Eminent Buddhists from the border areas

Sangharakshita and Dhardo Rimpoche became close friends when they were members of a delegation of eminent Buddhists from the border areas that the Government of India had invited to Delhi, via the Buddhist holy places, as part of the celebrations held in 1956-7 to mark 2,500 years of Buddhism.
Sangharakshita recalls:

"What used to happen was this - our government sponsored train would take us from one holy place to another, and we usually saw a holy place in the morning and a dam or factory in the afternoon. Our official guide would say, 'this morning we are going to the factory', and if we were going to the holy place we would always take incense and candles and so on, to perform a little puja. One day, perhaps it was at Kusinara, the guide said, 'We are not going to the holy place this morning, we will go this afternoon... So we didn't bother about candles and incense or anything of that sort, and off we trooped. But it so happened that actually we found ourselves in a Buddhist Temple in one of the holy places and we hadn't got any candles or incense. And for traditionally-minded Buddhists it's a big thing to turn up at a holy place with nothing to offer. So all fifty-seven people were really quite upset - except Dhardo Rimpoche.

Tibetan monks have got very voluminous red robes, and while everybody else was expressing their regret and being a bit annoyed with the guide, Rimpoche unfolded his capacious robe and, with a big smile, he pulled out bundles of incense and candles and distributed them to everybody. And there was really quite enough for all fifty-seven of us. So he wasn't only mindful - you never seemed to catch him napping. He always seemed prepared: he always seemed to anticipate what was going to happen and to be ready to meet it."

From Teachers of Enlightenment, 

Sangha Snapshot

Each Month, Matt McCarthy talks to sangha members, old and new, to find out what makes them tick

1. Where were you born and raised, and what brought you to Leeds?

2. When did you first visit Leeds Buddhist Centre and what were your first impressions?

3. Pick three words that best describe your meditation practice.

Equilibrating. Sporadic. Energising.

4. Tell us a bit about a favourite book, poem or piece of music and why it inspires you.

5. Where in the world would you most like to visit and why?

6. Do you have any unusual talents?

I can flip my pupils right to the back of my eyes so that only the whites show. I look a bit undead when I do it, which can be useful.

7. You're invited to a fancy dress party, who do you go as?

8. The Buddhist Centre is awash with tea, what's your favourite brew?

A simple peppermint tea does it for me.

9. What are your plans for the rest of 2013?

I'm aiming to run ten 10km races before the end of December: one per month for the rest of the year. As I write this, the first - Harewood House Wrap Up and Run 10k - is just a few days away and I sense I'm a bit unprepared. Maybe I'll view this one as a warm up! I ran two 10km races late last year (November and December) so I'm comfortable with the distance but I'd love to clock a sub-40 minute time in 2013. I'm currently a few minutes off that though! Otherwise, I plan to cement a deeper and more regular meditation practice, which I hope will be expedited by retreats in Padmaloka in spring and Dhanakosa in summer. 

The Dharma Revolution in India

We have many legacies that come from Sangharakshita's years in India. This is where he practised, beginning as a young Englishman in the Signals Corps whose wartime placement took him to the land of the Buddha, staying there as a Buddhist monk until his return to England in 1964. This is where he met his many teachers, one of whom - Dhardo Rimpoche - we remember this month. This is also where Sangharakshita taught the Dharma, and his students are now the people who make up the Triratna Buddhist Order and the movement in India.

It's a rich heritage, and one which challenges our euro-centric approach - my sense that I know how the Dharma is practised, without awareness that I practice in a very British way with all my cultural assumptions and habits intact. It is amazing to look out from our own small Centre and see the Triratna Buddhist Community thriving around the world, taking different shapes in different countries and interacting in different ways with the society around it.

It is estimated that there may be as many as 25-40 million Buddhists in India today - people who take this identity following the mass conversions from Hinduism to Buddhism, following the example of their hero and leader Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. Many people chose this path to free themselves from the injustice of the Indian caste system that keeps the so-called 'Untouchables' in a state of poverty and deprivation.

