"Each one of us is responsible for the whole of humankind. We need to think of each other really as brothers and sisters and to be concerned for each other’s welfare. Rather than working solely to acquire wealth, we need to do something meaningful, something directed seriously towards the welfare of humanity as a whole." Dalai Lama
"The only ones among you who will be happy are those who have sought and found how to serve." Albert Schweitzer
"In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All persons are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Overcome any bitterness because you are not up to the magnitude of the pain entrusted to you. Like the mother of the world who carries the pain of the world in her heart, you are sharing in the totality of this pain and are called upon to meet it in compassion and joy instead of self-pity." Pir Vilayat Khan
SACRED SERVICE OPPORTUNITY
SACRED SERVICE SANGHA EVENT! Soquel Creek Cleanup Sponsored by Save Our Shores and the City of Capitola Saturday, January 28, 2012 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m
Have fun, do good work and meet some of you fellow sangha members! Join us for the opportunity to express generosity and appreciation by helping clean-up Soquel Creek in Capitola.
SOS will provide all cleanup materials including buckets, bags, grabbers and gloves but you are invited to bring heavy duty gardening gloves, rubber boots or other tools.
MEETING PLACE: On Wharf Rd. in Capitola near the entrance to the Rispin Mansion property. This is across from the Capitola Library just north of Clares Rd. Intersection.
REGISTRATION: You will need to sign up for this event. We are limited to 10 people. Please contact Phyllis Levin at: phyllisa@cruzio.com or call her at: (HM) 475-8037 (C) 227-0298.
Soquel Creek Cleanup Sponsored by Save Our Shores and the City of Capitola Saturday, January 28, 2012 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m
ADOPT-A-FAMILY 2011 Bloom
of the Present participated this year in The Santa Cruz Volunteer Center's
Adopt-A-Family program for the Holidays. We were assigned a family in
need and given a budget and wish list to purchase gifts as well as a
$100 gift certificate for food.
The Adopt-A-Family event was a great success! Thank you all for your immediate and generous response! It was both fun and gratifying to collect all your gifts for the Medina family. We were able to supply a blender, bath towels, Safeway gift card, Target gift card, clothing, a doll, puzzles, books and art supplies for the children.
On Tuesday, Bruce, Joyce and Carla delivered the holiday gifts to the family in Watsonville. We visited with the mom and the two cute little girls, 2 and 4 years old (the father was working.) They were warm and welcoming and very appreciative of our presents and presence.
SACRED SERVICE ARTICLES
A Challenge to Buddhists By Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Each
morning, I check out a number of Internet news reports and commentaries
on websites ranging from the BBC to Truthout. Reading about current
events strongly reinforces for me the acuity of the Buddha’s words: “The
world is grounded upon suffering.” Almost daily I am awed by the
enormity of the suffering that assails human beings on every continent,
and even more by the hard truth that so much of this suffering springs
not from the vicissitudes of impersonal nature but from the fires of
greed, hatred, and delusion raging in the human heart.
Seeing the
immensity of the world’s anguish has raised in my mind questions about
the future prospects for Buddhism in the West. I’ve been struck by how
seldom the theme of global suffering—the palpable suffering of real
human beings—is thematically explored in the Buddhist journals and
teachings with which I am acquainted. It seems to me that we Western
Buddhists tend to dwell in a cognitive space that defines the first
noble truth largely against the background of our middle-class
lifestyles: as the gnawing of discontent; the ennui of over-satiation;
the pain of unfulfilling relationships; or, with a bow to Buddhist
theory, as bondage to the round of rebirths. Too often, I feel, our
focus on these aspects of dukkha has made us oblivious to the vast,
catastrophic suffering that daily overwhelms three-fourths of the
world’s population.
