REFLECTIONS
The quarterly E-Magazine of the Bucks County Buddhist Sangha
Three disciplines to progress on the Buddhist path are study, reflection and meditation.

Winter Issue February 2007                                    Vol. I  Issue 1



Table of contents

Articles        

Editors Comments:
So this is the first issue of  REFLECTIONS the Buddhist Sangha of Bucks County’
s quarterly e-mag. Hope you enjoy it. It, like all newborns, will grow and mature
with time. Of course it needs your help. We are looking to you to contribute to your
e-magazine. So be sure to check out the section called Contact Us!



From the President’s Pen
             By Jim Hild, BSBC President
Food for Thought - Understanding the Dharma is more than readings and
discussions!
Why do I feel that I am living in two different worlds sometimes?  I have been
actively studying the Dharma now for over six years - not that long of a time, to
say the least.  But the time I have put in to this study, has proved to be very
beneficial to me in my spiritual growth, but then has it? Recently I came across the
following passage while exploring new ideas with my practice that caused me to
think more about what I am doing with my spiritual life in general, or is there a
difference between a one’s spiritual life and life itself? :  
“Our present understanding and experience of Dharma is quite superficial. We are
like someone who has entered a huge food store and seen many things but
sampled only a few. We may have received many different teachings from many
different Teachers, but we have taken in very little,
just a few morsels.  There is a gap between us and the Dharma. It feels as if
Dharma is there and we are here. Our mind is not mixed with Dharma and so we
cannot apply it in our daily lives. As a result our ordinary everyday problems
remain. We also find it difficult to integrate our spiritual path into our daily lives
and so we cannot use this Dharma to solve our daily problems.  When we study
Dharma our mind remains passive, like someone watching television. Therefore
our daily life and our Dharma remain completely separate and unrelated.  Why is
this? It is because we are not studying and practicing systematically according to a
specially designed spiritual program. If we just dabble superficially in a spiritual
path we will never gain a deep and stable experience, and our wisdom will never
develop to its full potential. This is why the spiritual programs offered by the New
Kadampa Tradition are so important." -Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
This started me thinking that while I have been actively studying the Dharma, I am
not really integrating it into my life, in a way that it would really be a benefit to me.  
While I am not advocating the New Kadampa tradition here, I do understand what
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso is saying.  It is not the first time this idea has been part of
my thinking, but up until recently, I have done exactly what Geshe has stated “Our
mind is not mixed with Dharma and so we cannot apply it in our daily lives. .....
Therefore our daily life and our Dharma remain completely separate and
unrelated.”  So what is this Dharma that I am studying, and how do I integrate into
my life, really?  

Dharma has been defined as a “preventive measure”. It's something that we do in
order to avoid problems, not just correct them.  I have become more and more
aware of the fact that I tend to pick and choose when to apply the

Dharma to my life, sort of like taking an aspirin when I have a headache.  But why
do I do this, if the Dharma can be more that just an aspirin, why can’t I just apply it
to everything I do – preventative and corrective?  The practice of Dharma is not
just to feel good, or to have something to do on Monday evenings, or to be trendy,
or anything like that. The practice of Dharma, as I understand it, is intended to
help me (us) get rid of our problems, completely!

One of the most important points in Buddhism I have come to understand has
been to realize that my problems that I experience arise from causes. It's not that
they're there because of no cause at all. The source of these problems is within
me - my Karma!  My problems are not external or caused by someone else.   I
must find the source of my own suffering that is within me, which leads back me to
my original statement of feeling that I am living in two different worlds.  This is the
delusion.  In reality, I am only living in one world - the world of the moment.  
Therefore, I must find the source of my delusion and intellectually, I believe it to be
my unwillingness to let go of those things maintain my “self”.  
I am probably correct when I say that progress is never linear; it goes up and
down and up and down. This is one of the main characteristics of samsara, and
it's not just talking about higher and lower rebirths. Going up and down also refers
to everyday life. Now I feel happy; now I feel unhappy. Our moods go up and
down. Now, I feel like practicing, now I don’t feel like practicing -- that goes up and
down all the time.  So I am guessing that my practice goes the same way. It doesn’
t mean that I have been a terrible practitioner. It’s just natural, given the reality of
our samsaric condition. What do you think?
that fallen flower
returning to the branch
was a butterfly
                    (Moritake) *

