, and swan dive from cliffs. If you become/ a helper of hearts,/ springs of wisdom/ will flow from your heart.[6] The moments I finally rip out of my incessant "how am I?" when singing kirtan or pumping gas, and I look over at you and really love you and hope you have these moments and more that lead you through the door. The moment when I will finally offer words to you that could never really tell, but still help. And you begin to see and help. There is light within a man of light, and he lights the whole world.[7] The moment I put my child to bed and he says, mommy I love you more than ¼ of ¼ of ¼ of ¼ of ¼ of a second, until there's nothing, because it goes on forever. That's how much I love you. And I say, I learned that in class, how do you know it? And he says, I don't. Since you have discovered the beginning, why do you seek the end? . . . Blessed is he who shall stand at the beginning. . . , and he shall know the end, and shall not taste death.[8]Are these moments glimpses? Fractions of the moment of awakening into freedom? I don't know. - Jennie Meyer
[2] Bernard of Clairveaux's rendition of the lines from Psalm 19:10.
[3] The Coptic Gospel of Thomas, (108), New Testament Apocraypha, Volume One: Gospels and Related Writings, Revised Edition, Ed., Wilhelm Schneemelcher; English Translation ed by R. McL. Wilson; Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY., p 129.
[6] A Helper of Hearts, The Forbidden Rumi: The Suppressed Poems of Rumi on Love, Heresy, and Intoxication. Translations and Commentary by Nevit O.Egrin and Will Johnson. Inner Traditions, Rochester, VT, 2006. p. 117.
[8] The Coptic Gospel of Thomas, (18), p. 119
Freedom Starts with Contentment Everyone wants to be happy. I sure do. Funny how after 42 years of trying, I haven't done it yet. Lately I have found wise thinking to be the saving grace for habitual patterns that have always caused me suffering. What is suffering? For me, it's always wanting something more or different to be happy. If I had a better paying job, more vacation time, the right romantic partner, less responsibilities - then everything would be fine. A constant litany of wanting things to be different. This is the opposite of contentment. And what is wisdom? It's seeing things realistically, the way they are. Thinking wisely reduces fruitless, painful thought patterns. And less painful thoughts makes for a happier life. But seeing things properly is not so easy. There is a significant disconnect between the way things appear and the way they are. For instance, after scarfing a pint of ice cream, I start to eye the second pint in the freezer. But it is deceptive. It looks so appealing and good. Like I must have it. But, from my own experience, I know that I'll feel sick if I eat it all. And besides, I have gone for the second pint many times, and it hasn't removed the endless craving for more. Still, that ice cream looks desirable. I am staring at it, feeling desire, and at the same time knowing that eating it will not bring me the happiness that I seek. Basically, the ice cream is trying to pull a fast one on me. Knowing this, I've got a good shot at leaving it in the freezer. Thinking in this way, the yammering of unhappy thoughts lessens. The same method applies to cravings for a new job, the perfect partner and less responsibility. When I take a step back, the things in my life are pretty much fine. Reducing the endless desire for things to be different, increasing the level of contentment with what I have, brings me closer to the goal of a happy life...and freedom. - Larry Wolf Back to Contents |
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau |
DHARMA ARTS
Freedom and Nirvana "Freedom is riding easy in the harness," Frost once wrote, but the straps--buckled Or looped together and fitted for a draught animal Like some blistered horse, goat or dog to pull a cart-- What kind of freedom is that? Here is how one yoked man put it: "My weary limbs are scarcely stretched for repose, Before red dawn peeps into my chamber window, And birds in the whispering leaves over the roof Apprise me that another day of toil awaits. I rise, the harness is hastily adjusted and Once more I step upon the tread-mill." Throw off tackle and gear! Freedom is flying bareback On a winged Appaloosa so fast that Time past, time present and time future are all one. It's reposing under the Bodhi-Tree, whose roots Drink waters of infinity and leafy branches Blow in the winds of the Void. - Mike Sperber
The Question of Truth: A Meditation The center grows small  | | Rising By Anna Vojtech |
Collapsing under the weight Of the arising Spinning, moving in The colors of illusion Ever retreating Form watches forming From behind all that has been You see IT, don't you? Breaking through the veil Of arising expression That fills each moment Feeding the rapid Moving chain of fleeting forms Across the within Never holding on But still trying yet to grasp IT between flashes Between the movement Of each moment in stillness Pushing, now resting Moving, now dying Always recounting the form Present in the void Rushing to a place Where now it is not the same Beyond past/future Beyond this vessel Beyond consideration Moving through stillness In ever smaller Circles of each awareness Of that which is not Beyond the beyond Awareness now awareness In now just to be - Roy Toulan
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One torch can dissipate the accumulated darkness of a thousand aeons.
