HIGHLAND SANGHA
T R I R AT N A B U D D H I S T C O M M U N I T Y
Spring Newsletter 2011
Welcome to the Spring edition of the Highland Sangha Newsletter. As you know the
theme for 2011 is The Three Jewels, and this edition is dedicated to the first, ie the
Buddha.
Firstly we are taken to India and Nepal on a pilgrimage in the footsteps of the historical
Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. With some beautiful images from places the Buddha
lived and walked we can connect with the ‘awakened one’.
In March the Highland Sangha came together, somewhere a little
closer to home, in the equally stunning and evocative surroundings
of the West Coast to study and meditate together, to reflect on and
evoke, the Buddha.
BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE
India, February 2011
Anne and I reached 60 years old in 2010. There are some advantages for me; such as a free bus pass, not being busy
with paid work, no aging parents left to care for, no child needing support and luckily we are still reasonably fit. So we
planned to go to India on a two and a half week guided pilgrimage. It was about 1000km by bus in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
and a day in Nepal for Lumbini. (Flying to Delhi and then another flight to Patna, ending the bus journey in Lucknow and
then back to Delhi on another flight).
It is difficult to know how to share our experience but these are some ideas that struck me.
•
India, despite the news we hear, seems to be a lovely, tolerant place. It feels acceptable to hold two or more
conflicting opinions or ideas, for instance you could be Buddhist and Jewish and Catholic etc.
•
There is a common gesture, the delightful sideways rolling head nod, which our guide translated as “Yes, no, maybe,
thank you”. Probably very useful everywhere.
•
The Ganges plain is a pleasantly warm place in February. It is a fertile flat landscape, rich in rice and wheat. There
are many villages, and it is very crowded but people seem to be tolerant of visitors and are welcoming and friendly.
The geography is just right for walking around for 45 years teaching. It is still possible to follow literally in the
footsteps of the Buddha.
•
Our teacher, Shantum Seth, showed us that we can feel gratitude to the Buddha for doing so many things for us; like
trying out the austerities until he nearly died, so that we don’t have to do it; and describing the path clearly so that
we can just follow it without having to rediscover it.
•
Pilgrimage is a big industry. There are many Thais, Burmese, Sri Lankans, Indians, Tibetans (particularly in
Bodhgaya), some westerners, Japanese and Koreans doing it. Some make rapid and arduous trips, taking in at
least the four sites recommended by the Buddha; his birthplace in Lumbini (Nepal), his enlightenment in Bodhgaya
in Bihar, his first teaching in Sarnath (near Varanasi) and his death in Kushinagar.
•
There are bodhi trees everywhere. If you stop on the road and walk to a shady place under a tree it is very likely to
be a bodhi tree.
Probably the best thing that I learnt for the future was mindful walking. I have been taught this beautifully by Dhammarati.
We walked slowly back and forth on the frosty ground outside Newbold house in Forres. Also by
Paramananda who taught us by walking very slowly in a circle at Anam Cara in Inverness.
I have enjoyed this practice and always liked it but it can also be done at something
more like hiking speed. It means matching and counting the number of steps
with the in breath and with the out breath without forcing anything until it
becomes an easy fluid process. The Buddha may have done this to cover
his estimated 10km a day.
Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya
In fact I discovered that our teacher and guide was like the Buddha
in the Angulimala story, when he walks slowly through the forest
but Angulimala is running as fast as he can but cannot catch
him up. I found myself lagging behind as we walked along
the narrow paths between the fields and from time to time I
had to race to keep up. When I looked at him he was still
just slowly and mindfully walking along ahead.
Robert Arnold
Lotus pond
Parinivana statue, Kushinagar
Vultures Peak, Rajgir
Sunset from Angulimala stupa,Sravasti
Interested to read more about the
Buddha?...
News is just in of a much awaited new book by Vishvapani.
Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One
was published on January 6th in the UK and Commonwealth by
Quercus Books in a handsome and substantial hardback volume.
Vishvapani is well known in Triratna as the former editor of Dharma
Life magazine and the Buddhist voice on BBC Radio 4’s religious
comment slot, Thought for the Day.
In the footsteps of the Buddha
Sariputra Stupa at Nalanda
He writes:
“Writing Gautama Buddha has been quite a journey. I had to become
much more familiar with the Pali sources and the scholarship
around them, and also to use my imagination to conjure up the
Buddha’s world, which was so different from ours. I needed to cut
through the legends that are such familiar parts of the Buddha’s
biography but can make him into a figure from a fairy tale world, not a real person with genuine
struggles. Returning the Buddha to history showed up his amazing originality and penetration. For
example, the ancient Indians were terrified of the world of the forest and the dangerous spirits who,
they believed, lived there. I think that by confronting his own fears the Buddha discovered a new way
of experiencing the natural world and, in turn, that transformed the perspective of his disciples.
“I tried hard to avoid what most books on the Buddha offer: a biographical account up to the
Enlightenment, then a chapter on ‘the Teachings’ and finally a canter through the last year of his life. I
wanted to show that the teachings were integrated with Gautama’s life and experience. The problem
is that chronology largely disappears from the sources in the period between the Enlightenment
and the final few years of the Buddha’s life, but we can trace how he developed his ideas through
dialogue and debate with other religious practitioners. We can also trace how the Buddha created
practices that enabled his disciples to see life as he saw it; how he established a new kind of
renunciate community, navigating all sorts of problems as he went; and how that community found
a place in the wider society and even tried to change it. We have the a detailed account of the
Buddha’s last year, and the tremendous dignity of his Parinirvana, but his final years also seem to
have been a time of crisis for the community and the region he lived in. The wider story is about how
an Awakened individual with an utterly unfamiliar and deeply challenging message became a force
in the world. His influence eventually produced a vast spiritual tradition and a Buddhist civilisation.