Nothing ends with you ---
every leaf on the ground
remembering root
(Corman)*

*Taken from The Unswept Path a collection of contemporary American Haiku

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Words of the Buddha:
Every fool who is born
Has an axe within his mouth
With which he cuts himself
When he uses wrong speech
Sn 657
Speak kind words, words
Rejoiced at and welcomed
Words that bear ill-will to none;
Always speak kindly to others.
Sn. 452
The worse of the two is he
Who, when abused retaliates.
One who does not retaliate
Wins a battle hard to win.
S. I. 162
The fool thinks he has won a battle
When he bullies with harsh speech
But knowing how to be forbearing
Alone makes one victorious.
S. I. 163

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The following is an excerpt from Thich Nhat Hahn’s book The Diamond that Cuts
through Illusion:
He uses “oil” to mean the Dharma or Buddhist teachings and “the water” to mean
Western society.  
If Westerners bring into their society an exotic expression of Buddhism, thinking
that this particular form of Buddhism is the only true Buddhism, the oil will never
dissolve into the water. Buddhism will only succeed here if it is built from your own
experiences and with your own cultural ingredients. If you practice in exactly the
same way we practice in Vietnam, Tibet, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Japan, or
Korea, the oil drops will always remain separate from the water. As Western
Buddhists, please use the many elements of your culture to weave the fabric of
Buddhadharma.”


BUDDHIST LIGHT
Throw Me a Paddle – I’m Meditating!
                                                     By Dan Lee

“Someone without diligence – He is like
a boatman whose boat
has everything but oars.”
                                        ---- Jigme Lingpa

None of us want to find ourselves up the Buddhist path without a paddle. Oarless
we end up stuck along the shore line going no where. So there is a need for
diligence in practice. This is not new News. It is a simple principle necessary for
any spiritual path. But frequent reminders to “keep on keeping on” are sometimes
the helpful nudge forward we need.

This is particularly true with meditation.  Because in addition to the hurdles of
scheduling, boredom and need for effort there is the uneasiness (especially in the
beginning) toward the deep intimacy with yourself that meditation engenders.  
Meditation is an extremely personal experience. Trungpa Rinpoche referred to it
as making friends with yourself.  

As we meditate we gently come face to face with the deepest corners of our
personalities. Whether we are comfortable with or forgiving of what those corners
contain does not matter. We still are greeted by them and get to know them well.
Feelings of all kinds,
doubts, quirks and habits --- the whole ball of wax that make us, us - including the
parts we resist examining - slowly appear stark naked in our consciousness.  
Overtime mediation wears down our inner defenses. We have spent a life time
erecting partitions to divide and categorize the varied aspects of your lives.
Meditation naturally dismantles them. It steadily erodes those partitions leaving us
with an ever increasingly clear view of ourselves.

Since there is no bottom to the well of who we are– no end to what we can learn
about ourselves - this process is ongoing. It is the same for the beginning
mediator and the well experienced. Hence the need for diligence. For as we
continue day after day with our meditation we develop what one teacher refers to
as “ a sense of sympathy toward ourselves” We become increasingly more open
and relaxed with the chaos, inconsistencies and  variety of characteristics that
comprise each of us.  What we once looked upon as negative we learn to view
with gentle curiosity and humor. We let go of the fretting and our constant
resolutions to reform. We can smile at who we are and truly deeply embrace with
love every nook and cranny of our complex personality. In so doing with ever
increasing clarity we intuitively understand our connectedness to all creation. Also
there is an ever widening openness toward all of life’s  experiences – a loud
enthusiastic “YES” toward whatever comes our way because we are no longer
concerned about are ability to successfully with contentment and joy navigate life’s
events. We can thoroughly live each moment with its joys and pains without fear or
internalized conflict.

