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I hope you have been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather as much as
I have these last few days. While helping a friend inspect her bee
hives on Saturday, I was struck again at how easily the
every-day-miracles like birds singing in the morning, buds bursting
into flower, the stillness of the mid-afternoon or the sound of frogs
in the evening can go un-noticed.
So this weekend I paused, took stock
of the beauty around me and felt nourished. Having tea early in the
morning with a friend, including time in my week to chant and to
meditate...these I also find nourishing. I hope you can join us this
Saturday at Yoga Center Amherst.
"Let the beauty you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to
kneel and kiss the earth." wrote Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet. And
a thousand ways to nourish yourself here in the Valley too! For almost
a year now Kevin Germain (aka Shaykh Kevin Al Ansari of the Qadir Rifai
Tariqa) has been blessing us with the beautiful sounds of the Turkish
oud and yayli tanbur to accompany the chants. This is actually a
cross-over for Kevin from his Sufi tradition and this week I'm happy to
say Kevin is offering a public zikr on Wednesday in Northampton. If
you're interested in experiencing this form (which essentially leads to
the same place as devotional chanting!) you can just show up, or email
Kevin at kdgermain@charter.net. Kevin is offering zikr every other
Wednesday 7:30-9pm at the Northampton Friends Meeting House at 43
Center Street, Suite 202, Northampton.
For inspiration this week I'm drawing from quotes by Yeats and Joseph
Campbell, gleaned from the Upaya Zen Center newsletter forwarded to me
by a friend. The Yeats piece reminds me of just how powerful the
stillness following a chant can be. Joseph Campbell, in this short
quote, inspires me to apply the wisdom of "looking back" to give
perspective on the seeming "failures" of today.
Enjoy!
As always,
with great love and respect,
Rick
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...and musicians
This month I'll be joined by most of the regulars:
Gurucharan........................tabla
Dona O'Dou........................tamboura
Divya Shinn........................vocals
Rick Roberts......................harmonium
If you would like to be one of the musicians please email me. I'm looking for 3 people interested in playing cymbals.
did you know...
...that Dona O'Dou was born in 1955 and grew up in Worcester, MA. She
calls herself a recluse, but in reality she lives a life of self-less
service. About a year ago she found her way to our Kirtan in
Greenfield, picked up the tamboura and has been playing regularly with
us ever since. I knew she was involved with a Cambodian Buddhist
community in Leverette, MA but I didn't know the details so tonight I
asked. This is an abbreviated version of what I learned.
In 1991 John Massey, a Buddhist monk teaching Pali at the Insight
Meditation Society in Barre, introduced Dona to his teacher De Ku
Saukun at the Theravada Buddhist center in Lowell, MA which started
Dona on her path to becoming a nun. At the time John Massey was close
to the end of a 3 year commitment and shortly after meeting John Dona
began her commitment to being a nun. In this tradition one makes an
honorable agreement to maintain the vows of a monk or nun for a certain
period of time. For John Massey, it was 3 years. For Dona, because of
her life situation (she was a mother of two young sons) it was 2 weeks.
But during those two weeks she practiced intensely for 14 hours each
day. The practices included Pali chanting and walking and sitting
meditation. Dona's ordination coincided with the first two weeks of the
Rains Retreat in late summer 1991 so she was practicing with one of the
largest congregations of Cambodian Buddhist monks to ever meet in the
US. There were 26 monks gathered for the retreat and 50 nuns. Dona was
one of 3 nuns that took 10 precepts and during the retreat they
literally lived in their robes and never left each other's side.
Dona later returned to Shutesbury to find another Buddhist teacher Yeah
One living in the forest in Leverette, but that's a story for another
time. She's happily living now with Jedd Miller in Lake Pleasant and is
the mother of two beautiful boys Graeme and Shawn. Shawn and his wife
MJ are about to bless Dona with her first granddaughter who has been
named but not born. Her name will be Shaley, which is a clever
rearrangement of the letters in MJ's daughter Ashley's name.
To give you a sense of who Dona is I have to relate an amazing story
which she told me tonight. Her 6-year old step grandson Liam has a rare
strain of MS and is very sick most of the time. Last weekend Liam was
taken to the hospital and sadly almost died. Dona was too far away to
visit in person, so she called the hospital and asked to be put on
speaker phone in the room where Liam was being treated. For several
hours, until her voice gave out, Dona chanted in Pali the chants that
she knew had power. She chanted not to save his life, but to aid him in
whatever way was needed. The report later from the nurse in the
hospital was that after a few hours the child went from gray to pink
and by the next day he was able to go home.
I'm grateful to have Dona play with us when she can!
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Inspirational Corner
quote from William Butler Yeats
We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us to see their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our silence.
quote from Joseph Campbell
Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called "the love of your fate." Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, "This is what I need." It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment-not discouragement-you will find the strength is there. Any disaster that you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow.
Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You'll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes. | |
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Kirtan
with Rick Roberts and friends
Every 1st and 3rd Saturday
...is a time
for people to come together, open their hearts and sing. For years
chanting has helped people to effortlessly reach a state of quiet and
stillness that easliy leads to meditation. While it's true that we can
chant in our car or in the solitude of our home, there's nothing like
chanting with others and with live musicians. Every kirtan is different
depending on the energy of the group, but as the evening progresses one
becomes saturated with the Name, the mind becomes one-pointed and
dropping into a deep state of meditation becomes effortless.
Suggested donation is $10 but please remember that a donation is not necessary. Anything is
appreciated, and all are welcome regardless of their ability to pay.
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Kirtan