An E-Newsletter for the Buddhist community in and around Northeast Ohio
Vol. 1, Issue 3, October 25, 2003
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Upcoming Events
Palyul Ohio offers Vajrayana Buddhism course
Palyul Ohio's resident monk, Gonpo Tashi, will teach an "Introduction to Vajrayana Buddhism" course beginning October 22 through November 19. Palyul's announcement states the course will be in "non-linear" format so readers are invited any Wednesday course. Each Wednesday will begin with meditation from 7:00 to 7:45 pm, then a Dharma Talk. The course will be held at the Friend's Meeting House, 10916 Magnolia Drive,University Circle.. Free will offering. Gonpo Tashi was ordained by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche.
Palyul Ohio is also planning its winter program with its Spiritual Director, Khenpo Tsewang Gyatso Rinpoche who will visit Cleveland January 8 to 20th. The program will span two weekends. E-mail info@palyul.org for more information.
New York City Yogi visits Beachwood Nov. 1-2
November 1-2, Evolution Yoga in Beachwood hosts Cyndi Lee, director of OM Yoga in New York City. Lee is the author of the OM Yoga in a Box series and OM Yoga: A guide to daily practice. She also practices in the Shambala Buddhist lineage.
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Date
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Time
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Class
Description
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| Saturday, Nov 1 | 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM | Making Friends with Yourself and your Hips |
| 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM | Extra Juicy Vinyasa, OM yoga-style; Intermediate/Advanced Vinyasa Class | |
| 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM | Dharma talk and book signing; light snack and beverages provided | |
| Sunday, Nov 2 | 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM | Cultivating Boddhicitta and Backbending |
For more info, contact Jennie McMullen; phone: (216) 939/9117.
Martial artist will discuss Taoist view of Buddhist tradition
CloudWater Zendo hosts the final installment of its 2003 Perspectives serives on November 9 at 6:30 pm. Sifu Rikk Mayr, superintendent of the Nei Jiao Academy of Internal Martial Arts will discuss the Taoist view of the Buddhist tradition. Free admission; donations welcomed.
Bob Carr holds macrobiotic class at Cloudwater Zendo Nov. 23
Bob Carr, Director of the East-West Center of Cleveland and a nationally known expert on macrobiotics will explain the macrobiotic approach to diet on Sunday, November 23rd at 5:30 p.m at Cloudwater Zendo. Admission is free; donations are most appreciated.
CloudWater Zendo plans three-day December retreat in Peninsula, OH
CloudWater Zendo will hold its fifth annual Buddha's Enlightenment Retreat December 5-7, The retreat will be at the Stanford House hostel in Peninsula, Ohio, about 30 minutes south of Cleveland in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
There wil be a five-day meditation intensive preceding the retreat at the Zendo. Morning sessions will be 6:00 to 7:00 am; evening sessions will be 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The retreat costs $120; a non-refundable deposit of $50 is due Wednesday, December 3. For addtional information e-mail: yingfa@cloudwater.org.
Local News
Wild Goose Sangha's Jim Parrott invites engaged Buddhists to volunteer at homeless shelter
Jim Parrott, founder of the Wild Goose Pure Land Sangha invites readers interested in engaged Buddhism to join him in volunteering at a local homeless shelter.
The first Saturday of every month, from 9:30 to 11:30 am, Parrott sponsors a breakfast for the homeless at the "Storefront" shelter on Lorain Ave. near W. 45th St. You can work at the shelter or provide monetary or material donations (food, clothing, health supplies).
Parrott is also looking for anyone interested in peace and justice-related activities, animal rescue, caregiving, cleanup of area parks and natural areas, random acts of gratuitio! us kindness.
Parrott is affiliated with the Amida Trust, an engaged Pure Land Buddhist group headquartered in the United Kingdom. He's been a practicing Buddhist since 1973 and has practiced with a number of Cleveland-area groups.
For more information, e-mail Parrott at jjparrott@jonesday.com; or call his daytime number: (216) 586-7560; evening number: (440) 449-2165.
Cleveland Zen Group November/December schedule
The Cleveland Zen Group (a Soto Zen sangha affiliated with Chicago’s Udumbara Zen Center) holds regular Thursday evening sittings at the Cleveland Buddhist Temple (CBT) at 7:00 PM. Fee: voluntary donation of $5 or more to the CBT.