The trick is maintaining diligence. Stay with the habit of meditation. Make your
practice consistent. There is no such thing as a good or bad meditation session.
They are all part of the process.  Diligence in the Buddhist sense is not gritting
your teeth and white knuckling your way through it. The word most often
translated from the Sanskrit as diligence or effort carries the sense of effort taken
in anticipation of something terrific. Think of the effort required to step out of a
warm bed into a cold cabin in order to build a fire and cook breakfast. You have to
do it if you are going to spend that fun day hiking in the snow.  Or when you find
yourself carrying more things than you need while sweating and struggling across
the hot sand anticipating a day at the ocean relaxing in the sun and water. The
diligence we are after is effort put forth in anticipation of the happy fruits of our
meditating. It is not a have to or else come hell or high water mentality.

None of us on this journey of meditation row our boats with absolute consistency
and navigate a flawless straight line across to the other shore. But we do paddle
with our eyes in the right direction. Sometimes we find ourselves slacking off for
long periods of time, doubting meditation’s value, or just not putting forth the
effort. Sometimes we face a grief or disappointment or physical pain or one of life’
s turmoils and we forget all we have learned and fall back on old habits that are
less than helpful.  In those moments meditation goes out the window. But
something reawakens in us and we return again and again to the meditation seat.
Each time we do it is with new determination and a deep sense that we are in it for
the long haul.  It is at those moments we are placing the oar of diligence in the
water and continuing the journey to the other shore.

So if we are meditating daily with the consistency of an Atomic clock but know we
want to increase the length of time or if we have not meditated in many weeks; we
can smile and gently say to ourselves, “Self, throw me an oar I am meditating” The
object is to continue nudging ourselves forward never fretting for a moment over a
missed opportunity for to attend a retreat or slacking off on our meditation.
Fretting and discouragement are a waste of time. Just grab for the oar and start
afresh.

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BOOK REVIEW
The Best Buddhist Writing 2006,
edited by Melvin Mcleod,
published by Shambhala Press

Every year Mr. McLeod and his staff publish a book of exceptional articles by
Buddhist authors. This year’s collection is phenomenal. It will tremendously inspire
and impact your journey.

McLeod writes in his introduction that when Buddhism arrives in a new culture “... It
sheds its previous cultural trappings so its timeless wisdom can take on a new
indigenous forms that are skillful and appropriate …”  American Buddhism he
continues will do the same eventually and  “… be truly and fully American .”

I  confess this is music to my ears. I very often am impatient and frustrated with  
what can seem to me to be an endless bombardment of innumerable practice
methods that represent Asian culture as well as  terms, words  and labels in
foreign languages that do not relate to me with my American ( English speaking )  
roots. Yet this book gave me a deep appreciation for the beauty with which
Buddha’s wisdom reaches us through old paths from other continents and how
slowly but magnificently American  Buddhism  emerges and teaches.

This collection of 33 articles ranging from 3 to 19 pages in length is perfect for
reading during those short free moments. Sometimes they are the only moments
for reading that   we can set aside during our busy schedules.

Every reader will have their own favorite articles. Mine included a mother turning
hair braiding into a meditation, a Roshi contemplating the place of doubt on the
Spiritual path , a mother’s response to her four year old’s question – “what is  
death Mommy?”, as well as the Rinpoche’s teaching on how ego plays tricks on
us. Another of my favorites is Thich Nhat Hahn’s vision for the 21st century. This
vision calls for loving communities of all types – from the local Buddhist Sangha to
the community of nations.

To say this book is worth your while is an understatement .  Oh and by the way
there is a copy on the BSBC library.



A Taste of the Sangha
                                    By Richard Baron
When I think about what it means to be a member of my Sangha, I look back at the
other Sanghas to which I once belonged. Sanghas can take many forms, from a
group that occasionally practices together, a group that has formed a practice
center, to a Sangha with many centers. I like to think that all Sanghas, no matter
their size and no matter the practice method and tradition, form a worldwide
Sangha. I’ve belonged to three different Sanghas. Each one has been important
to me in its own unique way, but they have all been important to me in similar ways
too. Two of those Sanghas were just groups of people who practiced together
occasionally. My current Sangha, the Philadelphia Shambhala Center, belongs to
a larger worldwide mandala of centers.