Ambedkar, himself from the untouchable castes, was the Law Minister following Indian Independence; he worked with Gandhi but parted company with him over the issue of untouchability. When he converted to Buddhism in 1956 Ambedkar took many hundreds of thousands of the untouchable community with him; he died 6 weeks later leaving the new Buddhist community without a guide.

Sangharakshita's connection with Dr. Ambedkar led him to begin teaching amongst the new Buddhists in Maharashtra. Today there are over 400 men and women in the Triratna Buddhist Order in India, and around 1000 'dharma mitras' actively working towards ordination. This year for the second time the Order held its International Convention at Bodh Gaya, bringing people from all over the world to meet with Order members in India and to learn first-hand about the Dharma revolution there.

It is hard for us to have a sense of how the Dharma has changed lives for people in the former untouchable community. To become a Buddhist means stepping away from tradition, from superstition, old religious practices, from worshipping the household gods. It means taking responsibility for one's own life, going beyond caste conditioning, being open to the possibility of change - and also working to improve the lives of the community around you. 

Sanket and Satish - Students from the Nagaloka Training Institute

At Nagaloka Training Institute at Nagpur, students come from states throughout India to learn about the Dharma and the work of Dr Ambedkar, and to gain tools for social change - learning about the Indian Constitution, fundamental human rights, the Indian legal system, some basic principles of social work. They share Ambedkar's goal of creating a New India based on the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.

When I spoke to my friend Dayavajri recently who has just returned from the Order Convention at Bodh Gaya she said "It's only when you see us - the Triratna Buddhist Order - practising together under the Bodhi tree, and you see other peoples' responses that you realise what a radical thing we are doing". People from different countries, castes, backgrounds, men and women - learning from each other, a truly international gathering united in a common purpose. A true Dharma Revolution.

Jumbo takings at our annual Jumble Sale

It was a sight to see - trestle tables groaning with the weight of old clothing, children's toys and games, books, CDs and DVDs and a large amount of what might tactfully be described as 'bric-a-brac', all generously donated by folks connected in some way to Leeds Buddhist Centre. A refreshment stall offered tea, coffee, squash and biscuits.

Our annual jumble sale, organised by David Turner, stored and transported by Andrew Nightingale and staffed by a hard-working jumble sale team, was held on Saturday 16th March in the spacious, chilly Chapel Allerton Methodist Church Hall. It raised a very decent £900 to put towards the Buddhist Centre's ongoing running costs.Some of the money came from the 20p entry fee. Many visitors gave generously, rounding up their contribution to 50p or £1 and it was touching to see that those who looked the most hard up were often the most generous.  More revenue came (and is still coming -ed.) from specific high quality pieces of jumble our sorters recognised and set aside to sell on eBay. 

'Certain individuals donated some very valuable items,' said David Turner, 'for which we are most grateful.' The rest of the money was raised from on-the-day sales.

We didn't price the items formally so, in true jumble sale style, when a punter expressed interest, those who manned and womanned the tables guesstimated what they thought something was worth. Keen salesmanship was seen on bric-a-brac when a punter offered £15 for a Play Station worth £20. John and Matt's silently exchanged look (genuine, they assure me) persuaded the punter to raise his offer to £18.

A steady stream of visitors came out looking happy. Although the main point of the sale was to raise money for the Centre, it was touching to see how delighted people were with their bargains.

The children had a field day at the toys and games table, though one little girl, when asked if she was coming away with anything new, said in the sober voice of a child echoing a parent, 'No. I've already got enough toys.' One young woman was thrilled to have found two Willow Pattern bowls and some pretty plates. One man, pulling back his trouser cuffs to show his shoes, said he'd bought them at our Jumble Sale two years ago, paid £1.50 for them and had worn them every day since 'even for gardening.' Another woman fell in love with a stained glass lampshade to the point where she was completely prepared to overlook whether it would fit her lamp or not. Another asked 'are you all Buddhists? I would like to thank you all for coming to Chapel Allerton.'  I resisted the temptation to say 'some of us live here': it would have seemed churlish.