CZG’s Saturday meditation and study classes continue every other Saturday at CBT: Nov. 8, Nov. 22, Dec. 13, Dec. 27. This class is following a series of tapes on the Noble Eightfold Path by Steve Hagen of Dharma Field Zen Center in Minneapolis. Class begins at 9:00 AM. After a routine of zazen/kin hin/zazen, the class listens to the tape and holds a short, informal discussion. For more information, contact Dean Williams; phone: (440) 446-1142. Fee: voluntary donation of $5 or more to the CBT.
Jewel Heart Cleveland will study Rimpoche's Good Life, Good Death
Jewel Heart Cleveland's Anne Warren will lead a study group on Gehlek Rimpoche'sGood Life, Good Death. beginning Wednesday, November 6, 7:00 to 8:30 pm.The course is open to beginners and seasoned practitioners. Fee: $80 non-members; $70 members; free for supporting members. For more info, e-mail aewarren@apk.net or call (440) 576-1190 to register.
Regional News
Pittsburgh’s Stillpoint holds weekend retreat Oct. 31 to Nov. 2
Stillpoint, a Soto Zen Practice community based in Pittsburgh, announced a weekend retreat with Shohaku Okumura Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. The retreat will be at Kearns Spirituality Center, in Pittsburgh’s North Hills. Contact Don Orr at (412) 366-4268 for information.
Canton group holds Ch'an meditation intensive Nov. 8
CloudWater Zendo's Canton affiliate isholding a one-day Ch'an meditation intensive Saturday, November 8 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. The intensive will be led by Ven. Shih Ying-Fa at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 425 Cleveland Ave. SW, Canton, OH. Fee: $15.
Ann Arbor Jewel Heart winter retreat dates
Jewel Heart announced it's Winter Retreat, previously scheduled for the Christmas holidays, has been rescheduled. It will be Sunday, Feb. 8 to Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004 at the Jewel Heart Center in Ann Arbor, MI. The subject of the retreat will be Chittamani Tara. A previous Mahanutarayoga tantra initiation is required for attendance. Visit www.jewelheart.org for more details.
National News
Jewel Heart's Gehlek Rimpoche will speak at International Congress on Tibetan Medicine in Washington, DC
Gehlek Rimpoche, spiritual leader of the Jewel Heart sangha headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI, will be a keynote speaker at the Second International Congress on Tibetan Medicine, November 5-8 at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, D.C.
Rimpoche will open the Congress with a teaching on compassion on Wednesday, November 5 at 7:30 pm. He will give teaching on the Medicine Buddha on Saturday, November 8 at 3:30 pm.
Jewel Heart members receive a 20% discount onthe $345 fee. For more information, visit www.procultura.org or call (866) 547-3309.
Webcast of Dalai Lama's two major U.S. speeches available online
The Mind & Life Institute and The Initiatives Foundation are hosting two of the Dalai Lama's recent public speeches online at the BeliefNet Web site. Highlights from the speeches in New York's Central Park and in Boston are available as either RealPlayer video/audio files or text transcripts.
International News
Dalai Lama: Don't turn Buddhism into a cultural fashion statement
During his visit to Spain in early October, the Dalai Lama said westerners should not turn to Buddhism lightly "for fashion." He told reporters believers should not mix religious traditions.
"People from different traditions should keep their own, rather than change. However, some Tibetan may prefer Islam, so he can follow it. Some Spanish prefer Buddhism; so follow it. But think about it carefully. Don't do it for fashion. Some people start Christian, follow Islam, then Buddhism, then nothing."
"In the United States I have seen people who embrace Buddhism and change their clothes," he said, laughing. "Like the New Age. They take something Hindu, something Buddhist, something, something. ... That is not healthy."
"I am Buddhist," he added. "Therefore, Buddhism is the only truth for me, the only religion. To my Christian friend, Christianity is the only truth, the only religion. To my Muslim friend, Mohammedanism is the only truth, the only religion. In the meantime, I respect and admire my Christian friend and my Muslim friend. If by unifying you mean mixing, that is impossible, useless."
Read the complete story: "Dalai Lama asks West not to turn Buddhism into a fashion," Zenit News Agency via Phayul.com, October 9, 2003.