Nonetheless, however different they have been, all three Sanghas have kept me
honest. Sometimes when I sit alone, instead of returning to the breath, I keep
returning to thoughts of snacks. Since I’m alone, it’s easy to get away with getting
up and snacking instead of just sitting out the thoughts of snacking. Then, as long
as I’m snacking, I’ll watch a little TV and end up getting lost in the TV.

Yet belonging to a Sangha gives me the opportunity to sit with others. When we’re
sitting together, I don’t want to be that “bad practitioner” who leaves his seat to
escape his thoughts; who leaves, for instance, to get a snack and watch TV!  So I’
ll sit, working with my crazy thoughts of hunger, boredom and impatience: “I don’t
like being stuck here,” “I wish I could just get up and get a snack,” and “I wish we
would all go get a snack and watch TV together.”  Of course, we don’t—and
therefore I don’t. I sit, and sit, and sit, and sit some more. And that’s my point: in
this situation, if I had been sitting alone, I wouldn’t have stayed at my seat.
Everyone sitting around me strengthens my resolve to continue sitting while I’m
also strengthening his or her resolve as well. The effect of strengthening each
other’s resolve feels as if we are multiplying the energy arising from our sitting.

Staying at my seat keeps me from escaping. It forces me to give myself the
chance to witness my thoughts, to witness my needless suffering, and it gives me
raw material to work with. Pema Chodron says this material is “fishy” and “smelly”:
it’s that palpable. I deliciously rotting before me: haven’t escaped to my snack and
TV. (By now, it should be obvious that I do indeed often sit and work with thoughts
of and cravings for snacks and TV. They are some of my individual issues that
take me away from the present.)

My current Sangha holds regular practice sessions, programs, feasts, and even
simple potlucks. I’m grateful for all of these—even for the simple potlucks. They
are warm, inviting, inclusive gatherings where the members join in a spiritual
embrace. They are a family to me: not the family that I was born into, but the family
I’ve chosen.  I have people who share my spiritual and social aspirations to
improve our world. I don’t know
of many other groups that so deliberately return me again and again to where I am
right now—to this precious present, to this precious life.
I also volunteer at the Center; whether it’s composing an announcement or
sweeping the floor. At times, sweeping the floor at the Center has an almost sweet
taste—
ideally, sweeping should taste sweet anywhere and everywhere—but I’ll be easy
on myself and aspire to enjoying this taste someday in the future.

Speaking of tastes, I unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) have to attend to some
fish, . . .
                    

FREE BUDDHIST RESOURCES  
ON LINE FREE BUDDHIST JOURNALS AND MAGS

Here are a few free study  resources. These online magazines are full of
incredible tools and information. They can be had at no cost just by going to the
web sites and signing up. Check them out for yourselves.


1. The Journal of Global Buddhism
http://www.globalbuddhism.org/
In all respects, this journal  functions as a traditional scholarly journal.
The Journal of Global Buddhism publishes material on an ongoing rather than a
periodic basis, eliminating any backlog between acceptance and publication. It is
worth signing up to get it.

2. The Journal of Buddhist Ethics
http://www.buddhistethics.org/index.html
This is the first journal dedicated entirely to Buddhist ethics. Articles as well as
discussions and critical notes submitted to the journal are subject to blind peer
review. It is sent free of charge on a quarterly basis.

3. ZEN UNBOUND
http://www.zenunbound.com
It is an outspoken Buddhist Ezine  Out spoken and a bit eccentric it is worth a look  


4. SHENPEN OSEL
E-mail address: ltashi.shenpenosel@verizon.net
http://www.shenpen-osel.org
Shenpen Ösel is a tri-annual publication of Kagyu Shenpen Ösel Chöling (KSOC),
a center for the study and practice of Tibetan vajrayana Buddhism located in
Seattle,
Washington. The magazine seeks to present the teachings of recognized and fully
qualified lamas and teachers.