An exception to this tendency may be found
with the Engaged Buddhist movement. I believe this is a face of Buddhism
that has great promise, but from my superficial readings in this area I
am struck by two things. First, while some Engaged Buddhists seek fresh
perspectives from the dharma, for many Buddhism simply provides
spiritual practices to use while simultaneously espousing
socio-political causes not much different from those of the mainstream
Left. Second, Engaged Buddhism still remains tangential to the hard core
of Western interest in Buddhism, which is the dharma as a path to inner
peace and self-realization.
If Buddhism in the West becomes
solely a means to pursue personal spiritual growth, I am apprehensive
that it may evolve in a one-sided way and thus fulfill only half its
potential. Attracting the affluent and the educated, it will provide a
congenial home for the intellectual and cultural elite, but it will risk
turning the quest for enlightenment into an private journey that, in
the face of the immense suffering which daily hounds countless human
lives, can present only a resigned quietism.
It is true that
Buddhist meditation practice requires seclusion and inwardly focused
depth. But wouldn’t the embodiment of dharma in the world be more
complete by also reaching out and addressing the grinding miseries that
are ailing humanity? I know we engage in lofty meditations on
kindness and compassion and espouse beautiful ideals of love and peace.
But note that we pursue them largely as inward, subjective experiences
geared toward personal transformation. Too seldom does this type of
compassion roll up its sleeves and step into the field. Too rarely does
it translate into pragmatic programs of effective action realistically
designed to diminish the actual sufferings of those battered by natural
calamities or societal deprivation.
By way of contrast, take
Christian Aid and World Vision. These are not missionary movements aimed
at proselytizing but relief organizations that provide relief and
development aid while also tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
Similarly, the American Jewish World Service doesn’t aspire to convert
people to Judaism but to express Judaism’s commitment to social justice
by alleviating “poverty, hunger, and disease among the people of the
developing world regardless of race, religion, or nationality.” Why
doesn’t Buddhism have anything like that? Surely we can find a
supporting framework for this in Buddhist doctrine, ethical ideals,
archetypes, legends, and historical precedents.
I recognize that
many individual Buddhists are actively engaged in social service and
that a few larger Buddhist organizations work tirelessly to relieve
human suffering around the globe. Their selfless dedication fully
deserves our appreciation. Unfortunately, their appeal has as yet been
limited.
Buddhist teachers often say that the most effective way
we can help protect the world is by purifying our own minds, or that
before we engage in compassionate action we must attain realization of
selflessness or emptiness. There may be some truth in such statements,
but I think it is a partial truth. In these critical times, we also have
an obligation to aid those immersed in the world who live on the brink
of destitution and despair. The Buddha’s mission, the reason for his
arising in the world, was to free beings from suffering by uprooting the
evil roots of greed, hatred, and delusion. These sinister roots don’t
exist only in our own minds. Today they have acquired a collective
dimension and have spread out over whole countries and continents. To
help free beings from suffering today therefore requires that we counter
the systemic embodiments of greed, hatred, and delusion.
In
each historical period, the dharma finds new means to unfold its
potentials in ways precisely linked to that era’s distinctive historical
conditions. I believe that our own era provides the appropriate
historical stage for the transcendent truth of the dharma to bend back
upon the world and engage human suffering at multiple levels—even the
lowest, harshest, and most degrading levels—not in mere contemplation
but in effective, relief-granting action illuminated by its own
world-transcending goal. The special challenge facing Buddhism in
our age is to stand up as an advocate for justice in the world, a voice
of conscience for those victims of social, economic, and political
injustice who cannot stand up and speak for themselves. This, in my
view, is a deeply moral challenge marking a watershed in the modern
expression of Buddhism. I believe it also points in a direction that
Buddhism should take if it is to share in the Buddha’s ongoing mission
to humanity.
________________________________________ BHIKKHU
BODHI has translated several important works from the Pali canon,
including the Sumyatta Nikaya (The Connected Discourse of the Buddha).
He was ordained in Sri Lanka, where he lived for many years and was also
president and editor of the Buddhist Publication Society. He currently
resides at Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York.
SACRED SERVICE SANGHA EVENT!
ADOPT-A-FAMILY 2011