“It’s quite a story, and I don’t think it has been fully told before in this way. I hope that Buddhist
readers will learn something on every page about the world the Buddha inhabited and why he
expressed himself as he did. My experience in writing the book was that this brought me much
closer to him. Bhante has recently stressed that the Buddha’s core teachings are the basis of the
Triratna approach to the Dharma and emphasised the importance of imagining the Buddha. I hope
my book will help people to see those teachings more clearly and imagine the Buddha more vividly
by seeing him in his historical setting.”
Bodhi leaves
Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One
By Vishvapani Blomfield
Quercus Books, 2011, £25 h/b.
You can read more about the book at www.gautamabuddha.info
http://fwbo-news.blogspot.com/2011/01/gautama-buddha-new-book-by-vishvapani.html
Under a bodhi tree
Imagining the Buddha
He has no anger, no fear and no pride. Nothing disturbs his composure and nothing gives him
cause for regret. He is the wise man who is restrained in his speech.
He does not conceal anything and there is nothing he holds on to. Without enquisitiveness or envy,
he remains unobtrusive; he has not disdain or insult for anyone.
He is not a man who is full of himself, or a man who is addicted to pleasure; he is a man who is
gentle and alert, with no blind faith; he shows no aversion (to anything).
He is not a person who works because he wants something; if he gets nothing at all he remains
unpeturbed. There is no craving to build up the passion to tase new pleasures.
His mindfulness holds him poised in a constant even mindedness where arrogance is impossible;
he makes no comparisons with the rest of the world as ‘superior;, ‘inferior’ or ‘equal’.
Because he understands the Way Things Are, he is free from dependency and there is nothing he
can relies on. For him there is no craving to exist or not to exist.
This is what I call a man who is calmed. It is a man who does not seek after pleasure, who has
nothing to tie him down, who has gone beyond the pull of attachment.
It is a man without sons, a man without wealth...- a man with nothing in him that he grasps at as
his and nothing in him that he rejects as not his.
He is a man who receives false criticisms from other people... but who remains undisturbed and
unmoved by their words.
Sutta Nipāta translated by Saddhatissa, Curzon Press, London 1985.
body like a mountain
heart like the ocean
mind like the sky
“Certainly the chosen location was perfect, with the weather a bonus, and the
warmth shared by the group inspired me enormously.”
“On reflection I think I got the most out of the writing exercise. It’s the part I dreaded
the most as I’m not a great writer, but it did move me to find out more about ‘the
Buddha’ and Buddhism in general so really has led me to read, discover and ‘mull
over’ so much more, which so far has been pretty positive.”
“The deep sense of right-ness and belonging I find with the Buddha, the Dharma
and the Sangha.”
“Well - inspired, or maybe moved - seeing the dharma affect people - overhearing
Alison say could she come on Highland retreats after she’s moved to
Edinburgh.”
“The world doesn’t stop, I haven’t got off, everything is as it was before the retreat.
Yet something remains of the experience and that is that now I know that a sense
of community, of calmness and excitement, of making sense of the world and the
meaning of life is possible. For a short while a light shone on the world such that
I know something invaluable is found again and and I know the direction of travel
- even if looking ahead I notice that the path is, in places, steep and uneven it is
nevertheless the right path.”
“Imagining the Buddha”
HIGHLAND SANGHA WEEKEND RETREAT, Gairloch, March 2011
Forthcoming Events
Courses
Saturday 14th May
WESAK Festival of Awakening
Venue: Merkinch Hall, Inverness
Introductory talks, meditation taster sessions
and craft activities for children. Celebrate the
Buddha becoming awakened! If you would
like to participate please email Satyapada at:
[email protected]
DINGWALL
The DINGWALL class will resume after
WESAK, ie Saturday 21 May 2011.
Sunday 5 June
The Dharma of Conditionality
Practice Day led by Abhayadevi
Venue: Anam Cara, Inverness
Sunday 3 July
Celebrating Dharma Day
Practice Day led by Animisha
Venue: Anam Cara, Inverness
August 5/6th
Belladrum
Venue: Belladrum Estate, Beauly
A group of us will be at Belladrum offering
introductory sessions of meditation, and
enjoying the opportunity to practice Sangha. If
you would like to come and help, please email
Claire at: [email protected]
August 26th, 7.30pm
Bhante’s Birthday Puja
Venue: Anam Cara Shrine Room
A puja in honour of Bhante’s 86th birthday.
Bhante / Sangharakshita is the founder of the
Triratna Buddhist Community. Followed by a
cuppa in the art studio.
INVERNESS
The next introductory course will commence
after the summer break. Please phone
Abhayadevi on 07775 506020 if you are
interested.
ELGIN
The next Introduction to Buddhist Meditation
course in ELGIN will start at the end of August.
Contact Kevin highland_meditation@yahoo.
co.uk for more information.
For latest on all events and activities visit:
www.bigmind.org.uk
A huge THANK YOU to all who have contributed
to this edition of the newsletter!!! If you have any
articles, images, poems or notices you would
like to include in the next DHARMA edition of
the newsletter please contact Sam.
[email protected]