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MEDITATION ON AN IMPERMANENT BUDDHA
By Betty Steckman

A friend gave me a Buddha statuette for Christmas. It looks like Avalokitesvara,
with a feminine face and graceful seated figure. Her left hand holds a vessel of
some sort; her right hand points downward, open palm out. Some kind of plant is
tucked behind her right arm—a lotus bud, maybe? She is gold-leafed, so thinly
that the dark substrate shows through a bit, giving her an antique look. The
workmanship is rather coarse, the details somewhat blurry, but nonetheless it is
an attractive little sculpture.

    “Bet you don’t know what it’s made of,” my friend teased me. The figurine was
rather heavy for its size. I turned it over. The bottom was ungilded and dark,
almost black. Some sort of resin, perhaps?

    “It’s chocolate,” she said.

    My friend, an inveterate shopper, has outdone herself in creative
appropriateness. But it’s one thing to gnaw the ears off a chocolate Easter bunny
and quite another to bite off the Buddha’s head. I’m faced with an interesting
subject for meditation; a dilemma. I sit and ponder. I’m charmed by the little
boddhisatva with her threadbare gilding. Eat her??

The Buddha is a figure of respect. As Avalokitesvara or Kwan Yin, she is the
personification of compassion. Compassion is a good thing. I want to have more of
it. Besides, in the Boddhisatva vows, I have frequently vowed to save all beings,
haven’t I? If I eat a being, I haven’t saved it.

On the other hand, this little figurine is chocolate. Chocolate is to be eaten—that’s
what it’s for. It’s not a “being,” it’s a snack. All things are impermanent, and in my
house chocolate is even more impermanent than most things. So why not let her
merge into the great chain of being by becoming a part of me? I will try not to
become too attached to either the statuette or to the pound of adipose tissue it will
become.

Ah, of course. “If you meet a chocolate Buddha on the road, eat him.”


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Some of your hurts you have cured
And the sharpest you still have survived
But what torments of grief you endured
From evils which never arrived
                                                            Ralph Waldo Emerson                    
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My Experience at a Zen Retreat                               
                            By  Edna  Telpa
In late August, 2006, I attended a silent retreat at the St. Raffaella Center in
Haverford, Pa. sponsored by the Philadelphia Meditation Society.  The presenter
was John Orr, a Buddhist and yoga instructor from Duke University in Durham, N.
C.    Our meditation and instruction began on Friday evening, after a light dinner,
continued throughout the day and evening on Saturday, and ended in mid-
afternoon on Sunday.  The setting at St Raffaella is suburban, spacious, and
peaceful, providing an ideal environment for meditation and contemplation.

John Orr, a knowledgeable and engaging leader, alternated periods of meditation
with those of instruction during the workshop.  Most of our meditation periods were
about 40 to 45 minutes long, thought they seemed shorter.  He began with some
simple instructions on sitting posture, stressing the value of looking for balance
between comfort and attention.  We were encouraged to be flexible, malleable,
and open to whatever presented itself.  This led into a discussion of one of the
major themes examined during the weekend: contraction, a condition that often
accompanies the arising of a non-neutral thought.  John stated that trying to
control anything (i.e. our thoughts) creates tension or contraction.  This can be
experienced physically as a tightening in the chest.  According to John, one doesn’
t need to try to change this feeling, but rather to switch the focus of our attention
or our awareness to this tension.  If this doesn’t relax it, switch the attention to a
more neutral area or object.  The aim, in meditation, is always to bring your
attention to your most predominant occurrence of the moment, rather than seizing
or contracting around a particular sensation.  Resisting a condition or sensation
(aversion) creates suffering, so we were encouraged to refrain from pushing
against the reality of our experience.  Rather, we were asked to be present with it,
and to look at what we were thinking with kindness, curiosity, and compassion.  In
other words, we were to be present with whatever was without judging it.

Another important instruction grew out of the previous ideas; it was the idea that
HOW
we react  to experiences is more important than the event  itself.  With reference
to this idea, John used the term “access concentration”, meaning, an easy flow
without distortion of objects of body and mind.  By compassionately watching our
words, actions and feelings, we can allow them to exist in their raw state, observe
them, and let them go.  We can respond rather than react to them or judge them.  
This allows for a more neutral contemplation of our behavior and a greater
opportunity to alter it if we think that would be appropriate.  