~Tilopa
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IN THE LOOP
Expressing Gratitude - please take a few moments to send cards, notes or e-mails! Now that the threat of fire has passed at the Great Retreat, we'd like to give you the opportunity to say thank you to some of the men and women who have showed great kindness and courage, have worked tirelessly, some risking their lives, to stop the Horseshoe Two wildfire. You can read more about them here. The folks on the ground and in the air near Diamond Mountain with whom Board President Rob Ruisinger and Board Secretary Scott Vacek were in regular contact and who directly stopped the fire two miles from the Great Retreat Valley and ensured that the peace of retreat was not disturbed by the need for evacuation: Great Basin 2 Incident Management Team Incident Commander: Jim Thomas Coronado National Forest U.S. Forest Service 300 West Congress Tucson, AZ 85701 mailroom_r3_coronado@fs.fed.us (This email address is general to the US Forest Service for Coranado National Forest so please specify everyone who helped protect the safety of Diamond Mountain and who fought the fire in or near Marble and Emigrant Canyons, including Jim Thomas and the Great Basin 2 Incident Management Team.)  US Forest Service Coronado National Forest Douglas Ranger District Bill Edwards, District Ranger 1192 West Saddleview Road Douglas, AZ 85607 Cochise County Emergency Management Mike Evans 205 N. Judd Dr Bisbee, AZ 85603 Cochise County Sheriff's Department Larry A. Dever, Sheriff 205 North Judd Drive Mile Post 345, Highway 80 Bisbee, Arizona 85603 Peggy Judd Arizona State Representative District 25 705 N. Arizona Avenue Wilcox, AZ 85643 
ACI-Cape Ann Serving at the Open Door Food Pantry Gloucester, MA VOLUNTEERS NEEDED  | |
helping at an Open Door meal
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Sunday, July 17, 2-7pm Each month we need: - Money to buy food $200-$300 (donations appreciated) - 4-8 meal servers - Head Cook: meal planner/organizer Optional: Dessert Cook, Salad Bar Preparer, Grocery Shopper and Bread Baker/Buyer
Children are welcome to serve the meal and are appreciated as long as they have parental supervision. To volunteer, please contact Sharon Muddiman at sangha@aci-capeann.org
Pledge an Act of Kindness In Honor of His Holiness The Dalai Lama The committee organizing the Kalachakra for World Peace in Washington, DC, is asking that we pledge an act of kindness in honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 76th birthday. To pledge online, please visit: http://kalachakra2011.com/actsofKindness.html
LAMA MARUT Returns to Massachusetts FREE PUBLIC TALK, August 15, 7:30pm NO PROBLEMS, NO WORRIES, NO DRAMAS: HOW TO LIVE A HAPPY LIFE THROUGH THICK AND THIN Learn how to transform your problems into opportunities and how to live the good life - both in the sense of working on being a better person, and in the sense of relaxing into a more fun, genuine and free existence. The Auditorium at the Performing Arts Center of Governor's Academy, Byfield, MA Back to Contents |
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Anything that is created must sooner or later die.
Enlightenment is permanent because we have not produced it; we have merely
discovered it.
~Chogyam Trungpa
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EVENTS
Kalachakra for World Peace with His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama July 6 - 16, 2011, Washington, DC kalachakra2011.com
Bok Jinpa 3 with Julie Upton Wednesdays, 7:30 - 9:30pm, May 25 - July 13. No drop-ins.
Tibetan Heart Yoga and Lady Niguma's Yoga with Julie Upton Mondays and Wednesdays, 8 - 9:30am
No Problems, No Worries, No Dramas: How to Live a Happy Life Through Thick and Thin Teaching by Lama Marut, Cindy Lee leading a guided meditation. Monday, August 15th, 7:30pm The Auditorium at the Performing Arts Center of Governor's Academy, Byfield, MA
The Summer Retreat - Freedom from what - to what with Lama Marut, Cindy Lee, Rick Blue and Lindsay Crouse August 16-21. Info: thesummerretreat.com Weekly Meditation, Yoga, Discussion, Debate and family offerings with a variety of wonderful resident and guest teachers at the Vajramudra Center.
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If you have found your inner peace, outside problems cannot make you lose your way. You remain content no matter what happens to you ~ His Holiness the 14th Dalia Lama |
REBOOT...RETREAT
THE SUMMER RETREAT ... August 16-21 FREEDOM: From What to What Governor's Academy, Byfield, MA  For the first time ever, Lama Marut will offer teachings on one of the finest how-to manuals on enlightened living ever written, Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, by the great Buddhist sage Lord Atisha. He'll also shine light on the two thousand year old text Root Verses On the Middle Way by Arya Nagarjuna, another Buddhist master so extraordinary he was known as the second Buddha, and whose teachings on the causes for happiness are unique in the world. Created in 2004 by Lindsay Crouse, The Summer Retreat features master teacher and American-born Tibetan Buddhist monk Lama Marut, whose easy, down-to-earth style has attracted students of all ages and walks of life to gather to hear his call for a revolutionary approach to freedom and lasting happiness. His warmth and wit are legendary, and he pulls no punches as he renders sophisticated Eastern ideas fresh and workable as a means for profound transformation. While his teachings are based on Buddhist principles, his message is universal, and all are welcome to come. Yoga will be taught at all levels, along with Tai Chi and walking meditation. There will be time for deep rest and relaxation. The venue for the retreat is The Governor's Academy, thirty-three miles north of Boston, in Byfield, Massachusetts. Visit thesummerretreat.com for more information. Back to Contents
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If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow. - Rainer Maria Rilke
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DID YOU KNOW?
Nirvana is defined as "The permanent cessation in which one has eliminated the mental-affliction obstacles, in their entirety, due to one's 'individual analysis'."
"Individual analysis" here refers to a person's realization of the various individual details of the four realized truths (misnamed by some people as the "four noble truths"), after the direct perception of emptiness.
A mental-affliction obstacle is defined as "That type of obstacle of the general type that- of the two of nirvana and full enlightenment-it acts primarily to obstruct one from reaching nirvana".
[ACI Course 2, Buddhist Refuge, Answer key page 13]
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If you touch one thing with deep awareness, you touch everything. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh |
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:
August: Meditation
September: Not Getting Angry
October: Joyful Effort
Please send your submissions for the August issue to: explorethepath@aci-capeann.org
by July 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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