Culture and the Arts
400-year-old Buddhist mask returned to Nepal
Austria returned a stolen 400-year-old Buddhist mask to Nepal. The bronze and copper mask was discovered when a German citizen tried to sell it to an Austrian ethnography museum for $200,000. This beautiful mask was still in active ritual use in Nepal when it mysteriously disappeared two years ago along with three small statues that have not yet been recovered.
Source; "Stolen mask returned to Nepal," BBC Online, October 24, 2003.
Treasures from the Potala Palace embark on a two-year U.S. tour
More than 200 sacred objects from Tibet's Potala Palace, former home of the Dalai Lama, are making a two-year tour of U.S. museums.
"Treasures from the Roof of the World," opened in early October at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, CA. The exhibit will travel to Houston, New York City and San Francisco between now and September 2005.
October 2003 to May 16, 2004 October 16, 2004 to January 8, 2005 February 8, 2005 to May 8, 2005 June 12, 2005 to September 11, 2005 Be sure and visit The Bowers Museum's online version of the exhibit. It includes images of some of the artifacts and an introduction to the history of the exhibit.
Related article:
"Tibetan art visits United States for the first time," Associated Press via the Bismarck Tribune, October 12, 2003. This article includes coverage of the controversy surrounding the exhibit's visit
Sixth-century Chinese Buddhist statues will visit the Smithsonian in February
Thirty-five sixth-century Buddhist statues from the former Longxingsi Buddhist temple in Qingzhou, Shandong Province will be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's Sackler Gallery beginning February 21, 2004.
The statues were among more than 400 images discovered in 1998 in a shallow pit near the site of the former temple when workers began excavating the site for a sports field. Experts believe the statues were broken and ritually buried beneath a (now lost) pagoda in the early 1100s.
The exhibit has drawn large crowds over the past two years in Berlin, Zurich and London. The statues will return to China when the Smithsonian's exhibit, Return of the Buddha: The Quingzhou Discoveries, closes July 5, 2004.
You can view images of some of the statues and discover more about the exhibit, at the Royal Academy of Art's Return of the Buddha Web site and the Studio International Web site.
A paper-back catalogue of the Royal Academy's 2002 exhibit is on sale for about $75 at SelectBooks.com; Amazon has only two copies available for about $90.
New Books: The Monastery Cookbook and Buddhism Is Not What You Think
The Santa Cruz Sentinel's Nancy Redwine reviews The Monastery Cookbook by long-time Soto Zen teacher Cheri Huber. It was compiled by Huber and the monks at the Zen Monastery Practice Center in Murphys, CA. Huber also authored When You're Falling, Dive.
"This sweet collection of simple veggie recipes — interspersed with semiprecious essays on life in the monastery kitchen — draws on a 30-year history of cookbooks promoting the joys of 'conscious' cooking, eating and living," writes Redwine. Her complete review: "New monastery cookbook feeds an old hunger," Santa Cruz Sentinel, October 15, 2003.
Minnesota Soto Zen teacher Steve Hagen's new book is Buddhism is Not What You Think (Harper Collins).This collection of essays is based on talks Hagen has given over the last few years. Dean Williams, a local Soto Zen teacher,, has kindly consented to send Sangham a short review of Hagen's new book for an upcoming issue. Williams is currently leading an on-going study group based on Hagen's multi-tape series on the noble eight-fold path (see Local News above).
Have you discovered a recently published book that you'd like to share with Sangham readers? E-mail the editor a short (100-200 word max) review. Please include title, author, publisher. Remember, Sangham is a newsletter. So no oldies but goodies, please.
In search of: Buddhist calendar authority
NEO Sangham editor Lynne Brakeman is seeking an authoritative reference calendar of Buddhist holy days for the next two years or so. Preferably, the source would include sacred dates for all of the major Buddhist lineges (Theravdin, Tibetan, Pure Land, Soto, etc.) and, if possible, for different ethnic groups (eg. Thai, Korean). Important: the calendar should show the actual dates based on the western calendar (not just the lunar dates). Several evenings of exhaustive Internet search have produced very little result. Please e-mail me if you can point me in the right direction.
Zen Society of Cleveland - CloudWater Zendo
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and then with all your heart to give yourself to it,"
— Dhammapada, trans. Thomas Byrom.