The importance of being aware of when we are moving into a contracted state was
stressed. Contraction usually signifies fear, and this fear is often evidence of a
karmic pattern or knot that needs to be loosened or unraveled by giving it
attention and awareness.  This repeated awareness helps to identify karmic
patterns or areas of habitual reactivity.  In meditation, one strives to bring more
spaciousness to the contracted state,
12

that is, to be non-reactive.  Just allowing it to be, and observing it dispassionately,
will allow it to dissolve and eventually cease. We were instructed to breathe in, “I’m
aware of the fear” and breathe out, “I’m smiling at the fear.”  In working with
contraction, the aim is to avoid becoming caught in its energy, or in short,
ignorance.
Many other fine points and details leading to self-awareness, too numerous to
mention here, were discussed during the weekend.  John also offered private
consultations with those who had personal questions.  It was, in all, a very
worthwhile investment in time. One very positive result was the following: we were
encouraged to become aware of our thoughts while meditating, and I found that, in
addition to being able to do this during the workshop, I was able to continue it at
all times for several days after returning home from the weekend.  My entire
perspective seemed to open up and become clearer.  I would encourage anyone
who is able to attend weekend retreats periodically.  They offer opportunities for
growth and learning that one can’t access while enmeshed in our daily lives within
our homes and attendant responsibilities.  For a small investment in time, they
reap disproportionately generous rewards.

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Hearing Buddha’s words
I stop ignorant grasping
Occasionally
                                                            Dan Lee


Library Notes From Louise

  Thanks to the contributions of many people, our Sangha library continues to
expand. Materials in the bookcase in the Social Hall are for anyone who attends
the Sangha to borrow. We operate on an honor system, so please be mindful of
the books and tapes and return so others may enjoy. thanks!

 The Sangha library includes a wide variety of books on topics related to
Buddhism and Buddhist practice. We have many books by well-known Buddhist
writers, -- Pema Chodron, Jack Kornfield, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, and
Sylvia Boorstein, to name a few.
 Some recent new titles include:
 * The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery by Jan Willem van
de Wetering
 * Buddhist Acts of Compassion compiled and edited by Pamela Bloom
 * Zen and the Art of Fatherhood by Steven Lewis
 * The World of Tibetan Buddhism and The Wisdom of Forgiveness by the Dalai
Lama   
13

* Creating True Peace and The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat
Hanh
 * The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying  by Sogyal Rinpoche
 * Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be.: Lessons on Change, Loss, and
Spiritual Transformation  by Lama Surya Das
 * Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master’s Lessons in Living a Life That Matters
by Bernard Glassman & Rick Fields
 * What Would Buddha Do? 101 Answers to Life’s Daily Dilemmas by Franz
Metcalf
 *Women’s Buddhism, Buddhism’s Women: Tradition, Revision, Renewal edited
by Ellison Banks Findly

 We also have several different translations of The Dhammapada, so please
check us out!

Kwan Yin. The beautiful statue of Kwan Yin in our library is on loan from Judy
Henderson. In some Buddhist traditions, Kwan Yin (also known as Quan Shi Yin,
Kuan Yin, or Guan Yin) is a Bodhisattva considered the personification of
compassion and kindness, most often represented as a white-robed goddess.

 There is still much scholarly debate regarding the origin of devotion to the female
Bodhisattva Kwan Yin. “Quan” means to inquire or look deeply into, “Shi” means
the world of people, or generations, “Yin” means cries. The Boddhisatva of
Compassion promises to look into the suffering (cries) of all beings. Kwan Yin is
considered to be the feminine form of Avalokitesvara (Sanskrit), the Bodhisattva of
compassion whose worship was introduced into China in the third century.

 Although Kwan Yin was still being portrayed as a male as late as the tenth
century, with the introduction of Tantric Buddhism into China in the eighth century
during the T'ang Dynasty, the image of the celestial bodhisattva as a beautiful
white-robed woman was predominant and the devotional cult surrounding her
became increasingly popular. By the ninth century there was a statue of Kwan Yin
in every Buddhist monastery in China.

