Becoming a Buddhist - Lotus Pond Temple, Lantau Is. Hong Kong 30th March, 2019

After a few false starts I finally took the plunge and officially became a lay Buddhist this weekend. I flew to Hong Kong on Friday afternoon, stayed overnight at the Lotus Pond temple on Lantau Island, and at 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning the community of monks and nuns took me through a ceremony to become part of the Plum Village Buddhist family. It practises in the Zen tradition of the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. I had been fiddling at the edges for years, looked at different traditions, went on a pilgrimage to northern India, and done some study, reading and meditation, so I thought it was about time to take this step and be part of something positive. It will also give me support as I continue in the practice. I will need it!

Every religion has a ceremony of some sort. The usual thing here is to Take Refuge in the Three Jewels (the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) and to undertake one's best to recite and live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings (generally known as the Five Precepts).

It was terrific. The brothers and sisters were lovely to me. We enjoyed eating meditation, sitting meditation, singing, and walking meditation together. The ceremony, in which they were all present, went for almost an hour, and at several points I had to "touch the Earth" which means literally touching my forehead to the ground. Later I received a certificate setting out the details of the event and the lineage of my teacher. The Dharma name given to me is "Radiant Sincerity of the Heart".

There were one or two minor challenges in getting there. The plane from Taiwan arrived an hour late and the taxi driver couldn't exactly find the temple, so it took a quick phone call to figure it out. 

Another pleasant surprise was that the Lotus Pond Temple is just a short walk away from the  huge world famous Buddha statue (Tian Tan) on Lantau Island. So walking around the hills and seeing that area was a definite bonus. Although I was unable to take any photos during the ceremony (since nobody was available to do that), I did get some afterwards which I hope you will enjoy. It was an amazing experience!

I Know - Almost Another Year's Gone By

Hello everyone, and thank you for your patience.

My year following the last post here (March 2016) has revolved around a number of elements:

• having a gall bladder operation
• having another operation in July for colon cancer
• returning to Australia for chemotherapy treatment, which should be complete next month

All in all, not a situation conducive to posting on this site.

However, there have also been some small blessings:

• I've spent many months back with my family
• I've used some of the time to study the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and to commence a mindfulness practice
• I've made a few Plum Village sangha contacts locally
• I've found a new teaching role starting in mid-March based in Bali, Indonesia.

Naturally, I'm hoping that this will be beneficial to my recovery, less stressful than some previous positions, and a location filled with opportunities to learn a new culture and experience life on another island.

Once I'm re-established there, I will do my best to keep adding interesting and informative posts. In the meantime, I'm including further photos on my "Buddha Images" page, based on my final months in Taiwan.

Blessings, and a lotus for you. Greg.

The Last Six Months

My apologies to those hoping to read many insights and articles on my blog.
The last six months have been busy for many of the wrong reasons, including illness and ultimately an operation last month to improve my health outlook. This seems to have been successful, so I hope to put it behind me and move forward.
This period was also a time when I reviewed carefully the direction I was moving in with my Buddhist practice, and ultimately this meant I have changed my plans - for the better, I believe.
I am now studying the teachings of the Vietnamese-born Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village tradition he began. I am joining a local sangha for support and encouragement, and I hope to visit the AIAB (Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism) in Hong Kong in July to attend a 4-day retreat and take the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
In the meantime, I have set up a meditation room and hope to make good use of it as I explore the practice further. I have also added links to blogs and websites of Plum Village.
To those reading this post, I wish you every blessing for the year 2016.
Greg.

Buddhism in Myanmar - A Personal Perspective

Let me preface this by saying that I only spent five months in the country, working as a trainer with the British Council. So my observations are necessarily limited by that amount of time.
Nevertheless, I got the distinct impression that Buddhism is taken very seriously there.
What in particular do I mean?
- young boys and girls spend time in robes as part of their upbringing
- monks provide general education to those less fortunate
- bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, including young ones, walk the streets on alms processions
- people give generously from what little they have to the monks
- prayers are sent out over loudspeakers from certain temples at different times of the day
- major festivals are celebrated with great energy by the whole community
- people generally act modestly in public
- monks are invited to attend important social events and are treated respectfully at them
- there are always new young men and women wishing to take vows
- houses have shrines with Buddhist images, candles, incense, flowers, etc.
- monks are consulted, probably revered, for certain decisions

Of course, there are some unique elements within Burmese Buddhism, such as the worship of nats, which are unique and, to outsiders, strange, but they are fortunate to have both male and female monks, and a long history of worship extending back thousands of years. Most recently there have been some monks becoming more vocal in everyday affairs, perhaps even political ones. Given the military's iron grip on power and their extensive lack of concern for the less fortunate, this is humanly understandable. Myanmar has far to go to resemble a country Westerners would relate to, and the November elections may not change that situation in the short term.

As a fellow seeker of the Path, I certainly felt comfortable with that part of society. Please see my photo page for many images taken during my time there.

The Meaning of 'Buddha Vandana'

Buddha Vandana, or ‘worshipping the Buddha’ is one of the devotional practices performed daily by Buddhists. It is done as part of a reverential recollection of the Triple Gem, consisting of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. In this way, followers build their confidence in the Triple Gem. The Buddha encouraged such recitations in times of fear or disturbance so that these can be vanquished, since the Buddha is free from all kinds of defilements, like greed, anger and ignorance.
Buddha Vandana begins by recalling the supreme accomplishments of past, future and present sammasambuddhas. It then continues by making a statement that the Enlightened One is a person’s sole and supreme refuge, and that one wishes to attain enlightenment through taking refuge this way. It concludes by humbling oneself before the holy feet while asking for forgiveness of any transgressions, and stating one’s continued reliance on the Buddha until reaching enlightenment.