One enterprising character avoided paying the 20p entry fee by citing a wife who was about to arrive with some change. It also looked as if, taking the idea of bargain hunting right to the edge, he charged his mobile phone using the Methodist Hall's electricity. Of course, the wife may have been unavoidably detained elsewhere, the phone charging unpremeditated. Either way, it just seemed part of the day's colourful jumble of objects, people and events.

The only frustration was the huge amount of jumble left over at the end. The two hours we were open sped by, and less than a quarter of the total amount was sold in that time. However, much of what remained was taken to charity shops or to be sold at a textile recycling centre, so nothing was wasted. It's great to know that a decent sum of money was raised for the Buddhist Centre and that local people benefited from bargains at a time when money is tight for many. It was also heart warming to imagine some people's cast-offs on their way to becoming other people's treasures.

Remembering Dhardo Rimpoche

Rimpoche first spotted a yellow-robed Sangharakshita from a distance in 1949, exclaiming to his attendant 'Look! The Dharma has gone as far as the West!' 

On the façade of a school in northern India, two deer are depicted holding the Buddha's Wheel of Truth. The motto of the school is 'Cherish the Doctrine - Live United - Radiate Love'. This was the message of the school's founder - Dhardo Rimpoche - who was born in Tibet in 1918 and recognised as the thirteenth incarnation of the Dhardo Tulku. He would later move to India and form a strong friendship with Sangharakshita. As the latter emphasised in 1991 during a talk to mark the first anniversary of Dhardo Rimpoche's death, 'Cherish the Doctrine - Live United - Radiate Love' was not just something he said, it was something he lived by. The present month marks the twenty-third anniversary of Dhardo Rimpoche's passing, time then to look back at the life of a unique individual and reflect on the ways he embodied his message.  

The Indo-Tibetan Cultural Institute

 Further studies were cut short by illness in 1947 and Dhardo Rimpoche travelled to northern India seeking medical assistance. He settled in Bodh Gaya and began teaching the Dharma - a role that became increasingly important after the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. Realising that the light of the Dharma might well be extinguished in Tibet and would have to be preserved in exile, Dhardo Rimpoche founded a school in Kalimpong - the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Cultural Institute - to provide a traditional education for the child refugees pouring into the country. 

'Look! The Dharma has gone as far as the West!' 

Dhardo Rimpoche first spotted a yellow-robed Sangharakshita from a distance in 1949, exclaiming to his attendant 'Look! The Dharma has gone as far as the West!' In 1952, they finally came face to face and the seeds of friendship were sown. Sangharakshita assisted Dhardo Rimpoche with the running of his school by fundraising, translating, and writing letters, while Dhardo Rimpoche became one of Sangharakshita's teachers. 

In 1962, he conducted Sangharakshita's Bodhisattva ordination and gave him a detailed

Sangharakshita and Dhardo Rimpoche

explanation of the sixty-four precepts he'd pledged to observe. But Dhardo Rimpoche soon found that he could also learn from his pupil. As Suvajra explains:
Before meeting Sangharakshita, Dhardo Rimpoche had been accustomed to teaching in the 'classical' style, seated on a throne while his disciples sat below ... While teacher-disciple bonds were usually very strong, Rimpoche commented that it was rare for a lama to develop a close friendship with a pupil. Thus it came as a revelation when he realized that something remarkable had developed between himself and Sangharakshita. They had become intimate friends.  

Sangharakshita has often emphasised his great respect for Dhardo Rimpoche, a man he believed to be a living Bodhisattva: 'I saw how unassuming he was, how kind, and how mindful in everything he did. I saw how helpful he was to visiting Western scholars, how utterly devoted to the welfare of the pupils of his school [and] how patient with his irascible old mother'. Dhardo Rimpoche's capacity to love - that's 'love' in the sense of 'metta' and 'karuna' - was perhaps his most remarkable quality and that which underpinned his tireless work to transmit the Dharma and unite its practitioners. When asked about how his own reincarnation might be recognised Dhardo Rimpoche said, 'The boy must have the same qualities as I have. I don't have ordinary feelings - I have continual compassion for people. Only a boy with those qualities will do'.