 Traditionally, among Chinese Buddhists, the personage of Kwan Yin is highly
revered as the principle of compassion, mercy and love (Chinese Buddhism
derives from Mahayana Buddhism).

 Because she symbolizes compassion, in East Asia Kwan Yin is associated with
vegetarianism. Chinese vegetarian restaurants are generally decorated with her
image, and she appears in most Buddhist vegetarian pamphlets and magazines.

 The Tea House in the Classical Chinese Gardens in Portland, Oregon, features
a statue of Kwan Yin on a beautifully decorated and colorful altar. If you’re in
Portland, don’t miss this wonderful tea house.



TAKE YOUR MEDITATION
             By Monk  Pastrama Onarye*
Buddha has said that life is suffering. Another way to translate this truth is to say  
“life is dis-ease”  Nothing seems to go quiet right. Every good experience is
impermanent.
We are like an ostrich with blistered feet trying to walk across a balance beam. It is
impossible to maintain a constant  balance and harmony. We have a dis-ease.
And what should you do when you are lying around suffering from dis-ease? First
get a diagnosis. In this case you are suffering from  Zippety  do do do do do dah
dis-ease – to much  doing and  not enough being. You need a cure containing
vitamin –Be.  The prescribed cure must always without  fail and constantly . You
must always take your meditation!  Too many people suffer needlessly because
they  refuse to take their meditation.  And  be sure to take it until your prescription
runs out. Of course it has been prescribed for all of beginningless time. If  you
forget one day – be sure to get your dose of meditation the next.

Now this dis-ease is a stubborn virus. So it is necessary to now and again plunk
your dis-eased behind into a center where they administer large doses of  
meditation. There they  not only  treat your  dis-ease but they re-treat it as well ---
over and over  and over again with lots of meditation for as many days as you
want.. You swallow hard and take it. These re-treatment centers are especially
helpful in fighting dis-ease. And each and every one of us should seek them out.

I know what I am talking about. As a monk with years of experience with dis-ease,  I
have been given the responsibility by  my fellow monks  of  tending the back  door
to our monastery.   I therefore am the keeper of the  Monk  Key.  By tradition it
must be carried on my back. I will tell you it is not easy spending your life with  a
Monk Key on your back. But daily doses of meditation help me put it  in
perspective. This Monk Key is only for this life time -  if I can only keep that in
sight. So the key thing is to keep in sight your daily doses of meditation.  Sit down
and take your meditation! The more often you do the better!

                            * Monk Pastrama Onarye is the pen name for a fictional ghost
writer of an absolutely non-existent sentient being living locally somewhere in the
universe. This being is from the fishy school of Buddhism known as  “A Bunch of
Carp” Buddhism whose main tenant is “Emptiness applies to the head”



Contact Us!
REFLECTIONS is seeking submissions on topic of interest related to Buddhism for
future issues.  Everyone is invited to contribute. Submissions topics can include
but are not limited to the following:
Letters to the Editor
Poetry ( any style)
15

Articles about your personal experiences along your spiritual journey
Articles reflecting on Buddhist teachings
Buddhist thoughts or messages within a contemporary movie or novel
Review of Buddhist Literature ( books magazines etc.)
Information on Buddhist resources and area events
Articles on any of the themes  for future issues of this e-magazine – check below
for the schedule of themes

Deadlines for submission are as follows;
Spring issue:     ( theme is Buddhist Ethics )             April 15, 2007
Summer issue:  ( theme is Non-violence )                 July 15, 2007
Fall issue:         ( theme is community  building )     October 15, 2007
Winter issue     ( theme – to be announced)               January 15, 2008

SEND SUBMISSIONS TO:
BSBC19067@aol.com   using the subject title of REFLECTIONS
or
mail to BSBC C/O 2227 Polo Run Dr. Yardley, Pa. 19067

Also use the above email address to sign up friends who want to receive
REFLECTIONS on a regular basis.