Dhardo Rimpoche (1918 - 1990)

Matt McCarthy

Poetry

BUSTOP of redundant leaves

               Another summer passed with little trace 

                          Save the lines on my body grow deeper 

                                       The cracks on my heart grow thinner 

                                                       Life's lessons on my mind grow sharper 

 Dinah Milsom

Buddhafield North 2013

BUDDHAFIELD NORTH MEN'S WEEKEND CAMPING RETREAT

Friday 7 - Sunday 9 June 2013

Led by Dayaka and Sanghaketu

An exploration of the Karaniya Metta Sutta 

the Buddha's discourse on Loving-kindness

Dayaka writes: The Pali word metta has many meanings but is most commonly translated as loving kindness. Essentially metta is an altruistic attitude of friendliness as distinguished from those amiable feelings that are partly growing out of self-interest. Through developing metta we break through our bubble of ego and make connections with the world. Through a growing awareness of others we identify less and less with our own agenda and cultivate an interest in all creatures. It becomes less and less a case of us against them. Through increasing awareness of our true relationship with the world our own mental and spiritual health is given the best possible chance to flourish.

The Karaniya Metta Sutta is the source material of much of the Buddha's teaching on metta. In it, the Buddha discusses the conditions that we must obtain for metta to arise and how to cultivate it in one's mind and heart. It is a short, highly practical guide to developing metta that Buddhist have turned to most readily through the centuries.

Buddhafield North have now been running camping retreats for ten years. On this men's weekend camping retreat we will be exploring the sutta through meditation, talks, ritual and just hanging out at a beautiful farm just north of Ilkley, in West Yorkshire. We will provide a full retreat programme and food, leaving you plenty of spare time, perhaps to enjoying the West Yorkshire countryside or just soak up the peaceful retreat atmosphere.

You will need to bring your own camping equipment. The retreat is suitable for those familiar with the meditation as taught by the Triratna Buddhist Community.

The cost is £85 (fully wage); £75 (low); £60 (none). Full joining instructions will be given on booking.

BUDDHAFIELD NORTH WOMEN'S WEEKEND CAMPING RETREAT

GROUND OF THE GODDESS 

led by Padmadarshini, Vidyabhadri and Santasiddhi

June 14th -16th Buddhafield North

Padmadarshini writes, "The Goddess as archetype has lived in the human psyche since ancient times when we lived as hunter - gatherers. As 'mother goddess' associated with the moon and cycles of life and death she was an image of the universe as an organic, alive sacred whole in which all life participates in mutual relationship.

As times changed the Goddess - the feminine principle - was lost, 'swallowed' up by the new consciousness - with the God as the prevailing mythic symbol - and a new paradigm that discriminates and separates and introduces a split between spirit/ matter, thinking/feeling, instinct/ reason... a new paradigm necessary for evolving human consciousness.

The Goddess, though subordinated, hidden, was not lost entirely. Her symbols endure and she lives on as an aspect of human consciousness. We experience her when we encounter qualities of deep feeling and presence, spontaneity, the capacity to be where we are in the moment, to be 'in process', receptivity, the capacity to accept all of life, at ease with paradox.

The times we live in now call for all of us - women and men both - to re-embody the feminine - not by going back to the Goddess of the past but to "dream the dream onwards" - to an new integration that honours both the feminine and the masculine in each of us. Within this context our weekend will be a re-membering of the Goddess - exploring how she appears to us today, where we might find her and what images and symbols invoke her. And we will explore how she lives on in archetypes of the Buddhist tradition.

Our explorations will include meditation, bodywork, talks, discussion and ritual. The site has a beautiful view across the valley, surrounded by fields and trees. In the company of other women, we can let the positive conditions and company in this natural environment revive and restore us.

Please note that the views expressed in this newsletter are the opinions of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Leeds Buddhist Centre, theTriratna Buddhist Community (Leeds) or The Triratna Buddhist Order